THRIVE - the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme - was launched by Minister of State for Local Government and Planning Kieran O'Donnell TD on February 8. The scheme is run under Ireland's two European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Regional Programmes and is providing €120 million to support local authorities and their citizens to re-imagine town centres and to transform publicly owned vacant or derelict heritage buildings within those town centres through renovation, renewal, and adaptive reuse. THRIVE is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union.
THRIVE incorporates the core values of the New European Bauhaus - sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion. The scheme promotes a citizen-centred community-led approach to planning, design and project selection under the Town Centre First Framework. THRIVE is targeted at larger urban settlements - cities, regional growth centres and key towns - and is focused on publicly owned heritage buildings. Heritage buildings under the scheme are classified as structures that form part of the architectural heritage and have unique architectural, historical, archaeological or artistic qualities, or are linked to the cultural and economic history of a place.
THRIVE launched two calls for applications in February 2024.
Strand 1 applications relate to:
- integrated urban strategies and project pipeline development, including for the development and enhancement of integrated urban strategies,
- identification of projects that promote the conservation and adaptive reuse of our built heritage stock while reducing vacancy and dereliction in town centres,
- prioritisation, development and specification of project proposals to create a pipeline of investment-ready built heritage refurbishments, renovation and adaptive reuse projects.
Strand 2 applications relate to:
- Renovation and adaptive reuse of vacant or derelict heritage buildings.
- Delivery of selected pilot and pathfinder projects that will have a positive and transformative impact on town centre vacancy and dereliction and that will inform the approach for other towns at earlier stages in the process.
In April 2024, South Dublin County Council submitted an application for funding under Strand 1 for the development of a Masterplan for Lucan House and Demesne. This application was approved in May 2024 with €200,000 funding awarded to progress and develop a Masterplan.
Lucan House now presents a significant opportunity to develop a range of services and public amenities that coalesce to create a new visitor destination in the County. The Project represents an urban regeneration opportunity to transform Lucan House and Demesne into a best in class community and tourism model connecting communities and playing an instrumental role in the development of the County’s tourism proposition. It is envisaged that Lucan House will act as a public amenity and visitor destination and will both complement and be an asset for the immediate locality, the wider County and region. The exact nature of the future uses has yet to be determined. As such, a master planning approach is considered the most appropriate next step and will add significant value by ensuring the most up to date and best practice approaches to stakeholder consultation, concepts, urban design and land use planning are captured.
Following a public procurement process for the Masterplan of Lucan House and Demesne, Stephen Foley Architects have been appointed and work is now currently underway. It is anticipated that the masterplan will be complete by early Q2 2025.
Public and stakeholder engagement is a vital part of the masterplan process and as such, engagement with key stakeholders and the community shall commence in early 2025 to obtain views and opinions and actively continue right through concept design and proposed masterplan. We are in the process of developing a communications and stakeholder consultation programme for in-person consultation events and public engagement. Once finalised, full details of the masterplan process including opportunities for public engagement will be announced.
Overall, the conservation, regeneration and integration of Lucan House will connect the original Demesne with the village and its community, supporting the sustainable long-term use of this historic and architectural significant site adding to the built environment and cultural context of Lucan as a whole in supporting further town centre regeneration thus reflecting the ethos of the New European Bauhaus initiative by improving the quality of a place and providing access to all citizens.
This project is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the ERDF Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme 2021-2027.
