Multi-functional events centre (Budget 2014)

Fabio

Good news!

shnaek

Michael.. wrote: »

More in The Examiner today about it. The new tender stipulates a start date of 5th January.

It's good to see some set dates instead of having an open ended mess where no one knows what's going on.

I think the old tender specified the 1st of June this year as the start date, so I'm not sure those start dates mean too much.

D'Agger

Glad to hear the process is back moving at least - hopefully some great strides will be made in the coming months - something like this is huge for Cork with regard to bringing some life/vibrancy to the city.

BUNK1982

I'm not sure if this will ever get the go ahead with the City Council involved.

From what i've seen and read so far they don't have a good track record and have already managed to make a mess of this first time around.

who_me

BUNK1982 wrote: »

I'm not sure if this will ever get the go ahead with the City Council involved.

From what i've seen and read so far they don't have a good track record and have already managed to make a mess of this first time around.

That probably can only happen if the council funding is withdrawn too - I can't see them handing over a grant of €4m+ with no conditions attached. Given funding was one of the reasons Live Nation withdrew, it'd probably leave us in a worse situation if the public funding were reduced.

It seems like both submitters are still interested which is good news. I just hope we don't end up with another Mahon Point scenario where the event centre never materialises as part of the development.

D'Agger

Was that supposed to be part of Mahon Point?

The more I think about it, the more I'd like to see it on the Beamish site - something so central would be great for City business and generate a buzz around the city centre which is badly needed.

Fabio

Owen O'Callaghan was supposed to build an event centre at Mahon Point. He had to pay a penalty fee to the City Council for not doing so which, I think, was just pocket-change reallly.

evilivor

Fabio wrote: »

Owen O'Callaghan was supposed to build an event centre at Mahon Point. He had to pay a penalty fee to the City Council for not doing so which, I think, was just pocket-change reallly.

It was a Trade Centre and the penalty fee was just over €6 million.

D'Agger

evilivor wrote: »

It was a Trade Centre and the penalty fee was just over €6 million.

:eek: how big was the trade centre supposed to be??

It wouldn't have been a bad spot for something like that - busses going out there, not a long taxi ride from the Northside or City & with the tunnell and south link it mightn't have been the worst for congestion....barring trying to leave the area! :pac:

Bacchus

D'Agger wrote: »

:eek: how big was the trade centre supposed to be??

It wouldn't have been a bad spot for something like that - busses going out there, not a long taxi ride from the Northside or City & with the tunnell and south link it mightn't have been the worst for congestion....barring trying to leave the area! :pac:

Really? Mahon SC is regularly moaned about for having terrible infrastructure around it. The road network is already under severe pressure from the business parks, the residential hub and the shopping center. The buses you refer to is a 'once every 30 minutes' route to the city center, that at peak traffic hours is painfully slow and packed to capacity with commuters.

As an aside, the place is a disaster now for parking too with all the new companies set up there. The roads around City Gate & the NSC are littered with cars parked there for the day.

I can only imagine how bad things would be if there was a huge trade center there too. Glad it never got the go ahead.

D'Agger

Bacchus wrote: »

Really? Mahon SC is regularly moaned about for having terrible infrastructure around it. The road network is already under severe pressure from the business parks, the residential hub and the shopping center. The buses you refer to is a 'once every 30 minutes' route to the city center, that at peak traffic hours is painfully slow and packed to capacity with commuters.

As an aside, the place is a disaster now for parking too with all the new companies set up there. The roads around City Gate & the NSC are littered with cars parked there for the day.

I can only imagine how bad things would be if there was a huge trade center there too. Glad it never got the go ahead.

My point was - there's infrastructure there - it's simply not organized well as it stands - you can use the link to get to and from Mahon Point, it's the 4 sets of traffic lights at the junction after it that bottle it up.

They need a car park out there to facilitate the company growth in the past few months alright and you'd have to imagine if the had put one out there then the bus service used would have to run more regularly.

If an event centre was put out there then you'd obviously need to look at how people get to an from the place - Beamish & Crawford site will absolutely have to look at it.

Bacchus

D'Agger wrote: »

My point was - there's infrastructure there - it's simply not organized well as it stands - you can use the link to get to and from Mahon Point, it's the 4 sets of traffic lights at the junction after it that bottle it up.

There really isn't. 1 road in and out is not an infrastructure. There are massive problems with traffic in and out of Mahon and it is not the traffic lights fault. The traffic lights are the only thing maintaining some sort of order to proceedings. The bottleneck at the tunnel compounds the traffic problems further.

Between 16:30 and around 18:00 traffic moves at a snails pace through Mahon. The mornings aren't quite as bad but still suffer from the same problem of all the traffic having to flow through the one road.

D'Agger wrote: »

They need a car park out there to facilitate the company growth in the past few months alright and you'd have to imagine if the had put one out there then the bus service used would have to run more regularly.

If an event centre was put out there then you'd obviously need to look at how people get to an from the place - Beamish & Crawford site will absolutely have to look at it.

There's been huge growth out in Mahon in the past 2 years and there's not a sign of a new car park or improved bus service to be had. What makes you think it'd have been different if they put in a trade/event center? There's no evidence to support that. I'm not even sure how much either of those things would help with traffic anyway. A bus service just isn't an option for most people travelling to work/shop in Mahon.

As it stands Mahon is turning in to a disaster to get to/from at peak times. This is something I really hope gets addressed by the city/county council soon though I'm not really sure what could be done. It's a fairly well built up area, with not much room for more roads. A fly over for the roundabout on the far side of the tunnel may help. Anyway, this is going a bit off topic

CHealy

In the Echo today saying if this isnt fast tracked we'll lose the government 10m funding. No doubt this wont happen due to the incompetence/stubbornness of someone down here, a reoccurring issue with developments in Cork it seems.

Fabio

Bloody tumbleweed again.

What's the betting we'll lose the government grant for this? I can see it happening.

D'Agger

Fabio wrote: »

Bloody tumbleweed again.

What's the betting we'll lose the government grant for this? I can see it happening.

Sure initial tenders aren't due in for another two weeks aren't they?

Won't hear much until then I'd imagine.

mire

Tender deadline was last Friday 17th afaik

Pitcairn

It was discussed in City Hall last night. The same two applicants are involved in this second process and officials said they should have a decision before Christmas.

D'Agger

mire wrote: »

Tender deadline was last Friday 17th afaik

Well according to this IE article the below is the schedule so the tender doesn't get officially submitted until October 8th....whether parties need to involve themselves in the preceding events I'm not sure!


Deadline for response to contract notice: | September 17
Evaluate suitability:| September 22
Invitation to participate in the competitive negotiated procedure:| September 24
Submission of initial tenders:| October 8
Commencement of negotiation: | October 17
Submission of final tenders: | November 14
Contractual process: | November/December 2014

Thepikapi

At this stage I honestly don't give a feck as to what site they choose, we just desperately need an events centre... Anyone else feeling the same?

Bacchus

Agreed. It's getting to the point where by the time they build the thing I'll probably will have moved out of the city and will have... other commitments that will prevent me having a night out anywhere, never mind this events centre :pac:

CHealy

I'm starting to accept the fact that we'll never be able to have anything nice.

who_me

Bacchus wrote: »

Agreed. It's getting to the point where by the time they build the thing I'll probably will have moved out of the city and will have... other commitments that will prevent me having a night out anywhere, never mind this events centre :pac:

Optimistic! By the time the event centre opens, your... commitments will have moved out and maybe even have... commitments of their own

opus

Spotted this on the Beamish site this morning, what's going on there

clerk

opus wrote: »

Spotted this on the Beamish site this morning, what's going on there

Got to love the way you can't read the "date" for objections, yet the signature is clearly visible at the bottom.

The date must have 'errmmmmmmmmm' washed off in the rain. Funny that. :eek::D:p

mire

Assume this is the City Council assisting with the tidying up of title. Often happens on large sites where there are ambiguities and complications surrounding land ownership.

who_me

mire wrote: »

Assume this is the City Council assisting with the tidying up of title. Often happens on large sites where there are ambiguities and complications surrounding land ownership.

Interesting - how does this work? Is this a "just in case" application, or are they definitely purchasing it? Seems odd to be doing this when the event-centre decision hasn't even been made - publicly at least.

Pitcairn

who_me wrote: »

Interesting - how does this work? Is this a "just in case" application, or are they definitely purchasing it? Seems odd to be doing this when the event-centre decision hasn't even been made - publicly at least.

It's one of the oldest sites in the city so perhaps there's a section of land that Heineken don't own. The council can acquire it compulsorily and then sell it to them for a nominal fee.

Event centre or not it'd be important that no minor land issues delay the redevelopment of the site.

Meursault

Cork badly needs this events centre. The success of the Marquee underlines this. I would prefer the Beamish site. it would bring some life back to the city centre. Parking, access, etc, may be an issue.

At this stage, as someone already said above, i would be delighted with either location, as long as we get the events centre. The amount of money the city is losing with people having to go to the O2 in dublin, must be enormous. you could also probably add in people coming from nearby counties for big gigs. here's hoping it gets the go ahead.

forzacalcio

Why is this not laminated?

Fabio

It is. But I thought not for a second...if we can't laminate something then how can we build an event centre?!