Big moves on Daingean town hall plan

Offaly County Council is pushing ahead with plans for a major €3.4m redevelopment of historic Daingean Town Hll.

The project involves the conservation, refurbishment, and development of the building, now a town hall, and which was previously Daingean Courthouse.

The council this week invited tenders for consultants, who are being asked to bring the project to the ready-for-construction stage.

The latest move comes on foot of the publication of a Conservation Masterplan, which was developed for the council by Howley Hayes Cooney Architecture.

The masterplan proposes creating a main hall to accommodate up to 150 people, for performances, lectures, and community events, with a digital hub or office space to be developed on the upper floor.

The council said the objective of the project is to ensure the building’s long-term preservation while creating work and amenity spaces that will contribute to the town of Daingean.

“Robustly built and featuring fine architectural details, Daingean Courthouse — once conserved and redeveloped — will not only enhance the local streetscape but also offer Offaly County Council and the wider community in Daingean valuable new public spaces for work, engagement, and recreation,” the council said.

The design consultants are being asked to undertake pre-project management work, including defining the project brief, identifying risks, forming the project team, and determining the feasibility of the project.

They will then proceed to develop a preliminary design, obtain planning permissions, and finalise a cost plan before finalising detailed designs and conduct a procurement process to select contractors and consultants.

Subject to further funding, the project will then be ready to proceed to construction.

Last year, a grant of €425,334 was allocated towards the regeneration of the former courthouse through the Rural Regeneration Development Fund.

This funding was matched by €106,334 from Offaly County Council’s Local Property Tax, bringing the total project grant to €531,668.

An indicative contract value for the design team has been listed as €480,000.

The contract is being offered as part of a much-wider framework worth €15m in design fees, covering 22 proposed heritage projects in five counties, including four more in Offaly. These are the Ferbane Convent redevelopment, the Royal Shannon Hotel project in Banagher, the Banagher Marina masterplan and Birr Courthouse regeneration.

The council said the proposed individual contracts under the wider framework would be offered on a project-by-project basis. The first project to be tendered under this framework is the Daingean Courthouse Project.