Things looking up for Limerick?

pigtown

I've noticed a lot of developments recently that in the long run could lead to good things for the city. We all know that Limerick has had its problems but I think the following could potentially lead to a renaissance in Limerick.

Local Government Reform

Limerick City and County Councils will merge by the 2014 local elections. This document outlines how this will be achieved. It will include the rationalisation of staff numbers and a re-organisation of departments, including a dedicated Regeneration department which will take over the various regeneration schemes in the city. A metropolitan area of 100'000 people will be established, allowing for a true representation of the city's population. City Hall will be the new authority's headquarters while the planning department will be based on the Opera Centre site.
It is currently being decided what the new political constituencies will look like.

One big criticism I have of this plan is that the suburbs in Co. Clare will still not officially be counted as part of the city. However it is planned that service agreements with Clare Co. Co. will see the new authority becoming de facto council for those areas.

Shannon Airport/Shannon Development restructuring

Shannon Airport has become independent of the Dublin Airport Authority, with its debt written off but without Aer Rianta International, which was originally established in the Shannon Free Zone. It is now free to pursue its own interests and aims to welcome 2.5 million passengers in 2018, up from the current 1.6m. 850 jobs are already secured to be located in an International Aviation Services Centre, however no indication as to a timeline for these jobs has been given. It's projected that within 5 years of such a centre being set up, 3'500 jobs will be created. The report for the Department of Transport is here.

Not as much information about Shannon Development has been given. However its tourism functions will transfer to Tourism Ireland, while some marketing staff will be transferred to the new Limerick Local Authority (officially named Limerick City & County Council but in my opinion that's a stupid name), within a department tasked with promoting the city.
The minor industrial estates in Askeaton, Kilmallock, and Newcastlewest will transfer to the new Limerick Authority, the Shannon Free Zone will transfer to Shannon Airport, while Raheen Industrial Estate and the National Technology Park at Castletroy will transfer either to Limerick Authority or IDA Ireland.

Education

The recent report into higher education in Ireland recommends that UL and Mary I evolve into an integrated centre for teaching while LIT should remain autonomous while deepening collaboration with UL and IT Tralee. Mary I are totally against such a merger with UL but agreement has been reached regarding the rationalisation of Liberal Arts courses. LIT meanwhile has launched an ambitious development plan that allows for the construction of a new campus at Coonagh Cross and massive expansion of student numbers to 8'500 by 2030.

UL seems to be scaling down the pace of new building on its campus, but it still plans an extension to the Arena. When funding is secured they plan to build a new pool, indoor climbing wall, and multi purpose hall. Their biggest plan is the €52million Bernal Project. This will be a new research building located between the Lonsdale Building and the bus stop. Modern universities are heavily reliant on research to obtain grants and this project will greatly increase ULs research capabilities.

Other Developments

Tax breaks have been introduced for the owners of Georgian buildings in the city centre. They will be able to write off the cost of renovating such buildings against income tax. Given that the vast majority of buildings in the city core are Georgian buildings, this could lead to a lot of upgrading work in the future.

Limerick-China Forum A new voluntary body comprised of representatives of the education, business, political, transport, and hospitality sectors has come together to discuss how Limerick can capitalise on visits made by Cllr. Jim Long to China when he was mayor. Investors from the Nanjing area are due in the city next month and this forum is a great example of a local initiative to bring investment to the city. Here's hoping it's the first of many.

There have been many calls and suggestions that the region is an ideal base for a freight hub, both sea freight in Foynes and air freight at Shannon Airport. An agreement that Lynxs would open a cargo hub at the airport was announced in 2011 but no more information is available on this project since. Another investigation into the potential of freight in the region has been launched by the Mid-West Regional Authority. This project is scheduled to be complete by 2014.

And finally some surprising news, vacancy rates in the city are lower than the national average, at 9%. There are less empty retail units in the city than this time last year.

Sorry for the incredibly long post, but I just thought that some positive news was needed on the forum as it all seems to be bad news at the moment.

Enright

A bit of positivity is very welcome

moby2101

Great post OP, all good news is badly needed

Brennans Row

Tax relief scheme for restoring Georgian houses

JOANNE HUNT and CONOR KANE

Thu, Feb 14, 2013

Urban renewal New “Living City” tax incentives are to be provided for the refurbishment of Georgian houses.

The incentives, aimed at encouraging people to live and do business in city centres, are to be piloted in two of the country’s most deprived areas – Limerick and Waterford.

Published yesterday as part of the 2013 Finance Bill, subject to EU approval, the scheme is designed to address urban regeneration. It will provide “modest” tax incentives for work to refurbish residential and retail buildings to bring them up to a habitable standard and will be targeted at owner-occupiers rather than property developers.

Pilot project

The Department of Finance says the residential element of the pilot project is about generating interest in Georgian buildings “with a view to attracting greater residential occupancy and restoring these areas to some of their former glory”.

“Attracting families back to these areas will provide an impetus for the areas to be reborn,” the department says.

The incentives are targeted at specific areas where Georgian houses are located, and residents will be able to claim tax relief for refurbishment at a rate of 10 per cent per year for 10 years against their income, but only for the years the house is their principal private residence. If the property is sold within the 10-year period, entitlement to the relief stops and the new owner will not be able to claim it. Acknowledging that residents need shops nearby, incentives to develop and upgrade retail premises in specific areas will also be offered.

Social deprivation

With unemployment rates of 28.1 per cent and 25.6pc, Limerick city and Waterford city are two of the country’s unemployment black spots. A measurement scale for social deprivation shows they are also the most deprived of the five cities surveyed, worse than Dublin, Cork and Galway.

“It has been decided that the pilot phase of the initiative will be targeted at two specific urban areas identified as being most in need of urgent action,” the department said.

It points out that the recession has had “a particularly hard impact on the southeast” with high-profile business closures as well as the loss of significant numbers of construction jobs, while in Limerick there has been a regeneration project taking place in recent years; “this will achieve little if the city centre ceases to be vibrant and self-sustaining”.

© 2013 The Irish Times

They will target owner-occupiers rather than property developers which should improve the emphasis on the maintenance of buildings.

Heritage groups like the Limerick Civic Trust and Irish Georgian Society need to get involved too as their experience in conservation would be very helpful.

I don’t know if the City Council has its own architect or not, but they need somebody employed to oversee this pilot project with a very strong heritage background.


How do we modernize and/or preserve these buildings?

• Interior redesign?
• Need for Lifts? (elderly people etc)
• Need for Fire escapes or replace the wooden stairs with a concrete one?
• Wooden floors or replace them with concrete ones?
• Toilets / Bathrooms? (original building did not have them!)
• Insulation?
• Sash windows, Doors?
• Decorative ceilings?
• Convert roofs?

pigtown

Brennans Row wrote: »

How do we modernize and/or preserve these buildings?

• Interior redesign?
• Need for Lifts? (elderly people etc)
• Need for Fire escapes or replace the wooden stairs with a concrete one?
• Wooden floors or replace them with concrete ones?
• Toilets / Bathrooms? (original building did not have them!)
• Insulation?
• Sash windows, Doors?
• Decorative ceilings?
• Convert roofs?

The thing about these suggestions is that the newest guidelines for restoring listed buildings is very strict in what is allowed. Essentially everything that can be preserved needs to be and what needs to be replaced must be a replica of what was there originally. So no concrete floors or stairs, or aluminium windows or the like. It's a few years since I read those guidelines so apologies if they've been relaxed since.

More good news, believe it it not but Limerick has one of the highest disposable incomes in the country. So where are we spending our money?

pigtown

Two new initiatives have been announced for the city.
The much heralded economic plan will be published on Friday. I am looking forward to see what ideas it outlines.

Limerick has also been chosen as a pilot location by Retail Excellence Ireland to implement a town plan to improve how the retailers in the city operate. They compare such a plan to how shopping centres operate, with coordinated opening hours and sales and the like.