The Collaborative Town Centre Health Check was completed by final
year undergraduate Geography and Planning students from Queen’s
University Belfast as part of the module: EVP3004 – Conservation of
the Built Environment. Students were briefed on the Heritage
Council’s CTCHC process and its key steps in advance of the study by
Dr Neil Galway and given background information on Kilkenny’s
history, planning and regeneration context by staff from Kilkenny
County Council’s planning team.

The field work was completed by 28
students working in 5 groups on 4th and 5th March 2022.
The students completed detailed land use surveys of the city centre,
footfall- and vehicular traffic- counts, parking surveys and public realm
analysis. These steps were complemented by an online questionnaire,
which was disseminated by Kilkenny County Council and members of
the City Centre Task Force in advance of the field visit.

The datagathered formed the analytical foundation for heritage-led
regeneration strategies. This document is an edited summary of the
Collaborative Town Centre Health Check findings with some of the
regeneration ideas devised by the class.