Major Munster projects move ahead despite Covid-19’s impact

Artists impressions of how the €180m Opera Site will look.

Local authorities in Munster are pushing forward with major infrastructure projects including Limerick’s €180m Opera site and the planned Eastern Gateway Bridge crossing the River Lee in Cork.

Despite the global economic impact of Covid-19 and Ireland facing a 10% reduction in GDP this year, councils are proceeding with medium-term and large-scale commercial and transport developments in the region.

Limerick 2030, a special purpose vehicle created by Limerick City and County Council, plans to publish a tender for the demolition and enabling works for the city’s Opera site development.

Planning permission was granted in February for the development at Rutland Street close to the city’s Hunt Museum which will be the largest inner-city commercial development outside of Dublin.

The site will be redeveloped over a six-year period through a €180m investment to include a 14-storey landmark building at Bank Place, new residential and office accommodation, a new public library, retail units, bars and restaurants, and the renovation of the former Town Hall.

It is hoped the fully developed site will be capable of employing up to 3,000 people across a 450,000 sq ft campus accommodation.

It is planned to commence work on the project in the second half of this year. A prior information notice has been published in recent days alerting potential tenderers of the forthcoming contract.

Cork City Council has also published tender documents for the design of the initial stage of the Eastern Gateway Bridge that will cross from the skew bridge on the Lower Glanmire Road to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

As reported last week, the council is seeking a contractor to design the extension of Monahan Road that will provide access to the marquee site and connect to the future bridge development.

The road will be extended between the marquee site and Páirc Uí Chaoimh as far as the Marina allowing it to link up to the new bridge when it is developed at a future date.

The road extension will also provide access to marquee site where property developers Glenveagh are planning to build more than 1,100 homes in another element of the planned redevelopment of the Cork Docklands.

Both the Limerick Opera site and Eastern Gateway Bridge in Cork form part of the Government’s Ireland 2040 plan.