The contractor working on the Thurles Market Quarter adjacent to the Source Building in Thurles has had to pause work on the Stone Building due to an issue with bats. Last month an in season, survey during the warm months was required to apply for a derogation license to identify the type of roost, what species use it, and the number of species using it. The ecologist (Eco Fact) found that a small number of Pipistrelles bats and house sparrows use the building.
Construction work on the building is temporarily paused until the National Parks and Wildlife Service(NPWS) issues a derogation license which is expected to be issued by September 1st. The contractor is still predicting a 12-month build period for the project at an estimated cost of €3.4M to modify the building to provide an 83 seat café and to erect a canopy over the car park area which will see the number of parking spaces reduced from 49 at present to 33 including 2 disabled parking spaces.
