Rising costs could force a rethink on Dalymount’s €35m refurbishment

The owners and tenants of the Dalymount Park site both admit that rising costs could bring the equivalent of a plan B into play for the €35 million development of the Phibsboro site. And that could result in a gradual overhaul of the existing site rather than the planned full rebuild.

ohemians and Dublin City Council, who bought Dalymount from the indebted club in 2015, both say they remain committed to a project that originally cost €35m but is expected to rise beyond that to demolish the 121-year-old Dalymount Stadium and the construction of a brand new 6,000 seat venue that would be owned by DCC. The original part of this plan, in which Shelbourne would share floor space with Bohs at Phibsboro, has been shelved as Shels have now committed to staying at Tolka Park.

Council officials were on site in Dalymount yesterday for further excavation work and ground inspections as they try to move forward with work on the project whilst the job to demolish the Connaught Street terrace, which has been closed to the public for a decade, is completed is offering.

“Once this information is available, the design team will have a good understanding of the substructures required and the quantity surveyor will be able to provide accurate costs for the proposed design by the end of June,” DCC said in a statement.

“Once this report is complete, a decision will be made as to whether to proceed with detailed design and planning with the current design or, alternatively, to undertake a value engineering exercise that could potentially lead to a new design. All those involved have always been aware, and particularly with continued inflationary pressures, that there would need to be alternative options on the historic site should costs escalate to unsustainable levels. These options could potentially involve a redesign and would leverage all the studies and work already undertaken and remain within the current funding mechanism.”

Bohs insists that “there has been no change to the preferred and planned redevelopment of the stadium to a 6,000-seat facility with additional community facilities”, but the club acknowledged the cost could force a rethink.