€200m shopping centre revamp gets green light

Date Published: 04-Mar-2010

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

An Bórd Pleanála has given the final go-ahead for the €200 million redevelopment of the Galway Shopping Centre on the Headford Road, which will quadruple the size of the centre and see the creation of 1,000 jobs.

It will see British retailing giants Marks & Spencer and Debenhams join Tesco and Penneys in a new ‘Liffey Valley’ type development in a series of blocks.

And it could see the removal of the Headford Road ‘magic roundabout’ to make way for a new ‘super-junction’, which it is claimed will lead to a 15% improvement in traffic flow – these arrangements must now be finalised with city officials.

The development will also see the creation of around 90 smaller retail units, a municipal art gallery, more than 200 residential units, cafés, restaurants and a leisure centre. It will take around five years to build in four separate phases and will have parking for almost 2,000 cars.

The decision has been welcomed by City Manager Joe MacGrath, who said it will be a major boost for the city economically and aesthetically.

“From the city’s point of view, this is a very welcome decision, both economically and for the future of retail development in the city,” Mr MacGrath told the Galway City Tribune.

He added that it would make the Headford Road “very much part of the city centre” and an area where the Council would like to see new retail space created.

City councillors backed the plans two years ago on the recommendation of Council officials, but it was subsequently appealed to An Bórd Pleanála.

Lindat Ltd – part of the Dublin-based Harcourt Developments group which owns the centre – first unveiled its plans for the centre in 2004, but the application has been dogged by planning delays due to its complexity for more than five years.

This week, An Bórd Pleanála granted final approval for the development, attaching a total of 31 planning conditions.

For more on this story see the Galway City Tribune newspaper.