Dun Laoghaire Harbour Masterplan is up for a prestigious award in UK

THE Dun Laoghaire Harbour Masterplan has been shortlisted in the 2015 Planning Awards for Excellence.

The plan is running in the

‘Excellence in Planning to Create Economically Successful Places’ category at the awards, run by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) that will be held at the Pullman London St Pancras on Monday, July 6.

The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Masterplan was published in 2011 following extensive consultation with harbour stakeholders.

The plan seeks to extend the recreational and amenity value of the harbour; to promote investment; and to generate sufficient revenue from commercial operations to ensure the sustainability of the maintenance programme and marine facility that the harbour provides.

In short, the objective is to transform the harbour into a living, vibrant area, offering facilities for people to live, work and relax. The Masterplan envisages development over a 15 – 20 year period and will be reviewed every five years.

Gerry Dunne, the CEO of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company said he was delighted the Masterplan had been nominated for such a prestigious award.

“A huge amount of work was put into the drafting of the Masterplan which aims to transform the harbour into a living, vibrant area for people to live, work and relax, while at the same time preserving the unique character that has made the harbour such an amenity over decades,

? he said.

“The nomination comes at a time when we are in the midst of a public consultation process on one of the key proposals in the Masterplan – the development of a new cruise ship berth facility, to enable the harbour to cater for new, larger cruise ships.

“This will be a great boost for all those who want to see Dun Laoghaire Harbour thrive.

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Janet Askew, President of the Royal Town Planning Institute said:

“The shortlist reflects the very best planning projects, strategies and processes that are helping to make great places for people to live and work in.

“The 80 finalists highlight exceptional examples of planning that have made an impact and brought considerable benefits. It will be a tremendous challenge picking individual category winners from such a high quality field.

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