Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, announces an increase in funding to €16m for the Rutland Street School Renovation Project under the URDF program, as part of Project Ireland 2040.
As a key activator of Project Ireland 2040 - the Government’s National Planning Framework and National Development Plan - the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund is driving regeneration and rejuvenation of strategic and underutilised areas within Ireland’s five cities, key regional drivers and other large towns.
The URDF provides planning authorities with the opportunity to coordinate their planned regeneration and rejuvenation of our large towns and cities with a stream of significant tailored Exchequer capital investment which will ensure that the right project is happening in the right place at the right time.
The complete refurbishment of the Rutland Street School is deemed a priority initiative to transform the North East Inner City area and the Government is fully committed to delivery of this flagship project, which was highlighted in the Mulvey Report 2017 “Dublin North East Inner City - Creating a Brighter Future”. The URDF funding announced today by Minister O’Brien is made alongside matched funding from Dublin City Council of €4m and an NEIC Implementation Board contribution of €1.6m.
The vision for the Rutland Street School project is a complete transformation to a multi-use Community Hub creating a new civic landmark and a catalyst for further social and economic regeneration in the North Inner City area. It is envisaged that the facility will operate community, youth and childcare services, social/recreational/educational activities and municipal services. The building will also provide multi-functional spaces for cultural, arts and music initiatives.
The refurbishment of the school, in tandem with the Council’s Greening and Public Realm strategies for the area, will open up Rutland Street as a link between the local shopping district of Talbot Street and the Sean Mac Dermott Street / Summerhill area. The refurbishment of this iconic local building will also open up the potential to develop adjacent Dublin City Council lands for complementary uses - mixed tenure housing, commercial, leisure and retail.
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Notes to Editor
The initial provisional URDF allocation for the Rutland Street School project was €8.9m based on the 2018 indicative estimated project budget of almost €12m. The revised URDF allocation is €16.3m, an increase of €7.4m. This is based on more accurate and up-to-date comprehensive project costings of €21.8m.
The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was launched in 2018 to support more compact and sustainable development. The Fund is providing part-funding for projects that will enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit.
The URDF is one of four funds established under the National Development Plan 2018-2027 and has a total allocation of €2 billion to 2027, with €150 million available to fund URDF- supported projects in 2021.
Already, the URDF is providing assistance for 132 projects that will contribute to the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns, in line with the objectives of the National Planning Framework and National Development Plan.
There have been two Calls for proposals under the URDF with a total of €300m allocated to date in respect of the 87 projects approved under Call 1 while in March this year URDF funding support of €1.3 billion was announced in respect of 45 projects approved Call 2.