THRIVE – The Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme
THRIVE is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union under the Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-27.
‘REVIVAL OF THE COURTHOUSE’ PROJECT LETTERKENNY
Donegal County Council is delighted to share that it has been awarded €199,969k in THRIVE funding by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027 for the ‘Revival at the Courthouse’ Project in Letterkenny.
THRIVE is a ‘Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme’, which falls under Ireland’s two European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Regional Programmes, to provide €120 million across the 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 through the ERDF Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-27.
This Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme targets towns and regional growth centres seeking to transform publicly owned vacant or derelict heritage buildings within those town centres through renovation, renewal, and adaptive reuse. In County Donegal, Letterkenny is the only eligible town that qualifies for this fund. The former courthouse building in Letterkenny being a publicly owned, vacant and historic building is eligible to apply for the THRIVE scheme. As such, Donegal County Council secured €199,969 in March 2024 under Strand 1 of the THRIVE fund, to develop a shovel-ready capital investment project for the renewal and revival of this the former courthouse building. The recently awarded Strand 1 fund, will now support the development of a further funding application in May 2025 of between €2-7m. (THRIVE Strand 2). This will be a competitive bid, made against other eligible Local Authorities within the Northern and Western Region.
With the funds awarded under Strand 1, and to support a future Strand 2 funding proposal, Donegal County Council has appointed a heritage/architectural-led, multi-disciplinary design team to plan and project develop the imaginative adaptative reuse of the former courthouse building. This ‘Revival at the Courthouse’ Project forms one of 15 regeneration projects identified for delivery within the already completed Integrated Urban Regeneration Strategy for Letterkenny, entitled the ‘Letterkenny 2040 Regeneration Strategy (LKY 2040).
Donegal County Council now plans to strengthen and expand on the citizen and stakeholder engagement which informed and co-designed the production of the collaborative Letterkenny 2040 Strategy. The Strategy identifies the building for a tourism led use to meet the needs of visitors and the local community across themes of culture, place, environment, climate and learning. Ongoing and future citizen engagement is currently exploring the building’s potential for ancillary/dual use of spaces for community/cultural activities. In implementing this THRIVE project, Donegal County Council continues to incorporate the values and working principles of the New European Bauhaus, an initiative of the European Union, which aims to ensure strategies and projects are sustainable, aesthetically pleasing, inclusive and accessible. The ‘Revival of the Courthouse’ Project will build on previous engagement opportunities for citizens, communities and stakeholders to have their say in on the plans to develop of this publicly owned historic and vacant building in Donegal’s strategic settlement and help to co-design the project to secure Part 8 planning consent.
Following a successful public consultation drop-in event inside the Old Courthouse Building on Tuesday 18th Feb 2025, where we met with many individuals and community groups, Donegal County Council is now in the process of developing the plans for the Part 8 proposal, which includes reflecting on the consultation responses and incorporating some of the compatible themes arising from the consultation into the proposed plans for this great heritage building.
A further public consultation event is planned for March/April 2025. Watch this space!
For more information on the Letterkenny 2040 Regeneration Strategy and Masterplan, please visit: https://www.letterkenny2040.ie/
For more information on THRIVE in the North West Region, please visit: https://www.nwra.ie/thrive/
For more information on the Revival of the Courthouse Project, please contact: regeneration@donegalcoco.ie
