THRIVE-Carrick-on-Shannon

Carrick-on-Shannon - Town Hall building - Developed Concept!

In the Summer of 2023, Leitrim County Council approved the Carrick-on-Shannon Town Centre First Plan. This action-oriented strategy for the town was produced as part of the Irish Government’s Town Centre First initiative. This programme aims to create town centres that function as viable, vibrant and attractive locations for people to live, work and visit, while also functioning as the service, social, cultural and recreational hub for the local community.

The Carrick-on-Shannon Town Centre First Plan identified a wide range of potential improvements to the town centre under three key themes – improving connections with the river, improving the arrival experience and promoting town centre vitality and activity.

The Carrick-on-Shannon Town Hall Building is perfectly situated to contribute to the Town Centre First Plan objectives. This underused historic building enjoys a prominent location on Bridge Street with good access to the river front and People’s Park.

THRIVE is a national funding program that supports the renewal of urban centres through the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings. The program is co-funded by the Irish Government & the European Union and is intended to help revitalize local towns and villages.

Leitrim County Council recently secured THRIVE Strand 1 funding to carry out a project on the Town Hall building, Carrick on Shannon involving the carrying out of a feasibility study to determine a sustainable end use for the building and completion of the Part 8 process so as to allow for submission of a Strand 2 Thrive funding application to seek funds to develop the building.

Project Progress - Developed Concept

A2 Architects together with Allies and Morrison Urban Planners, were procured to complete the THRIVE Strand 1 project.

As part of the process, a public consultation had to be undertaken, to explore possible end uses for the building. A comprehensive programme of community outreach and engagement was undertaken. Resulting from the consultation, most of the possible end uses identified were community/tourism related.

A Part 8 submission was made by Leitrim County Council on Thursday 20th March 2025. The Part 8 was on public display from March 20th to April 17th with submissions to be received by 4.00 pm on May 1st, 2025. The Part 8 submission was approved at a meeting of Leitrim County Council’s Carrick on Shannon Municipal District held on the 12th of May 2025.

Following consideration of the various options presented, together with the resulting Business Case prepared by Indecon Consultants, Leitrim County Council together with Carrick on Shannon Town Team, ultimately concluded that the agreed sustainable end use of the building would be as a River Shannon interpretative tourism facility incorporating a multi-use indoor community space and an outdoor community garden space. This final end use idea was further developed at a second public consultation event held in the Market Yard and was met with overwhelming support from all who attended.

A further funding application has now been submitted under THRIVE Strand 2 in advance of the closing date of 30th May 2025 seeking funding for the capital element of the project to turn the Town Hall building into a River Shannon Interpretative Centre, community space and community garden. This is a competitive process, and successful applicants will be notified in due course.

View THRIVE Privacy Statement: Privacy-Statement-Thrive-Strand-1-Project-2024-Rev-001.pdf (size 155.7 KB)

Visit the Northern & Western Regional Assembly website at https://www.nwra.ie

“THRIVE is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the ERDF Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027”.