A BUILDING in Ranelagh which is being demolished after Dublin Corporation declared it dangerous by may have been destabilised by construction work on an adjacent site, according to the city architect, Mr Jim Barrett.
Workers from the corporation's Dangerous Buildings section began demolishing the three-storey commercial premises on Oakley Road early yesterday, following the collapse of its rear lean-to on Monday, and the development of fractures in the main building.
The demolition work will continue today and the building may have to be reduced to single-storey level. The demolition work will cause further disruption to traffic around Oakley Road and Cullenswood Road.
The premises' nine tenants, which included a landscape gardening business, an estate agency, a newsagency and a beauty salon, were evacuated on Monday when the building was assessed as unsafe.
The premises was formerly two separate buildings, but these are now connected by a central staircase. There is a large vertical fracture on the exterior wall where the two houses join, and the staircase is also damaged.
It is understood that construction work on the neighbouring site had destabilised the foundations of the building's rear two-storey lean-to and caused it to collapse.
Mr Barrett said after the lean-to fell, it began dragging on the gable wall on the left side of the main building.
"We're aware that building's work adjacent may have contributed to the failure of Number 51, but as of now we're not sure of the cause," he said.
Mr Barrett said he did not know how much of the dangerous building would have to be demolished. The first floor would be removed and the second floor would then be assessed. It was possible that the staircase would have to be removed if it was too badly damaged, he said.
As the demolition work began yesterday, some of the tenants stood on the street below. Ms Louise Vandenbergh, from Vandenbergh Landscapes, watched as corporation workers began tearing down the walls of her third-floor office on the left side of the house, adjacent to the construction site.
Ms Vandenbergh said she raised the alarm at around 5 p.m. on Monday when she heard a noise which she thought was being made by a mouse scratching.
"I looked around and saw the walls move. Cracks two inches wide began literally to appear on the walls," she said.
Mr Michael Coffey, who runs an estate agency from a ground floor office on the right side of the building, said he would resume business from the office if it was declared safe. "If the building isn't 100 per cent safe I can't have my clients coming in and I won't be going in myself or letting anybody else going," he said.
Mr Coffey plans to hire an engineer to assess the building. He said he had transferred one of his telephone lines to his mobile phone number to try to maintain contact with his business clients.
A woman who spoke on behalf of the builder who had been carrying out work on the adjacent site said he was "very busy" and had "no comment to make".