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WATCH – Limerick’s World-class Gardens International opens

Pictured are from left: Michael Noonan TD, Louise Cotter, Project Architect from Carr Cotter Naessens Denis Byrne Architects and James Collins – Mayor of the City and County of Limerick. Picture: Sean Curtin/True Media.


Limerick’s World-class Gardens International opens

The doors of Gardens International in Limerick City have been officially opened.  

The 112,000 sq. ft development, which was opened by Michael Noonan T.D. in the presence of Mayor of the City and County of Limerick James Collins, has been completed to tenant fit-out stage after an 18 month, €17.6million build. 


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The project is built to LEED Gold standards, which is among the top international benchmarks for sustainability.

Limerick Twenty Thirty commenced the development at the site in 2017, which had stood half built for almost a decade after work had stalled mid-flight following the economic crash.

The development is a striking example of ‘old meets new’ as the project mixes the stunning architecture of the early 19th century Roches Hanging Gardens. This included roof-top gardens of exotic fruits, the Mercantile Building, the former General Post Office developed there a century later and a gleaming new build to the rear to form a brilliant architectural blend that sets a new standard for the city and region.

Speaking at the launch, James Collins, Mayor of the City and County Council, said that the level of ambition shown by choosing top international design and building standards is a statement about where Limerick has arrived at today.  “It’s a project that is a motif for a new Limerick.  We’ve built the very best because we want to attract the best.  It’s a build that respectfully and brilliantly merges old and new. 

It has raised the bar, created a remarkable new structure and standard here in the centre of Limerick. And I want to thank the elected members of Limerick City and County Council who took the leap of faith to originally back the Limerick Twenty Thirty concept to deliver jobs for Limerick through projects such as this development. ”

Michael Noonan said “This is an important and proud day for Limerick.  As Minister of Finance at the time, I was delighted to give my support to the Limerick Twenty Thirty project. Today validates the commitment and courage shown by Chairman Denis Brosnan, by Limerick City and County Council Chief Executive Conn Murray and others.  

They not alone had the ambition and the vision to go for this but today shows they deliver also. The first new tenant comes in here, shortly taking up over 50% of the space and I expect that the remainder will be let within the coming months, bringing new jobs and investment to Limerick.”

Denis Brosnan, Limerick Twenty Thirty Chairman, said “We made a commitment to the people of Limerick when we launched Limerick Twenty Thirty in 2016 that we would transform idle and disused sites in the city into world-class locations for jobs and investment.  Gardens International today shows that we do what we say.  Over half of it is already taken, the remainder is very close to being finalised and we’re moving already onto other sites. We’ve started as we mean to go on so this is an exciting time, a time of opportunity and promise for Limerick Twenty Thirty, for Limerick and the region.”

Conn Murray, Chief Executive of Limerick City and County Council, stated “Limerick Twenty Thirty was one of a number of ambitious outputs from our Limerick 2030 Economic and Spatial Plan unveiled in 2013.  We identified a number of key deliverables in that, including creating 12,000 jobs over the lifetime of the plan. We’ve already achieved that in Limerick in the five years since and Limerick Twenty Thirty is about ensuring we continue to build on that.”

Looking ahead to the next steps in the Limerick Twenty Thirty programme, Mr Murray stated  “With Gardens now complete and heading fast for full occupancy, we move onto the Opera site. This week Limerick City and County Council will lodge a planning application on behalf of Limerick Twenty Thirty for Opera, which will be the single most important project for this region in decades and includes a number of iconic new buildings, not least the new Revenue building.”

David Conway, Limerick Twenty Thirty CEO, said of the project “This is a proud moment for our team at Limerick Twenty Thirty. We’ve come a long way in a short time.  We’ve committed to, and delivered on, developing a world-class office development here at Gardens International. It’s a statement about the ambition of this city today and the ambition that Limerick Twenty Thirty is tasked with delivering on.”

For more information on Gardens International, click here

For more stories on Limerick 2030, click here

 

 

 

 

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.