In 2004 Mr John O’Donoghue, TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism announced that the Government had agreed to develop a major sports campus on the State -owned lands at Abbotstown.
This was presented to Government and was endorsed for inclusion in the National Development Plan with a total allocation of €146 Million.
The initial phase of the project was to include:
- A National Field Sports Training Centre for Rugby, Soccer, Gaelic Games and Hockey,
- A National Indoor Training Centre providing world- class training facilities for over 20 Sports,
- Accommodation;
- Sports Science and Medical facilities, and
- All-weather synthetic pitches for community use.
This plan was later enlarged with Ministerial approval to also include Training Centres for Athletics, Gymnastics and Boxing respectively.
It was also agreed to provide administrative offices on site to enable many of the National Governing Bodies in Irish Sport to move their headquarters onto the Campus.
In order to deliver and manage the project, the Government set up the National Sports Campus Development Authority (NSCDA) which came into being on 1st January, 2007.
The NSCDA conducted an external competition to appoint both a Design Team and Project Management team. The Design contract was awarded to a team led by FaulknerBrowns Architects while the Project Management contract went to a team led by Davis Langdon PKS. Both companies have strong international credentials in their respective fields.
Since their appointment in April 2008, the combined teams have worked assiduously with NSCDA in designing a scheme which met the requirements of the main user bodies. This culminated in the lodging of a comprehensive Planning Application which had the full support of all the major Sports and of the Government. In July 2009, Fingal County Council conveyed its decision to Grant Permission. On the 26th August 2009, after the statutory period for Appeals had elapsed, the Authority was formally notified of the Grant of Permission with effect from that date. |
