Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Councillors voted last night, with 35 in favour and five against, for the reopening of the Dún Laoghaire Harbour ferry terminal as a co-worker, incubator space.
Dún Laoghaire ferry terminal, which has lain idle for seven years, will be leased by the Council and open later this year.
The deal, which will see the publicly-owned building leased to Quartermaster Innovations Ltd for at least 13 years, was described at Monday night's council meeting as both a “shot in the arm” for the town and “privatisation beyond belief”.
As Afloat reported as far back as March 2020, Lapetus Investments Ltd, trading as Quarterdeck Innovation, has envisioned a “co-working innovation space” within the St Michael’s Pier terminal building.
It intends “to create a technology hub whereby small and medium-size businesses can collaborate in a community-based environment that promotes and fosters entrepreneurship, through a spirit of innovation and creativity”.
The project team is led by accountant Hilary Haydon, a past president of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Chamber of Commerce and former Chair of Nutgrove Enterprise Centre.
And it’s hoped the scheme could create more than 650 jobs after five years in the south Dublin port town — which will pique the interest of the waterfront yacht clubs among many other local stakeholders.
According to Owen Laverty, head of enterprise with DLRCoCo a key benefits of the Quarterdeck Innovation project include generating in excess of three quarter billion euros in wages during the lifetime of the project.
And the project emphasises integration with its location, positioning the hub as particularly attractive for marine technology and research.
Lapetus/Quarterdeck intends to repurpose the building’s interior as a “state-of-the-art innovation campus” proposing “sensational sea views from almost every desk”.
In addition, its ground floor level would be a ‘Food Hall’ acting as a common area for co-workers to relax away from their desks, and which would also be open to the public as “an opportunity for strong local community interaction”.
The project partners have also pledged to “assist and collaborate closely” with the feasibility study team for the National Watersports Campus being proposed for Carlisle Pier to help “improve the harbour’s infrastructure resulting in improved access, job creation and strong tourism potential”.
The company established by Haydon will pay rent to the council of €400,000 per year, starting in year two.
According to the Irish Times questions were raised about whether Mr Haydon had sufficient track record to develop the project, but Owen Laverty, said he had experience, had invested significant sums in the project and would have tenants in by the third quarter of this year. He described the project as “very exciting” repeatedly.
Proposals to develop the former Stena ferry terminal were first made in 2017 but later scrapped over licensing issues.
More in the Irish Times here including reaction from Councillors