PorterShed move a boost for innovation

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The move by the PorterShed innovation centre to two new locations off Market Street and Bowling Green will mean that the enlarged facility will have 380 spaces available for budding entrepreneurs over the next two years.

A grant of over €1.2 million from the Regional Enterprise Development Fund – announced this week by Government TDs – will facilitate the transfer of the current PorterShed operation to a site off Bowling Green.

The 130 slots currently occupied at the PorterShed’s facility located close to the back of Ceannt Station will now transfer to a two-storey warehouse building, once known as ‘Naughton’s Shed’ adjacent to the Market Street car-park.

In addition to that, 250 extra innovative positions will be created in the office section of the Connacht Tribune property – a development that has already secured grant aid of over €2.4 million from the Regional Enterprise Fund.

The PorterShed enterprise have negotiated a long-term lease on both properties from the Headspace group – owned by Galway property developer Michael Maye – with the Connacht Tribune newspaper operation due to move to a new site in the city next March.

Over recent years the Connacht Tribune office building and printworks – along with the Market Street car-park and the adjoining warehouse building – were acquired by the Headspace property development group.

Mary Rodgers, Innovation Community Manager with the PorterShed, told the Galway City Tribune that they expected to go for planning by the end of February after extensive consultations with local residents.

She said that all things going well, they expected to be up-and-running at the Bowling Green facility by the end of this year with the Connacht Tribune office part of the project likely to be completed in 2021.

“This is a real good news story for this part of the city with our current capacity increasing from 130 to 380 when both facilities come on stream.”
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