Bordered by Tuam, Madras, Lichfield and Barbadoes streets, the land was bought by the Council in April 2002. By working with private interests to develop the area the Council aims to kick-start a wider revitalisation and enhancement of the eastern side of the central city.

The Council is mainly seeking schemes to develop the whole 1.76ha site, but will consider part-proposals. Ideas generated by the Registrations of Interest call will be evaluated and the Council will then decide which parties it will ask for firm proposals and may encourage potential developers to work together on a solution.

Providing more green space in this part of the Central City is another of the Council’s aims for the site, and prospective developers will need to include in their plans at least 5000 square metres of open public space. The Council also wants to encourage greater vitality in the area by increasing the numbers of people who live there. To help do this, it is asking that developers provide a range of housing types, including those suitable for students.

The project timings are for Registrations of Interest to be in by midday on 9 July and for the evaluation and short-listing to be done by around the end of September. Requests for proposals will be sent out in October and the short-listed developers will have until the end of the year to provide the Council with their detailed schemes. It is expected that evaluation of those will be completed by February next year.

At present the site is zoned Business 3 in the city’s proposed plan. Preliminary consultation with stakeholders about changing that zoning to allow the development has been done and the Council is now considering the changes.