€20M town centre vision

Major capital projects advancing across the county

“Impressive” new plans for the multi-million euro redevelopment of Cavan Town centre will be unveiled to the public before the end of the month, The Anglo-Celt can confirm.

The much-vaunted and long-awaited Abbeylands project, with its vision to regenerate the core of the county town as a bustling civic and amenity space, is set to go to planning.

The blueprints will be published in the coming weeks to give an opportunity for public feedback. Once finalised, they will go before local councillors for formal approval. That’s expected between late March and early April 2023.

The near €20 million project was designed by DHB Architects in conjunction with Colm O’Murchu and Frank Cooney, Cooney Architects.

Tenders are not expected to issue until Q3, 2023.

the earliest, the council remain hopeful that ground will be broken in early Spring 2024.

Previously it was stated that plans for Abbeylands will see pedestrianisation prioritised over cars, and two options for Market Square flagged– one involving the current post office staying as is and improving the connection from Main Street through the historic abbey grounds.

The other option would involve building a new prominent post office type building with other functions on the corner of Townhall Street and Main Street with the space created becoming a new south-facing plaza.

Central to creating the new proposed public space are council plans to incorporate a remote working centre at the former McIntyre’s site, and a community services hub at Donohoe’s Foodfare, purchased in 2021 for close to €750,000.

Discussions with An Post, whose lands back onto Abbeylands and whose sorting office may need to be relocated, are “ongoing”.

“The vision is there. All the Masterplans are done. You’ll see that vision quite clearly in the planning documents coming through,” explained Director of Services, Brendan Jennings. “The latest iterations of the design are quite impressive and the public will see these in the coming weeks.”

Shannon Pot

The Abbeylands project is among a number of significant infrastructural projects progressing.

In February the council hope to unveil its design for pedestrianisation the proposed €6.4M Shannon Pot Discovery Centre, linked to the celebrated Cavan Burren Park. It follows a series of public consultations events in the west of the county in June last year.

To include a visitors’ building, tourist trails and an elevated viewing platform, Mr Jennings explained: “We hope to go to planning in February. Again that’s a Part VIII process, similar to Abbeylands, and running on very similar timelines. We’ll be finishing off our detailed design as the year goes on, then going to tender, with an intention for opening come Spring 2025.”

Sport campus

Finally, the consultancy team to lead the design of a new multi-million euro sports campus for Cavan Town is set to begin work in the coming weeks.

Almost €840,000 was jointly allocated to the local authority and Cavan County GAA Board towards the design of a new state-of-the-art, multi-sports facility.

The project is to be delivered on a phased basis in conjunction with the development a centre of excellence at Kingspan Breffni Park by Cavan County GAA Board.

An agreement is also in place with the neighbouring Royal School, which has plans to enhance its own sporting facilities.

It’s estimated the sports campus, to include 4G pitches for Gaelic football, soccer and rugby, playing areas for basketball and hockey, and facilities for badminton and tennis, as well as athletics, could cost as much as €30 million once finally delivered.

Mr Jennings said of the consultancy team awarded the design tender: “They’re due to commence work this month. They’ve a large body of work to do, right over the course of 2023. It’s a substantial project involving various stakeholders, and then seeking Part VIII planning in 2024.”

Key going forward is whether a new large scale sports capital grant will be made available by government. Whatever the case, Mr Jennings says the council plans to be “ready” to move forward. “Get the design done, the planning in place, and then be ready to avail of any opportunities that might come. But we need to be ready.”