Lucey defends Cork events centre selection process
Tim Lucey was last night responding to criticism from Fine Gael councillor John Buttimer who complained that councillors — who will eventually sign off on the release of €6m of city council funds to the chosen developer — have had no input into the selection criteria which will be used to asses the projects bidding for a €16m kick-start fund to secure the project for Cork.
“If we’re [the city council] going to be spending €6m of public funds on this, we have to have some input into the factors to determine which one gets built,” Mr Buttimer said.
“I am not happy with the exclusion of councillors from the pre-tendering process phase and it ignores the contribution the city council has to make.
“We are charged with developing a city development plan but cannot make a contribution to the most significant project in the city for decades.”
However, Fianna Fáil councillor Tim Brosnan said councillors should stay out of the process.
“The professional planners and civil servants are answerable to us,” Mr Brosnan said.
Work on finalising the selection criteria is still under way.
City manager says the preferred bidder will be the one which is most economically advantageous to the city #corkcc
— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) January 13, 2014
In a report to council, Mr Lucey said that he published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the EU last Friday inviting expressions of interest within the next 30 days from interested parties for inclusion in a list of parties to move forward to a competitive dialogue phase.
“The competitive dialogue phase will ultimately conclude with a procedure for the submission of final bids which then become the basis upon which a recommended product will emerge,” he said.
If we are giving €6m to a developer, we should be aware of the criteria being used to select preferred bidder, @SeanMartinFF says #corkcc
— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) January 13, 2014
Two developers — O’Callaghan Properties, and a joint venture by Heineken Ireland and BAM Contractors, are considered front- runners to secure the €16m incentive fund — €10m from the Government announced in the budget and which will be channelled through the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and an estimated €6m from the city council.
Owen O’Callaghan has planning for a €50m 6,000-capacity events centre on Albert Quay.
A €50m 6,000-capacity events centre is the focal point of Heinken/BAM’s €150m Brewery Quarter regeneration of the former Beamish and Crawford site on South Main St.
Planning permission isstill valid for an events centre on the old Ford distribution site near Páirc Uí Chaoimh, proposed by Howard Holdings.
A team comprising Price Waterhouse Coopers, IMD Group UK, international market experts on event venues, and quantity surveyors, KMS Consulting, has been appointed to assess the bids which will emerge over the next month.
Mr Lucey said he hopes that the process will be completed by May.
He declined to comment further to “protect the integrity” of the process.
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