Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland Awards 2007

This year's Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland Awards Ceremony were organised by ESB Archive & Heritage Manager Brendan Delany, who is also an IHAI committee member, and the event took place at Engineers Ireland Headquarters in Dublin, on Thursday, November 15th.

The awards, now in their third year, were established to honour and reward initiatives by organisations and individuals, working across the island of Ireland, to preserve and promote our rich industrial heritage. This year's Best Site/Museum Award, Best Publication Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award were presented by Brid Horan, Executive Director, Customer Supply & Group Services ESB, who are sponsors of the event.

Best Museum Award: Flame, the Gasworks Museum of Ireland The fascinating Flame gasworks at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, is Ireland's sole surviving coal gasworks and one of only three in the British Isles. Opened in 1855, the works supplied Carrickfergus with gas for heating, lighting and cooking until 1965, finally closing only in 1987.

The site, complete with much of its original equipment, was acquired by the Environment & Heritage Service of NI and leased to the Carrickfergus Gasworks Preservation Society, a voluntary group of enthusiasts keen to preserve this unique facet of Ireland's industrial heritage. It was fully restored and reopened as a visitor and educational attraction in 2002, following a €1.5m restoration with assistance from the Heritage Lottery fund and European Regional Development Fund. Home to the largest surviving set of gas-making retorts in Europe, the museum also boasts an extensive collection of gas appliances and a library of gas-related publications.

Publications award: Michael Corcoran's 'Our Good Health: a history of Dublin's water and drainage' (Dublin City Council, 2005).

This excellent publication has been described as "a fascinating social and engineering history... a carefully researched work of scholarship... that invites and engages the reader". Michael Corcoran has written extensively on Dublin's industrial heritage and this, his most recent book, covers a public service that is indispensable for a modern society, yet is taken completely for granted. Corcoran, a noted historian, also wrote the definitive history of Dublin trams, 'Through Streets Broad and Narrow', which resulted in the founding of the National Transport Museum in Howth. A Dubliner born and bred, Michael Corcoran worked in the City Council's drainage division for 24 years.

Lifetime Achievement award: Mr Norman Campion. As vicechairman of An Taisce, Norman Campion was involved in many of the conservation issues accompanying the development of Dublin and the rest of the country. In 1996, through the good offices of An Taisce, he established and chaired an Industrial Heritage Working Group from which grew the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland. A founder member of the IHAI, Norman Campion served as vice-president and later as president. He has played a pivotal role in the development of the association during the past ten years and more.