Cork County Hall will be officially re-opened on Monday week. The souvenir brochure for Cork County Hall's official opening in April 1968 is suffused with regional pride over the completion of a landmark office tower that rose to a height of 211ft (63.94 metres). That made it 11ft taller than Dublin's Liberty Hall and thus the State's highest building - a badge it still retains, at least for the present. This icon of Cork on the western approach to the city had been designed by the then county architect, Patrick McSweeney. He was particularly pleased with one of the building's most distinctive features - the modelling of its façade in concrete tracery, saying its "precise detail design ... plays a major part in the overall effect". But this outer skin would become its Achilles' heel. As early as 1981, extensive repairs were needed to deal with a serious erosion problem. By 1994, wire canopies had to be erected over the entrance to protect staff and visitors from pieces of masonry falling off the building. It was also very uncomfortable to work in, due to excessive solar gain.
