As part of this year's Heritage Week theme, Heritage at Risk, UCC Library will host a public engagement event and the second instalment of the Community Matters Live podcast series. Bringing together architects, researchers, heritage advocates, and oral historians, the panel will explore the challenges facing Cork City's built heritage. From the historic quays and docklands to threatened buildings and changing urban landscapes, the discussion will examine how development, regeneration, climate adaptation, and shifting patterns of city life are reshaping the city. Drawing on perspectives from architecture, conservation, sustainability, and community history, the panel will consider what is at risk, what is worth protecting, and how Cork can balance future growth with the preservation of its unique character and heritage.

Admission: Free -  with free refreshments provided

About the panel

Michelle Delea is a Cork-based architect, researcher, and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores cities, public space, and the built environment. She has contributed to UCC's MSc programme Redesigning the Post-Industrial City (RePIC) and is active in Cork's cultural scene through film, writing, and interdisciplinary public events. She is the creator of The Sprawling Octopus of an Elevated Highway (2022), a documentary examining the campaign against Cork's proposed 1960s BKS Traffic Plan and the role of civic action in protecting the city's character and heritage. Michelle brings to the Heritage at Risk panel a perspective shaped by architecture, storytelling, and urban change.

Jamie Furey is a Cork-based folklorist and oral historian who works with community organisations including the Cork Traveller Women's Network and the Cork Folklore Project to record, preserve, and share the stories of local communities. In 2025, he launched Voices of the Docklands for Cork Public Museum, an oral history programme documenting the experiences of people connected to Cork's docklands, including residents, former dockworkers, business owners, and community advocates. Through these interviews, the project explores how the area has changed over time and how those changes have shaped local communities and identities. Jamie brings to the Heritage at Risk panel a perspective centred on Cork's social history and the importance of preserving the memories, experiences, and stories that form part of the city's heritage.

John Hegarty is a Cork-based architect and conservation specialist who has worked extensively on historic buildings, urban design, and the protection of Cork City's built heritage. As Director of Fourem Architects, his work focuses on the conservation and repair of historic structures and the role of heritage within the wider development of the city. He is also involved in the Save Cork City campaign, which has advocated for flood protection measures that preserve Cork's historic quays and relationship with the River Lee. John brings to the Heritage at Risk panel practical experience in conservation, planning, and heritage advocacy, along with a long-standing interest in the future of Cork's historic urban environment.

Jude Sherry co-founded the systems design agency anois.org in Amsterdam in 2016, the experimental immersive art practice ffud.art in Cork in 2020 and is co-instigator of the grassroots phenomenon #DerelictIreland. Moving between roles as designer, maker, artist, researcher and activist Jude is recognised as an international expert on sustainable design. In her seminal publication in 2003, Jude called for an end to greenwashing in Ireland. She has consulted globally on policy, business practice and education and was awarded a Masters in Environmental Management in 2014.

Jude was awarded Art & Design Woman of the Year 2021 from Irish Tatler and named in the Top 100 Women changing Ireland for 2022 and 2023 by the Irish Examiner. Jude has published widely and is a regular media contributor including newsprint, magazines, radio, TV and podcasts. She brings to the Heritage at Risk panel a perspective on how sustainability and heritage can work together in shaping Cork's future