Move of Markievicz pool for Metrolink costs up to 48 million euros – The Irish Times

The relocation of a public swimming pool in Dublin city center, which is to be demolished to make way for the Metrolink rail line, is expected to cost up to €48m, according to Dublin City Council.

The Markievicz Leisure Centre, located below the College Gate apartment complex on Townsend Street, has been slated for demolition since 2018 to make way for the subway line and train station near Tara Street.

The pool was renovated by the municipality in 2016 for more than 1 million euros. In October 2018, the council wrote to the National Transport Authority (NTA) asking them to reconsider their demolition plans. However, the NTA responded that the Metrolink site needed to connect to the Dart network on Tara Street.

The City Council has since searched for a new site for the pool and commissioned a feasibility study to consider alternative sites in the area. However, council members have been told that there is no land available in the town center and instead the council intends to build a new swimming and leisure center at Irishtown Stadium in Ringsend, more than 2.5km away.

“The study examined potential sites that could accommodate the expanded facilities and recommended Irishtown Stadium as the ideal location for the development of a modern sports center in the south town,” said Donncha Ó Dúlaing, Senior Executive Officer of the City Council. “No other publicly owned sites of appropriate size and correct zoning have been identified in the southeast area. Irishtown Stadium was identified as the only suitable site and presented a significant opportunity for improved facilities.”

The new pool would require the demolition of the oldest part of the existing stadium building, but the sports club buildings, four of the five all-weather training pitches and the full-size all-weather pitch would remain.

The new facilities, to be built over three floors, would include a 25-metre, six-lane pool, leisure/play pool, gymnasium, squash courts, cafe and five all-weather rooftop pitches for soccer, tennis or basketball. There could also be a range of “unconventional sports”, Mr Ó Dúlaing said, such as skateboarding, parkour – a type of obstacle course training – and bouldering, a climbing sport.

The cost of the new plant “could be between 40 and 48 million euros,” he said, with an average of 44.5 million euros. The council held talks with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), which is responsible for planning the Metrolink, in relation to the procurement of a new leisure centre, “including compensation and restoration costs”, said Mr Ó Dúlaing. It was expected “that the majority or a very significant contribution would come to the costs of TII”.

A similar pool move project in Coolock involving the planned closure of the rooftop pool at the Northside shopping center was valued at €10m by council last month.

A planning application for the Metrolink line from Swords and Dublin Airport to the city was submitted to An Bord Pleanála last September. If the project gets the green light, construction is scheduled to begin in 2025, with completion between 2031 and 2036.

However, the council is expected to begin development of the Irishtown pool well before that date, with a design team to be appointed later this year, with completion scheduled for next year and construction to be completed in 2026, although the council would do so won’t have money for the project if Metrolink doesn’t go ahead, Mr Ó Dúlaing said.

A spokesman for TII said it is working with the council to provide “any assistance needed in developing a policy plan aimed at moving the existing pool and associated facilities to a suitable alternative site before construction begins for Metrolink.” embarrassed “.