Athlone's IDA park to expand with new advance office block
Tenders being invited for contractors to build 32,000 sq ft facility
The IDA's Business and Technology park in Athlone is set for further expansion, with a contractor currently being sought to build a 32,000 square foot advance office building there.
The project is designed to facilitate future job growth in the area by making new facilities available for occupation by companies looking to expand or relocate to Athlone.
The construction project at the industrial park on the Dublin Road went out to tender last week, with December of this year the anticipated start date for work on site.
The construction project is expected to take 15 months, meaning that if all goes according to schedule the new facilities would be ready for occupation inside the first half of 2022.
The IDA park in Athlone is currently home to several multinational firms including the NPD group, Almac, and KCI Manufacturing.
The advance office building development is part of a regional property programme which has been undertaken by IDA Ireland over recent years, and which previously included the construction of a two-storey advance technology building at the IDA park in Athlone.
In December of last year, then-Minister Heather Humphreys turned the sod on a new advance technology building in Monaghan and stated that further Government funding was being made available for advance buildings at IDA sites in Sligo, Athlone, Carlow and Dundalk.
According to the tender documents, the new office block in Athlone will be approximately 3,000sqm (32,292sqft) in size. A maximum of eight contractors will be shortlisted to carry out the construction project, and in order for a firm to be considered it must have had an annual turnover of at least €7.5 million in recent years.
In addition, contractors bidding for the project must submit a list of recent developments they have worked on, and must be able to demonstrate that they possess "sufficient manpower and managerial staff" to undertake the project.
The deadline for contractors to submit bids for the project is Monday, August 17.
In a statement issued to the Westmeath Independent yesterday (Tuesday), IDA Ireland said the Athlone development would assist in its efforts to attract foreign direct investment to regional locations in Ireland.
"The advanced office building will significantly enhance the value proposition of the Midlands region, assisting us in our efforts to win new investments and jobs," it stated.