Progress on Edenderry’s €11.5m library and arts venue plan

Plans for a €11.5m community library and performance venue in Edenderry have taken significant strides forward in recent weeks.

Edenderry area county councillors were earlier this month briefed by architects appointed to design the project, which is to be based at the former Tesco site on JKL Street.

Initial designs have been prepared and councillors were informed of a potential timescale for the project.

Cllr Noel Cribbin has warmly welcomed the progresson the plans.

He said the preliminary drawings shown to councillors are now to be updated by the summer at which point it's expected the project will be sent forward for public consultation.

It's hoped the building could be developed by as soon as 2025.

Meanwhile, a site owned by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in Edenderry and which over 15 years ago was first earmarked as a location for decentralisation has been acquired by the council, as part of its masterplan for a wider area.

The site in the Blundell area was purchased by the OPW for €1.5m in 2007 and was due to house 97 decentralised public servants from HETAC, FETAC and NQAI.

The site has been recently acquired by Offaly County Council as part of the Edenderry Phase II project, which is designed to regenerate the Blundell area and facilitate the future construction of the new community library.

Funding of €2.1m was secured in January 2022 through the Rural Regeneration Fund 2021 for the acquisition, demolition and site clearance at the old Tesco site on JKL Street, along with purchase of the OPW site and the purchase of a site at the Fairgreen, as well as to provide funding for the design consultancy services for the new community library.

Offaly County Council will contribute a further €600,000 to complement the funding.

Cllr Cribbin welcomed work on the arts centre project and the former OPW site acquisition, which he said were part of the overall plan to regenerate the area.

The new building is expected to include a significant expanded and enhanced library, a performance area, rooms for artists, workshops space, and a multi-purpose venue.