The team behind the plan to create an international China trade hub is aiming to have phase one up and running in three years.
Athlone Business Park Ltd wants to get a jump on rival bidders in England for the lucrative one-stop trade and exhibition centre, which will initially create 1,530 jobs.
The €175m first phase of the Europe China Trading Hub at Creggan, near Athlone, will provide a base for Chinese companies to promote business in Europe and across the western world.
John Tiernan, chief executive of Athlone Business Park Ltd, said it is aiming for construction to begin by the end of next year.
"It’s big, yes. Some people have been gobsmacked by the overall scale of the masterplan but that is only if everything comes to pass," he said.
The focus of the hub is to give executives and buyers on the US east coast easy access to the Chinese market without costly and time-consuming visa applications and travel.
The aim is to open phase one by mid-2015. If plans come to fruition and another five phases can be filled — an estimated €1.4 billion development — the full site would be operational by 2022, employing about 9,000 workers, two-thirds of whom must be Irish orEuropean.
It is understood Chinese money will finance the project and Irish banks will have no role in the lending.
The development — which will also have a special Irish section to promote domestic business — will house massive exhibition centres for buyers to assess products before placing bulk orders. While discussions have taken place with some Chinese manufacturers, no firms have signed up to base themselves at the Midlands facility.
Mr Tiernan said Athlone Business Park Ltd, whose directors include Aidan Kelly and Michael O’Sullivan, have been speaking to a number of Chinese investors over the last three years. They envisage that it will attract 1,750 visitors a day.
Phase one focuses mainly on showcasing and is a fraction of the overall 140-hectare plan, which also includes two five-star hotels, a Chinese palace and serviced apartments.
Read the article @ The irish Examiner
bps planning consultants
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
‘Shanghai on the Shannon’ plan gets positive welcome
The prospect of parts of the Midlands being turned into a "Shanghai on the Shannon" has been greeted positively in a region considered one of the country’s unemployment blackspots.
Reaction to news that An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the first phase of a large "Euro-Chinese Trading Hub" at Creggan, Co Westmeath, has broken along expected lines with local business and political interests welcoming the development, while environmentalists have expressed concerns about its potential negative impact.
There are more than 33,000 people on the Live Register in the Midlands.
The hub project was promoted by Athlone Business Park. Welcoming the decision, the chief executive of the business park, John Tierney, said it represented a significant step forward for the development. He said the company had not yet been in a position to sign up Chinese manufacturers or promoters for the project, but they had been in talks with potential partners.
He estimated that construction on the two major exhibition halls could begin next summer and open for business in 2015.
An Taisce, which appealed the original decision of Westmeath County Council to grant planning permission, said it noted yesterday’s decision by An Bord Pleanála.
An Taisce said it believed the vague nature of the planning conditions attached to what it described as a proposal of a "staggering size" was a serious concern. It also criticised the lack of global consideration of sustainability in the board’s ruling.
Fine Gael TD Nicky McFadden predicted the hub would bring thousands of jobs and a major boost for the economy.
Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy welcomed the go-ahead and claimed conditions imposed by the board would benefit the area, such as improvements to local roads and the provision of a frequent coach services to and from Dublin Airport for visitors to the trading hub.
However, former Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe warned that the €175m project could result in low-cost Chinese jobs displacing higher-paid European jobs at a faster pace.
Read the article @ The Irish Examiner
bps planning consultants
Reaction to news that An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the first phase of a large "Euro-Chinese Trading Hub" at Creggan, Co Westmeath, has broken along expected lines with local business and political interests welcoming the development, while environmentalists have expressed concerns about its potential negative impact.
There are more than 33,000 people on the Live Register in the Midlands.
The hub project was promoted by Athlone Business Park. Welcoming the decision, the chief executive of the business park, John Tierney, said it represented a significant step forward for the development. He said the company had not yet been in a position to sign up Chinese manufacturers or promoters for the project, but they had been in talks with potential partners.
He estimated that construction on the two major exhibition halls could begin next summer and open for business in 2015.
An Taisce, which appealed the original decision of Westmeath County Council to grant planning permission, said it noted yesterday’s decision by An Bord Pleanála.
An Taisce said it believed the vague nature of the planning conditions attached to what it described as a proposal of a "staggering size" was a serious concern. It also criticised the lack of global consideration of sustainability in the board’s ruling.
Fine Gael TD Nicky McFadden predicted the hub would bring thousands of jobs and a major boost for the economy.
Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy welcomed the go-ahead and claimed conditions imposed by the board would benefit the area, such as improvements to local roads and the provision of a frequent coach services to and from Dublin Airport for visitors to the trading hub.
However, former Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe warned that the €175m project could result in low-cost Chinese jobs displacing higher-paid European jobs at a faster pace.
Read the article @ The Irish Examiner
bps planning consultants
China 'trading hub' worth €175m planned for Athlone
An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the first phase of the massive “Euro Chinese Trading Hub” at Creggan, 2km from Athlone, including three major exhibition halls and other facilities totalling 102, 348sq m (1.1m sq ft). It is planned the €175 million first phase of the hub will be a base for Chinese companies to promote trade and commerce with Europe and the rest of the world. It is intended site will employ 1,530 people after an initial boost of 1,200 construction jobs.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
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Group behind Mater bid to launch campaign
THE CONSORTIUM behind plans to build a national children’s hospital beside the Mater adult hospital in Dublin has said it will unveil a public information campaign shortly to “fully demonstrate” how the Mater site remains the best location. Speaking on behalf of the Mater Misericordiae Children’s University Hospitals, chairman Donal Walsh said the consortium, comprising the Mater, Temple Street children’s hospital and the Rotunda maternity hospital, was “entirely confident” it would fulfil criteria set down by the National Paediatric Hospital Review Group.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
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Michelle Morrison secures order in privacy case
THE WIFE of singer and musician Van Morrison has secured a High Court order for disclosure of documents relating to her forthcoming legal action over a redevelopment of her neighbours’ home which, she says, has affected her privacy. Michelle Morrison secured leave from the High Court in October 2010 to bring a challenge related to the alleged failure of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to protect her family’s privacy when it was dealing with planning permission for work on a neighbour’s house on Sorrento Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin. The case has yet to go to full hearing.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Government keeps views quiet during application process
PLANS TO build a giant Europe China trading hub near Athlone may enjoy considerable public support locally, but the Government’s official view on the nascent project is far less clear. Fianna Fáil members in the last government, right up to former taoiseach Brian Cowen, were heavily lobbied in relation to the project, but contact with the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition appears to be limited to briefings of departmental officials.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Dublin couple claim events firm keeps them awake
Two doctors, husband and wife Paul Byrne and Niamh O’Sullivan, are to ask a court to restrain a “flagrant breach of planning laws” that is keeping them awake at night. The couple’s home at 73 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin, is a protected structure and the last of a terrace of houses that have, over the years, been turned into offices.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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