Port Development Plans for Waterford and Limerick Accelerate
A huge tower twice as tall as Dublin’s Liberty Hall is proposed as part of an urban development in Waterford docklands.
The Water Haven development will incorporate a 156-bedroom hotel, 22 floors of apartments above 10 floors of offices in the central tower and a marina and leisure centre, while the possibility of a light rail system servicing the site has also been flagged by the developers. The plan includes a 119-metre, 32-storey building with apartments and offices.
The project which is currently costed at €380 million is planned for a 13-acre site formerly owned by Waterford Stanley beside the river Suir at Bilberry in Waterford city. A planning application is due to be lodged soon with Waterford City Council by the design team led by CJ Falconer & Associates. The site, a former iron foundry was designated as a potential development site in the 2007-2013 Waterford City Development Plan.
According to the developers, the Bolster Group, the project will also house a “sky view” section “offering unprecedented views of Waterford city, east Co Waterford and south Co Kilkenny”.
The hotel will include a large conference centre with a 500-delegate capacity. A leisure and fitness centre with a gymnasium and spa and swimming pool is included, while the scheme also includes marinas with 80 berths.
The proposal includes a proposed extension of the existing Waterford and Suir Valley Railway, to allow the train run to the site of the former Waterford South railway station at Bilberry. “The railway works will also leave open the possibility of light rail ultimately running along Waterford’s south quays,” a spokesperson for the Bolster Group said.
A total of 395 one, two and three-bedroom apartments is incorporated in the development, along with children’s play areas.
Speaking about the Water Haven project, William Bolster stated that the site provided an opportunity to create a new gateway to Waterford.
“With work continuing at a great rate on the Waterford city bypass, including the second river crossing just upriver from our site, there will be a whole new experience for those approaching Waterford by rail and road within the next couple of years,” he said at the design launch.
“This will help enhance Waterford’s appeal as a genuine riverside city and meets the sustainability objectives of strengthening the city’s core and making the best use of available lands.”
Waterford-based Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Martin Cullen, recently called for large-scale developments to proceed in Waterford City.
Minister Cullen said: "We certainly need to see some major developments commence in Waterford City and indeed, the immediate environs. We now really need to see the cranes appearing over the city and those developments to go ahead. There is a number of developments both within the city centre area and peripheral to the city that I believe are essential now to commence”.
Meanwhile, a report outlining Government proposals for Limerick Docks will be published later this month.
The former director of the Mid-Western Regional Authority Tom Kirby was asked by the Shannon Foynes Port Company, which run the docks, to draw up the report.
It is expected that this report will form the basis for a blueprint for development of Limerick docks.
In 2006, a major plan drawn up by the former chief executive of the port company, Brian Byrne, met with sustainance resistance from Limerick port users and local politicians.
The plan envisaged developments of the docks as a commercial, financial, retail, residential and recreational centre and the abandonment of their original port facilities.
At the time, Mr. Byrne stated that the proposed sale would release vital additional money for the ongoing redevelopment of Foynes Port; one of the premier deepwater multimodal ports in the country. The report stated that a key component of the proposals is the extension of downstream port facilities, which is being planned to coincide with the future needs of the existing port users in Limerick docks. The port users nevertheless voiced their opposition to the plan as they would have to transfer their import and export operations to Foynes, 40km down the Shannon Estuary, and to other ports.
The Kirby report is due to be given to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and members of the SFPC board within three weeks.
http://www.examiner.ie/story/ireland/gbausnmhoj/rss2/
http://www.waterford-today.ie/
http://www.independent.ie/business/commercial-property/iconic-tower-to-lead-8364380m-waterford-urban-quarter-1355876.html
http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/2008/04/waterford-tower-to-be-twice-as-tall-as.html
http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/2008/04/docks-plan-due-this-month.html
http://www.bolstergroup.com/bolster-properties/latest-news/plans-unveiled-for-380m-iconic-riverside-development-in-waterford.html
http://www.bolstergroup.com/bolster-construction/latest-news.html
http://www.sfpc.ie/news058.htm
The Water Haven development will incorporate a 156-bedroom hotel, 22 floors of apartments above 10 floors of offices in the central tower and a marina and leisure centre, while the possibility of a light rail system servicing the site has also been flagged by the developers. The plan includes a 119-metre, 32-storey building with apartments and offices.
The project which is currently costed at €380 million is planned for a 13-acre site formerly owned by Waterford Stanley beside the river Suir at Bilberry in Waterford city. A planning application is due to be lodged soon with Waterford City Council by the design team led by CJ Falconer & Associates. The site, a former iron foundry was designated as a potential development site in the 2007-2013 Waterford City Development Plan.
According to the developers, the Bolster Group, the project will also house a “sky view” section “offering unprecedented views of Waterford city, east Co Waterford and south Co Kilkenny”.
The hotel will include a large conference centre with a 500-delegate capacity. A leisure and fitness centre with a gymnasium and spa and swimming pool is included, while the scheme also includes marinas with 80 berths.
The proposal includes a proposed extension of the existing Waterford and Suir Valley Railway, to allow the train run to the site of the former Waterford South railway station at Bilberry. “The railway works will also leave open the possibility of light rail ultimately running along Waterford’s south quays,” a spokesperson for the Bolster Group said.
A total of 395 one, two and three-bedroom apartments is incorporated in the development, along with children’s play areas.
Speaking about the Water Haven project, William Bolster stated that the site provided an opportunity to create a new gateway to Waterford.
“With work continuing at a great rate on the Waterford city bypass, including the second river crossing just upriver from our site, there will be a whole new experience for those approaching Waterford by rail and road within the next couple of years,” he said at the design launch.
“This will help enhance Waterford’s appeal as a genuine riverside city and meets the sustainability objectives of strengthening the city’s core and making the best use of available lands.”
Waterford-based Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Martin Cullen, recently called for large-scale developments to proceed in Waterford City.
Minister Cullen said: "We certainly need to see some major developments commence in Waterford City and indeed, the immediate environs. We now really need to see the cranes appearing over the city and those developments to go ahead. There is a number of developments both within the city centre area and peripheral to the city that I believe are essential now to commence”.
Meanwhile, a report outlining Government proposals for Limerick Docks will be published later this month.
The former director of the Mid-Western Regional Authority Tom Kirby was asked by the Shannon Foynes Port Company, which run the docks, to draw up the report.
It is expected that this report will form the basis for a blueprint for development of Limerick docks.
In 2006, a major plan drawn up by the former chief executive of the port company, Brian Byrne, met with sustainance resistance from Limerick port users and local politicians.
The plan envisaged developments of the docks as a commercial, financial, retail, residential and recreational centre and the abandonment of their original port facilities.
At the time, Mr. Byrne stated that the proposed sale would release vital additional money for the ongoing redevelopment of Foynes Port; one of the premier deepwater multimodal ports in the country. The report stated that a key component of the proposals is the extension of downstream port facilities, which is being planned to coincide with the future needs of the existing port users in Limerick docks. The port users nevertheless voiced their opposition to the plan as they would have to transfer their import and export operations to Foynes, 40km down the Shannon Estuary, and to other ports.
The Kirby report is due to be given to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and members of the SFPC board within three weeks.
http://www.examiner.ie/story/ireland/gbausnmhoj/rss2/
http://www.waterford-today.ie/
http://www.independent.ie/business/commercial-property/iconic-tower-to-lead-8364380m-waterford-urban-quarter-1355876.html
http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/2008/04/waterford-tower-to-be-twice-as-tall-as.html
http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/2008/04/docks-plan-due-this-month.html
http://www.bolstergroup.com/bolster-properties/latest-news/plans-unveiled-for-380m-iconic-riverside-development-in-waterford.html
http://www.bolstergroup.com/bolster-construction/latest-news.html
http://www.sfpc.ie/news058.htm
Labels: Foynes Port, Limerick Port, Ports, Property Development, Waterford Port
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