The lower section of Market Square, Letterkenny.
Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Donegal County Council presents a competition for the reimagining of the public space at Market Square, Letterkenny.
The competition is inviting concept design proposals for Market Square, Letterkenny, that embrace architecture and design in creating great places that people want to experience and spend time in. The concept design proposals will imagine how Market Square can be a central public space that conveys and communicates the DNA of Letterkenny and its people and fully meets the needs for useable public and civic space in the heart of the town centre.
Launching the competition, the President of Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, Jimmy Stafford said, ‘We are delighted to launch this exciting competition in collaboration with Donegal County Council to re-think Market Square and how it might be improved as an exciting multi-functional civic space that will actively encourage public use and be part of what attracts people to come to Letterkenny town centre and stay longer in it. We see this as a very important project in supporting our local businesses particularly post Covid-19 where outdoor space in our town centres has become even more essential for business and trade.’
Cathaoirleach of Letterkenny Municipal District, Cllr Donal Coyle commended the competition saying, ‘This Architectural Competition is a forward thinking step in our ongoing work to progress regeneration projects in Letterkenny and it will bring creative expertise to the table to re-imagine the Square and how it could be a better public space for the people of Letterkenny and our visitors. This project is one of a number of regeneration efforts to enhance and renew Letterkenny town centre including a substantial project to prepare a Regeneration Strategy for the town centre that we will be launching around September this year and which will come up with design solutions for other priority town centre sites.’
Toni Forrester, Chief Executive Officer of Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce referenced the resilience of Letterkenny businesses and wider community saying, ‘Letterkenny is a great place and we want to support our business community as much as possible. We recognise that Letterkenny can be a more attractive investment opportunity by engaging in innovative and exciting place-making, urban design and architecture working towards an attractive and healthier town centre in which people, talent and investors will choose to spend more time in, to live in, to work in, to invest in and to visit. We feel that Market Square is at the very centre of this work, historically and economically, and so we are excited to see the possible futures for Market Square that this project will present’.
The competition is open to professionals and students in architecture or other related fields and the deadline for submissions is 4pm on 4th September 2020. The prize in relation to the winning design is €8,000.
An adjudication panel will evaluate the submissions and shortlist design proposals. Shortlisted design proposals will be displayed in order to further engage the community in the process and the community will be invited to indicate their preferred design proposal. This community participation will inform the final decision of the evaluation panel. The winning design concept may be advanced to Part VIII (planning stage) in full or in adapted form in due course.
Further information in relation to the competition can be found at http://www.donegalcoco.ie/services/planning/
A topographical survey of the area is also available by emailing regeneration@donegalcoco.ie
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