Plan Magazine - Lack of pumping station could delay Convention Centre opening

5 February 12

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Lack of pumping station could delay Convention Centre opening
The €380 million national convention centre in Dublin’s docklands may not open in two months as planned after reports revealed the project does not have required sewerage facilities
Although the consortium was required to build a sewage pumping facility under planning conditions, construction of the pumping station has yet to begin. The development can hold up to 8,000 people but is currently connected only to the local drainage network which Dublin City Council has said is already operating to full capacity. The temporary licence granted by the council for the connection to the local sewerage outfall during the construction phase of the development expires at the end of this month. The council has said it is awaiting details of when it was proposed to start building the permanent pumping station.

Image: CC1

Local Labour councillor and member of the advisory council of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Kevin Humphreys told the Irish Times he did not see how the centre could open without causing major pollution. “I am deeply concerned and angry that the opening of such a major investment project in Dublin city should be delayed by a lack of planning to put in proper sewerage facilities. Not only does it put in danger a major revenue stream for the city but also risks a serious sewage problem.”
He also said Treasury Holdings had acted irresponsibly in not having the pumping station in place, when the centre itself had been largely completed since last April. It is understood the delay in building the station is due to a dispute over planning issues between Treasury Holdings and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Treasury Holdings said it would build the sewage pumping station as soon as it received approval from the authority.
The need for a new pumping station, which could pump about 600 litres of sewage per second from the convention centre at Spencer Dock, to the waste water treatment plant at Ringsend was identified in a Dublin City Council report in 2002. According to the council, the new pumping station was the “only viable solution” to the sewerage needs of the docklands area and was essential if there was to be any further development at Spencer Dock.
One of the largest events planned for the centre to date, the International Bar Association conference with 4,500 legal delegates, is due to take place in October 2012.