About
Limerick City and County Council has received funding of approximately €200,000 under THRIVE – the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme – Strand 1 for the King’s Island Area of Limerick City.
THRIVE is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union
through the ERDF Southern, Eastern & Midland Regional Programme 2021-27.
Funding for this project will be to support the following activities:
- Enhancement of an existing Integrated Urban Strategy – The King’s Island Walled Town Framework.
- Identification of projects that promote the conservation and adaptive reuse of our built heritage stock while reducing vacancy and dereliction in town centres.
- Prioritisation, development and specification of project proposals to create a pipeline of investment-ready built heritage refurbishment, renovation and adaptive reuse projects, bringing one of them to a stage of readiness where it can be included in a THRIVE Strand 2 application.
THRIVE promotes a citizen-centred community-led approach to planning and design. It embraces the core values of the New European Bauhaus – sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion.
Citizen/stakeholder engagement is at the heart of this project and a number of multi-disciplinary engagement events and co-design sessions will be held over the coming months to ensure the project is citizen-cantered and community led.
THRIVE – Strand 2 funding will provide local authorities with funding of between €2m and €7m to renovate, refurbish and adapt vacant and derelict heritage buildings in their town centres. Heritage buildings under the scheme are classified as structures that form part of the architectural heritage and/or Protected Structures or proposed Protected Structures.
King’s Island Walled Town Integrated Urban Strategy
The Kings Island Walled Town Framework (KIWTF) is a non-statutory document that was published by Limerick City and County Council in April 2024. It built on previous studies carried out for the area and aimed to guide and stimulate future investment on King’s Island by identifying a number of priority projects, key urban spaces and streetscape enhancements.
Following the allocation of THRIVE Strand 1 funding, an extensive series of public engagement initiatives were undertaken with the objective of refining and enhancing the King’s Island Walled Town Framework (KIWTF). These engagements, which were held from August to November 2024, provided a valuable platform for meaningful dialogue among stakeholders, fostering collaboration and ensuring that the diverse perspectives of local residents, businesses and organisations were incorporated into this strategy. The culmination of this consultative effort was the development of the King’s Island Walled Town Integrated Urban Strategy, a comprehensive and forward-looking document designed to guide sustainable urban development while preserving the historical and cultural significance of the area.
The goal is to balance brownfield regeneration, adaptive re-use of built heritage stock while addressing vacancy and dereliction, ensuring proper conservation of King’s Island’s archaeological remains.
The vision is to create a lively mixed-use environment supporting both living and working activities. This includes convenient and specialised retail, arts and tourist activities, quality food and beverage outlets, and enhanced visitor experiences. The framework envisions comprehensive regeneration, promoting vibrancy and sustainability in the area, aligning with statutory spatial plans and overarching development objectives.