Flood risk puts €200m retail revamp in jeopardy

Plans for the €200 million overhaul of Galway Shopping Centre may be sunk after the site was declared to be at ‘high risk’ of flooding.

Galway City Council has now sought a flood management and evacuation plan for the Headford Road site.

The owners of the centre were granted permission in 2010 for the redevelopment – which technically expired last week – and subsequently sought permission for a five-year extension of time.

However, city planners have written to Lindat Ltd pointing out that since the original application was made (in 2005), new requirements were introduced in relation to flood risk management.

“The site is located in an area identified as having a high probability of flooding and the [original] planning application was not accompanied by a Flood Risk Assessment.

“The applicant is requested to carry out a site-specific flood risk assessment for the site and to clarify in detail any mitigation measures intended to reduce or eliminate the risks due to flooding in the context of the nature of the permitted development which includes apartments and which may therefore require specific evacuation procedures,” the Council’s Director of Services for Planning and Transportation ordered.

The company now has until March 23 to submit the documentation, or the application will be refused.

Lindat previously said the project has not yet progressed because of the worldwide economic collapse.

The company – owned by Pat Doherty’s Harcourt Developments – had sought an extra five years to build the 53,400 square metre retail and residential development.

“This application was permitted at the beginning of 2010 in the middle of the national economic crisis. In this context, the basic reason for the development not commencing relates to the general funding/banking crisis which has occurred in the country over the last six years or so.

“The recent positive economic signs have indicated that the funding of this project will be achieved and that an extension of duration is warranted,” consultants told the Council.

The development will be arranged in four blocks ranging from six to eight storeys around a new public street, and they will include four anchor units (likely to see a major fashion name and Marks & Spencer join Tesco and Penneys); 90 smaller retail units in an internal mall, as well as cafés and restaurants; 84 apartments, as well as public and private amenity areas; municipal art gallery and music centre, as well as a theatre; more than 1,450 parking spaces.