€6.2m Punchestown racecourse redevelopment to begin in May

Punchestown will begin a €6.2m racecourse upgrade in May next year, with the work due to be completed by 2018.

The principal feature of the redevelopment will be a new grandstand in the area close to the final fence, incorporating a dedicated owners’ and trainers’ lounge, a public bar, a champagne bar, additional toilets and betting facilities.

This part of the development will cost an estimated €3.8m, with work on this phase due to start after the Punchestown Festival in 2017.

The first phase, due to start next May for completion by the end of the year, will include landscaping throughout the site, the provision of additional public seating areas and construction of a new permanent festival press room in addition to the existing press room.

Phase two will upgrade the festival reserved enclosure, with work starting after the 2017 Punchestown Festival and due be completed by March 2018.

Punchestown general manager Dick O’Sullivan said: “Punchestown is the home of Irish jumps racing and we are conscious that the venue must live up to such a title. Through hard work and a dedicated team, we have continued to develop and grow the Irish National Hunt Festival despite some difficult years.”

The project has been approved for a capital development grant aid of €2.5m by the board of Horse Racing Ireland.

HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh commented: “This is the third-largest amount of grant aid allocated to a racecourse under HRI’s current capital development programme.

“I am delighted that Punchestown’s financial position has improved so significantly that they are now in a position to progress such a major schedule of works over the next two years.”