All funding options being considered for County Hall revamp

GALWAY County Council are hopeful of appointing a project manager in the coming weeks to oversee their plans for a multi-million-euro overhaul of County Hall.

Last September, councillors agreed to proceed with plans to retrofit and extend County Hall on Prospect Hill in the city.

The new campus would be able to accommodate 606 staff and eliminate the need for the three sites they currently lease across the city. It is projected to cost €62million.

Tuam Cllr Shaun Cunniffe sought an update on the significant project at week’s plenary meeting and asked how the development was going to be paid for.

Project costs unchanged

“The costs for the project have not changed and are anticipated to be the same as was discussed with councillors last year,” explained Director of Services for Buildings and Facilities Michael Owens.

“We expect a project manager to be appointed in the next few weeks, alongside a financial manager. They will review all possible funding streams for the project, such as potential government grants and schemes or a loan.

“We are at the early stages of this project, only the costing and planning stages have been approved. Should a loan be the recommended way to pay for the project, this would still need to be approved by councillors at a future meeting.”

Revamp will help cut council's emissions

Plans to revamp County Hall were driven by the need to create more office space for the council’s employees.

It would also help to meet their target of cutting emissions by 51 per cent and improve the Building Energy Rating (BER) at County Hall by 2030.

Planners had been looking at various options to meet these goals. They included carrying out an accelerated retrofitting programme at County Hall, while continuing to lease three other properties or moving to a new 10,079 sqm facility at a greenfield site.

However, the preferred option was to retrofit and extend County Hall. The project could be delivered by the summer of 2031, with a potential fast track version of the project completed before the end of 2030.