SUBMISSION of a funding application for the One Shannon Hub has been labelled as marking a ‘serious start’ for the project with senior officials in Clare County Council determined to have shovels in the ground by September 2027.
On May 1st, Clare County Council submitted an application for the One Shannon Hub to the Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund which was formerly called URDF funding.
Senior executive officer in the Shannon MD, Suzie Clifford said the One Shannon Hub was “a key transformational project to emerge from the Shannon Town Centre Masterplan. It seeks to create a civic and cultural centre for the town of Shannon”.
Building elements included in the application are a library, multi-purpose event space, an exhibition space, community space and a café./
An update on the project was sought by Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) at Tuesday’s meeting of the Shannon Municipal District. “A raft of work has gone into this application, it is on the go for fifteen years, let’s keep the fingers crossed and I thank everybody involved in bringing it to this stage”.
Efforts of the local authority were also commended by Cllr David Griffin (FF) who acknowledged it is now up to the politicians to ensure the application gets a favourable response. “This is the first time we’ve gone for a large scale capital fund for the One Shannon Hub and it is now up to us on the political side to push to get the money”.
Director of Service for Finance, Investment and Enterprise with the Council, Noeleen Fitzgerald told the meeting that following the submission of the application the work “now commences seriously” for the Hub. She praised Ms Clifford, Morgan Lahiffe and Tomás Prendeville for compiling the application within three weeks.
She said a project plan is intended to be completed within the next week. “We need to have shovels in the ground by September 2027,” Noeleen stressed. “We will brief members as we go through detailed design, it is important to acknowledge that and Clare County Council’s commitment to the Clarecare building in Shannon, it is not our project but it is a very ambitious project of Clarecare which will be a further community space available in Shannon”.
In July 2023, contracts were signed between Clare County Council and BDP (Integrated Design Team) and Tom McNamara & Partners (Integrated QS & Project Manager) for the design of a multi-functional building known as the ‘One Shannon Hub’. BDP in 2022 were tasked by the Council with creating a Shannon Town Centre Masterplan which saw the Hub emerge as a key element. The site on which the Hub will be located is in the ownership of Shannon Commercial Properties but they agreed a 999 year lease with Clare County Council from August 2022.
