New Nenagh centre a first in Ireland
Plans for the proposed development of a multi-million national centre of excellence for sustainable development at Martyrs Road, Nenagh, are progressing, with a target by the local authority to also regenerate the entire area as a new and modern town centre amenity.
As part of the plans, nearby Friar Street, leading to the traditional urban core, will also be regenerated, while there are plans to modernise the Emmet Place area of the town.
At the most recent meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District Authority, the District Administrator Rosemary Joyce informed local representatives that the local authority hopes to go to planning stage with the development of the centre of excellence in the last quarter of the current year or the first quarter of 2026.
An ‘Integrated Design Team’ has been established to progress the project. The team is meeting on a fortnightly basis, said Ms Joyce.
The site chosen for the Centre of Excellence is the old Abbey Machinery yard. Ms Joyce said discussions are ongoing with the current owners to acquire the site.
Director of Servies for Planning, Dave Carroll, in a report presented to the meeting, said the plan for the centre of excellence was part of an overall drive to transform Nenagh Town Centre.
Mr Carroll reported that the new centre would be the anchor and catalyst for the redevelopment of Martyr’s Road Regeneration Quarter - “a 10-hectare strategic site of brownfield lands and under-utilised properties located in the heart of Nenagh Town Centre”.
Mr Carroll added: “The Centre of Excellence, taking reference from best international practice, will uniquely host a range of public agencies working collaboratively to deliver innovative solutions from training and development, to new cutting-edge research on technologies, to incubating low carbon social enterprises.
“The centre has been designed to be Ireland’s first carbon neutral and energy positive building. The works to be supported also include Public Realm and Amenity Enhancement to Friar Street Civic Plaza, Martyr’s Road Town Park and Martyr’s Road streetscape improvements, including cycleways.”
Mr Carroll reported that funding was approved in March 2021 under the Urban Regeneration Development Fund.
“The Project Management Plan for the delivery and implementation of this project is ongoing. Total project costs approved are €13,990,179 and an Urban Renewal Development Fund grant awarded amounts to €10,492,634,” Mr Carroll reveled.
OLD CINEMA
Mr Carroll reported that funding has been approved to prepare detailed designs and planning for the re-use of the former iconic 1940s Rialto cinema into a modern digital and enterprise hub facility.
The brownfield site on which the former cinema is located is to be “master-planned to explore the potential for further digital and enterprise office space, the creation of a new streetscape along Emmet Place, the potential provision of town centre residential units and the delivery of a new public amenity heart in the town centre,” Mr Carroll revealed.
He said the new hub would be “an exemplar sustainable, green, town centre regeneration project that will revitalise the town centre of Nenagh through the provision of much needed incubator enterprise space, public realm enhancement, improved permeability/linkages with existing streets and backland/infill development through planning for the delivery of town centre homes.”
Mr Carroll reported that the over-arching aim and purpose of the proposal is to promote economic development and increase employment opportunities.
Councillors have urged the council to look at using the Rialto as a community centre for local groups and this proposal is also being considered.
Mr Carroll said the Rialto project was awarded funding in January 2022 under the Rural Regeneration Development Fund to pay for the planning stages of the development. Total project costs are over €1.5 million. Rural Regeneration Development funding to date has amounted to €1,208,847.