A young assistant architect from Lisnaskea who is currently employed by an award-winning firm of architects in London, Surface Architects has acquired the disused toilet block on Main Street for redevelopment as an iconic building.

Tom McKeogh, a son of Brendan and Una who are based at McKeogh Dental Practice in Lisnaskea, has had his bid of £155,000 accepted by Fermanagh District Council for the toilet block site that includes the lay-by car-park to the rear. The area to the west, including the concrete steps, had already been sold off to Roads Services for a scheme to improve the junction with Chapel Brae.

The recommendation to last week's full Council meeting to accept Mr McKeogh's bid was unanimously approved, with an in-built 12-18 month full completion facility in case the Roads Service require any more of the site.

Speaking from London, Mr McKeogh (22), who is a past pupil of St Ronan's PS and St Michael's College explained that his interest to purchase was a joint decision with his parents.

"It was a wonderful opportunity because, even in London, with the economic downturn, there's an anxiousness about. You then go back home and there's such optimism, financially, economically and culturally.

"Optimism at home is so much greater than it is here in London, so it would be very exciting to come back and to be able to do something material, especially in Lisnaskea and especially in such a wonderful site in the heart of the town".

Mr McKeogh preferred not to go into specifics as to what he intended to do with the toilet block which is located in the town's 'diamond' area, the spot where, traditionally, the Christmas tree is planted.

"All this academic stuff has to be gone through first of all", he said. "We can't even say at this stage whether any projects will ever materialise but, hopefully, they will. At the minute, things are up for grabs, so it's difficult to know what would be appropriate further down the line, but it would be nice to think it would be something a little bit extraordinary".

He restated, however, his ambition to come back to his home town and achieve, 'something that is sensitive to the environment'.

"It will be something which I have been working on in my mind, which will not be imposed, but I cannot be more specific than that. But, it will be interesting as this is such a great site".

The new toilet block is located at the Fairgreen, opposite Dowler's in the lower car-park. The junction at the present disused block is a motorist's nightmare, particularly at peak traffic times. There is a yellow box junction, but is only goes halfway across the street.

The sale has been welcomed by the Director of Technical Services for Fermanagh Council, Gerry Knox who confirmed that, because some issues remained to be resolved, Mr McKeogh's solicitor had suggested a pre-contract agreement binding his client and the Council to complete the transaction.