Athletic Grounds Phase 4 work begins

[Bainisteoir]

The final phase of work began last week on the Athletic Grounds.


This will see the creation of a 5,700 fully covered, seated stand along the Eastern side of the ground. In the stand’s under croft there will be two new dressing rooms, a stewards room plus toilet and kiosk facilities. The upper level will include a control room, media room, and an additional 35 places for wheel chair disabled viewing plus a lift.
The contract for the works has been awarded to Lir Construction, Keady and is expected to last about 10 months. The design team is headed by the engineering firm HorganLynch, Cork, the designers of Croke Park, in partnership with local firms, Macauley Heaney Quantity Surveyors, O’Hagan and Associates Architects and IN2, M&E Engineers .
The development will cost in the region of £2 million and will bring the overall spend on the Athletic Grounds to around £5 million. This will leave the County with a modern stadium that has a capacity of 19,500, to include covered seating for 5,700, wheelchair places for 123, covered terracing for 3,000 and the remainder open terracing.
Grant aid to support the development has been awarded by Sport NI, the Ulster & Central Council of the GAA and Armagh City & District Council. The Armagh County Board greatly appreciates the support they have received from these bodies and also the annual subscription from the clubs in the County which has been ongoing for the past several years and has acted as the springboard for the development.

[Rufus T Firefly]

Went round last night at tea time, and unfortunately due to the place being locked up, and the current stage of the on going work, the photos attached don't show as much as I would like.

Here for your interest anyway.

[WolfieAdams]

Its about time they got the finger out and got this sorted out. JOKE!!!!!!!!!!

[gar]

You need to know the facts wolfie before you start making those kind of statements .. Thanks rufus, the photographs are great .
I was in the other day myself and had a look round it will be a great stadium

They are resurfacing the pitch as well.

[sliothar]

There are only one set of facts pertaining to this - it is taking far too long!!!!!

[sliothar]

Taking far too long these are the simple facts of the case.
Agree with Wolfie it is a joke, especially with any other County you talk to regarding their own Co ground development and also plans for Centres of Excellence, we are a laughing stock.

[x-armagh-x]

Taking far too long these are the simple facts of the case.
Agree with Wolfie it is a joke, especially with any other County you talk to regarding their own Co ground development and also plans for Centres of Excellence, we are a laughing stock.

Agree with you there guys, it has took far too long for the completion of the Athletic grounds, i think it has lost its identity of being the county's home ground, and also being a centre of sport excellence, it still has a long way to go!! But, a least progress is being made to finish it off, and hopefully that we can have a pitch which is as good as any GAA ground, and to re-establish itself as the main county ground!!

[Rufus T Firefly]

There are only one set of facts pertaining to this - it is taking far too long!!!!!

Given that you are into facts, allow me to continue in the same vein - what you have said is factually incorrect. There are many more facts pertaining to this.

The fact is that the County Board were victims of circumstance in this, in that the funding dried up because of a well publicised legal investigation that took place. This was a widespread investigation into public funding for sports in Northern Ireland, as opposed to anything specific to Armagh.

Whilst this investigation was on going, all funding for projects like the Athletic Grounds stopped / were suspended, and given that the Athletic Grounds had already started, development was left in limbo for a number of years.

It is only in the last two - three years or so that this investigation was completed and funding released, and as a consequence we have had further development, which will hopefully take us up to completion.

Throughout this process the County Board took the prudent step of only going ahead with development once the funding was guaranteed to be in place. This made perfect sense, and was borne out of the bitter experience of the previous redevelopment of the Athletic Grounds (1982-84) which left the County with the millstone of huge debt around its neck, and of course when that happens, it is the Clubs that have to pay out.

The delay in the Athletic Grounds redevelopment has been frustrating, but it is totally understandable, and everyone of us should be thankful that it was the path chosen, as otherwise it would have been our Clubs having to pay for it.

[gar]

Those are the facts Rufus and I was involved in some of it first hand . Money was allocated to various sporting bodies for the upgrade of facilities . The Athletic grounds was a chosen venue but other spoting bodies misappropraited the funds which actually went to pay players etc . Subsequently all funding was withdrawn and after much argument and persistence the armagh county board were given the funding.. Well done to those who fought that battle with beaucracy for so long . To be labelled a joke is to say the least unfair

[Undefeated]

Those are the facts Rufus and I was involved in some of it first hand . Money was allocated to various sporting bodies for the upgrade of facilities . The Athletic grounds was a chosen venue but other spoting bodies misappropraited the funds which actually went to pay players etc . Subsequently all funding was withdrawn and after much argument and persistence the armagh county board were given the funding.. Well done to those who fought that battle with beaucracy for so long . To be labelled a joke is to say the least unfair

Yes gar you are 100% correct and i have dealt with a few issues like that before too. For the guy looking in and isn't aware of the issues behind the scenes he/she may well think WTF is the county board doing here and why has it taken so long. How long would it have taken the Armagh County Board to raise 5 million as well as run the county teams (never). Hopefully we'll se a nice tidy compact ground that will have a great atmosphere for future county matches and make it into a fortress for us.

Horgan Lynch are also involved in another ground in Co Armagh