IN A SHED the size of an aircraft hangar, Sean Corcoran designs and makes stained-glass panels for walls, windows and doors and adds regularly to his fine collection of religious statuary.
The walls echo to the howl of a machine which is cutting a 300-year-old beam of yellow pine into planks for flooring and in every nook and cranny there are piles of ancient timber and stone which are destined to find new uses in modern homes and public places.
The 27-year-old, with his father, Jim, is part of a thriving industry in Waterford engaged in the recovery, restoration and reuse of old and discarded materials of all kinds.
In their salvage shop on the airport road at the edge of the city, the skills employed include joinery, furniture making, glazing and stone-polishing and cutting. The materials are found locally or imported, bought from churches, old factories or other premises under demolition.
In one corner, already sold, is an impressive table made out of old Polish railway sleepers. Around it is a set of chairs, each made from pitch pine in an exact replica of Famine-style country kitchen chairs. Nearby is an abstract sculptural form carved by a local artist from a piece of timber pulled from the River Lagan in Belfast.
Glass is Sean Corcoran's special interest. Here is a leaded window panel he has made up from the curved sides of coloured bottles; there is a decorative backlit panel made from bottle ends - soon he will tackle another piece using the glass of light bulbs. He has been making stained glass objects for more than 12 years.
Around and about stand a variety of near-lifesize religious statues and church artefacts - his other interest. He displays a magnificent set of Stations of the Cross, painted on canvas locally 80 years ago and framed in mahogany.
"I bought a white marble altar today," confides this young man, who is full of surprises. This impressive and beautifully cut object lies in a score of pieces on pallets in the yard; he will painstakingly reassemble it for the sheer pleasure.
He is the proud owner, too of 11 large wood-carved rocking horses and is waiting patiently to acquire a 12th - "I'll build a carousel later."
This is the hobby aspect of his work. On the business side, the sale of salvaged materials and of furniture and fittings reconstructed from them is unceasing and employs up to 15 people as contracts come in.
The materials are in huge demand because of their quality. "I'm shipping a table to Paris later in the year," says Sean. "I've exported to pubs in Iceland, Austria, France and Germany." The vast storage yard contains piles of broken bricks, stone slabs, old Spanish quarry tiles, Bangor blue slates, ridge tiles and other building materials.
There are pine beams, rafters and huge roof trusses. These, and the 12-ft-square yellow pine beams - probably imported originally from South America - were recovered from a 17th-century derelict mill recently demolished in the city to permit an extension for Dooley's Hotel.
The Corcorans specialise in servicing the upper end of the house market, designing and manufacturing quality windows, doors, fireplaces and even fitted kitchens from the fine old materials.
A few miles away at Ardkeen on the Dunmore road, there is another fascinating salvage operation. The premises of Waterford Architectural Salvage contain a bewildering and nostalgic collection of objects from another era.
There are cast-iron signs and railings, heavy granite and limestone blocks, ancient lamps, railings, agricultural and craft tools, vitreous enamel bathroom objects, church pews - even a complete confessional.
In this city, the trappings of a former age of painstaking workmanship and solid, durable materials are being rescued and made available to test the imagination and skills of a new generation of architects, designers and builders.