Planning permission has been granted for the Waterford North Quays Strategic Development Zone from from Waterford City and County Council.

The Waterford North Quays project will assist the regeneration of the regional economy in a sustainable manner.

North Quays is over eight hectares of urban regeneration on a stunning, south-facing 1km historic quayside waterfront in the centre of Waterford City. The site consists of a sustainable transport hub, will be the largest mixed-use real estate development in the South East of Ireland’s €18bn economy for the 603,000 people living in the South East’s 60-minute catchment. The exciting project will see a new city-centre skyline emerge for Waterford city centre.

Speaking about the granting of permission, Rob Cass, Director, Falcon Real Estate Development Limited said: “We are delighted at the decision of Waterford City and County Council to grant full planning permission for the North Quays SDZ Project.  This is the culmination of four years of hard work with a significant effort made by many but particularly, the community and stakeholders of Waterford and the South East itself.”

“The North Quays redefines a new and exciting vision for the City, supporting and enhances a vibrant public realm and kicks off a very exciting decade ahead for Waterford and the South East region as the delivery of North Quays sees the potential of the city-region start to be unlocked, as a destination for people across Ireland and beyond to come and experience.”

The total combined estimated private and public investment in North Quays is over €500m, with the North Quays development delivering nearly 2,900 full time jobs on the development itself by 2023, primarily in the offices aspect and secondarily in the services sectors – and a further 4,500 indirect jobs in the community. The development is the culmination of partnership with local authorities, state bodies and government departments that see North Quays act as a catalyst to unlocking overdue funding for Waterford and the South East.

“In getting to this vital milestone, we would like to thank the community for their submissions and inputs to plans, our Development Team, Commercial and Funding Partners, local authorities, state bodies and government departments for their extremely hard work and collaboration in making one of the most important projects in Waterford and South East’s history,” Rob concluded.

Project

Subject to the confirmation of the DHPLG (or other relevant Agency) for the funding of the infrastructure happening before the end of August, Falcon Real Estate Development is purchasing the whole of the North Quays site from Waterford City and County Council, and then immediately commence both further commercialisation and in parallel, detailed design and contract award to general contractors. Construction work on the podium and piling aspect of the site itself is targeted to start by Christmas 2020 in tandem with the Government infrastructure programme plan that has already begun on the roads, with the bridge and rail programme due to commence upon funding confirmation from the government.

Waterford North Quays, an eight-hectare real estate mixed use scheme, was conferred SDZ (Strategic Development Zone) designation by the Government in 2016. The North Quays development will provide over 2,800 new jobs on site by 2023 and over 4,500 indirectly in the Waterford City Region.