Ambitious plans for a digital technology hub at the former Dun Laoghaire ferry terminal have been scrapped by its developer in the absence of the necessary foreshore licence.
As recently as August, the Harbour Innovation Campus project was moving forward after securing planning permission almost a year after the scheme was announced.
However, in an email to interested parties as seen by Afloat.ie this evening (Monday 29 October), developer Philip Gannon said that a year after signing the lease on the former terminal building, “the landlords have still not secured the foreshore licence necessary to allow them to legally lease the building to us.
“Needless to say I am appalled by this fact, given all of the time and trouble that I put into this project. I spent nine months finding a suitable fit-out team that were due to start in January.
“When I told them that work could not commence until a foreshore licence was granted, they told me they don’t do ‘stand-by’ and would be starting on another project in the new year instead.”
Citing uncertainty surrounding the foreshore licence, and the difficulties involved in putting together a new fit-out team, Gannon said: “I felt that I had no option but to terminate the lease and find an alternative property elsewhere.”
He added: “I deeply regret that in the end, I was unable to make this vision a reality in Dun Laoghaire.”
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Gannon had been intending to invest €20 million in transforming the St Michael’s Pier building into the largest technology hub in Ireland, supporting up to 50 companies and as many as 1,000 jobs.
