A Dail Committee was told on Wednesday that the Office of Public Works (OPW) will be the body that develops the Digital Hub in a project that will cost between EUR150 million and EUR200 million. A steering committee will oversee the project, with members of the committee including individuals from the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA), the OPW and officials from the Department of Communications, the Irish Times has reported. The Digital Hub project was first unveiled in 1999 as a way to both rejuvenate the Liberties area of Dublin and to set up a cluster of digital media start-up companies in the heart of the city. Already, two acres of the proposed nine-acre site have been re-developed, with 49 firms employing 450 people in the area currently.
Initially, the project was meant to commence as a Public Private Partnership, with the government footing about half of the EUR250 million bill, and a private developer paying the other half. However, that strategy has been problematic, with the DHDA unable to find a private sector partner after a protracted tendering process, saying earlier this year that the preferred bidder, Manor Park Homes, had not been given the contract. It is thought the firm was unwilling to commit to the notion of office space that could be used only by tech start-ups.
Another notable problem with the Digital Hub project was the closure earlier this year of Media Lab Europe (MLE), a research institution backed by the government and MIT, which served as a kind of anchor for the Digital Hub. Though a new government-supported research centre is to fill the void left by MLE, the facility's closure has been seen as a major blow to the nascent cluster.
Still, DHDA CEO Philip Flynn reiterated on Wednesday that the agency believes that the project will be wrapped up by 2012, when 250 companies employing 3,000 people will be based in the area.
It has also been reported that the Digital Hub site will be developed on a phased basis, rather than all at once. So far, the government has spent EUR54 million on acquiring property for the project.
Autor: Matthew Clark
Quelle: ElectricNews, 19.05.2005
