Plans for a new water sports facility at University of Galway are going swimmingly, with planning approval granted by the city council.
The university intends to build a watersports facility on the north campus, near to the Quincentenary Bridge, to provide modern facilities for existing kayaking, rowing, and swimming clubs.
This will consist of two separate buildings. The two storey clubhouse will contain storage and repair facilities on the ground floor, along with a café, changing rooms, and a first aid station.
The first floor of the clubhouse will contain a training room, gym, test room, function room with kitchen, and offices.
A single storey boathouse will also be built on the northern end of the site, along with two floating pontoons on the bank of the Corrib for boats to come and go from.
Planning permission was granted by the city council with 17 conditions attached to it. The council stipulated that no alterations shall be made to the riverbank, or works done in the water, save for what was submitted in the application.
Environmental mitigation methods in line with what was outlined in the various reports submitted with the application must also be implemented in full, and the works must also be supervised by an archaeologist.
Public access to the river must also not be impeded in any way by the new water sports centre.
The university must also pay a contribution of €128,200 to the city council towards the provision of public services in the area facilitating the development.
“The proposed Water Sports Centre will cater for the needs of the University Watersports Clubs of Rowing, Kayak, and Sub Aqua,” a cover report with the application states.
“The new centre is designed to provide state of the art training facilities for watersports that NUI Galway has excelled at both national and international level.”
“This Centre will build on these performances, such as the most recent success of an Olympic medal at the Tokyo games.”
This move will see the university’s watersports teams move from their current location beside the weir, to a “more secure” and safer spot for river users.
