CITY TRIBUNE
Masterplan unveiled for Seamus Quirke Road regeneration site
The proposed new Galway City West Primary Care Centre and Tusla buildings are just part of the overall masterplan for what is known as the ‘Seamus Quirke Road Regeneration Site’.
The site, which spans 9.5 acres and currently houses the T Ó hUigínn builders providers and yard, will also include apartments, student accommodation, cafés, retail space and an office block.
The healthcare elements account for around three acres of the site, with a masterplan for the remainder proposing (although not yet part of a planning application):
■ A block of 28 apartments ranging from two to four storeys in height;
■ A block of 42 student apartments ranging from two to four storeys over ground floor commercial space;
■ Cafe/restaurant units with overhead accommodation;
■ Retail units with overhead accommodation;
■ Five storeys of specialist office space over ground floor commercial space;
■ All built around a central public space.
The masterplan also mentions “measures to support the wider area designation as a pilot decarbonsation zone”.
Referring to the entire plan for the lands – including the Primary Care Centre – the masterplan states that the “building massing was developed on the site with reference to the Galway Urban Density and Building heights Study which gives guidance noting significant scope for taller heights along Seamus Quirke Road”.
“The massing moves from two-storey residential units along Rahoon Road and rises progressively across the site towards taller units along Seamus Quirke Road comprising a five-storey block and a feature none-storey block on the north-east corner of the site.
“It is proposed that the site uses this height at this prominent north-east corner to provide a distinct character and identity to the development along this main transport artery of the city.
“The proposed massing delivers sufficient height to provide enclosure to the central plaza space, but also considered the orientation of the site and path of the sun, so that the plaza space is afforded good quality daylight with minimal overshadowing,” the masterplan reads.
The blocks along Rahoon Road are proposed for residential use. The retail and café/restaurant units are at ground floor level and are arranged to provide frontage onto the Seamus Quirke Road. The specialist office block is located to the west of the development with an entrance at ground floor to the north of the block.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. A one-year digital subscription costs just €89.00. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
The Galway City Development Plan has zoned the site C1 ‘Enterprise, Light Industry and Commercial’ and notes it has capacity for a mix of uses including primary healthcare, commercial and office use as well as residential use in view of its advantaged location and proximity to key facilities, location along a public transport corridor and its adjacency to park facilities.
The Development Plan objective is to “improve connectivity, increase attractiveness, encourage more sustainable street level community interaction and activity and generally to improve the urban environment”.
The masterplan is included with the current planning application for information purposes only and does not form part of the application.
A separate planning application for apartments on the other Ó hUigínn lands – opposite the Maunsell’s Road junction – is still under consideration by the Council.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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