A new project management delivery team has been appointed for the Cork Events Centre project, ministers have been told.
An update on the long-delayed project was brought to Cabinet on Wednesday by housing minister James Browne, who informed ministers that Cork City Council has completed the public tender process for the new project management team.
The team will now focus on preparing a new preliminary business case, prepare a timeframe for completion of the project, and prepare tender documents for the main project tender.
The department wrote to Cork City Council last October, advising that the procurement process should be commenced afresh for the Cork Events Centre.
As part of that process, the council was told to engage with the European Commission in relation to any possible atate aid issues, and project governance is overseen by a Project Development Board led by the council with representation from Government departments and agencies.
In April, the local authority tendered for a “suitably qualified consultant” to assemble and manage an expert team charged with delivering the various facets of the stalled project — from construction consultancy, to risk and safety management, and architectural services.
The contract, which has a maximum value of €10m, is set to last for four years, while the tender outlines its objective of “enhancing Cork’s metropolitan profile through the delivery of a fully operated multifunctional event centre with a capacity of approximately 6,000 persons”.
The tender is one of the first major steps taken by the project development board set up in the wake of last October’s decision by the Government to order a completely new procurement process.
It was decided last year that a new procurement process was required to ensure the project stayed in compliance with EU procurement laws.
The initial tender for state aid for an event centre in Cork was won in 2014 by Dutch construction firm and National Children’s Hospital contractor Bam, which has planning for a venue on South Main St. At that point, the available State aid was €20m.
The amount of available State funding has since risen to €57m as of 2021, with an additional €30m to €40m believed to be required to bring the project to fruition.
