Galway County Council has been awarded up to €6.6 million for the redevelopment of the Station House in Tuam into an enterprise and event hub.
The money announced this week will be used to redevelop the vacant and derelict Station House building on Vicar Street to create a state-of-the-art multi-purpose enterprise and event hub with co-working facilities and innovation spaces.
The project, which forms part of the wider Tuam Regeneration Strategy, aims to preserve the Station House’s place in the history of the town, while transforming the internal and external spaces to better serve entrepreneurship and social cohesion in the local area.
The Station House is a unique heritage building with significant architectural and artistic qualities and has links to the cultural and economic history of Tuam.
The funding for this project has been allocated under the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme (THRIVE) under the Northern and Western Regional Programme.
Director of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, Conall McGettigan, hailed the award for the Station House and said the THRIVE scheme would transform town centres both aesthetically and economically.
“The Regional Assemblies’ support balanced regional development and the revitalisation of towns as outlined in our Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies.”
“Today’s announcement is a positive example of the use of ERDF funding to assist heritage regeneration projects in some of our counties’ key urban centres, enabling local authorities and communities to revitalise a number of landmark heritage assets all over our region.”
THRIVE had an initial allocation of €30.7 million to support local authorities and their citizens to re-imagine town centres and to transform publicly owned vacant or derelict heritage buildings through renovation, renewal, and adaptive reuse. The funding is contingent on projects meeting certain conditions.
The projects must embed principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB), which is a European Union policy and funding initiative that promotes solutions that are not only sustainable, but also ‘inclusive and beautiful’.
NWRA Cathaoirleach Councillor Michéal Frain said that the scheme’s funding will, “empower local authorities in our region to revitalise historic buildings in town centres, blending preservation with modern needs and guaranteeing these valuable sites remain useful for generations to come.”
“The THRIVE projects referenced in today’s funding announcement will make a real difference,” Michéal added.
THRIVE has been co-designed by the NWRA alongside the Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Assemblies, and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to address European, national and regional policy objectives.
To qualify for a THRIVE grant to renovate a heritage building, local authorities must own the building and have first engaged in public consultation to establish how residents would like to see the building renewed.
