COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, November 28, 2022

QUESTION NO.9

QUESTION: Councillor T. Costello

To ask the manager for a update on progress on the Heritage Centre in Tallaght

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council is in the process of developing a world-class County Heritage Centre/ visitor experience in Tallaght Town Centre that will act as a new cultural amenity for the citizens and visitors to South Dublin.

To facilitate this work the Council engaged the services of EPIC Heritage Consulting Ltd, an experienced tourism and heritage interpretation consultancy, to identify and assess the various themes that reflect the rich history and heritage resource of South Dublin County, with a view to recommending a core narrative for animation and presentation at the new Heritage/Visitor Centre.

As part of this information gathering piece which will inform core themes, EPIC have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders representing local history and heritage societies, active citizen groups, local historians, and members of the public across the county through focus group meetings, face to face meetings, telephone interviews, e-mail interviews and an online survey to give an idea of the rich history there is to discover across the South Dublin County region. EPIC have also considered key audience segments – what kind of people are likely to be interested in a heritage centre and what kind of centre would attract them -  as well as undertaking a comparator analysis in relation to other museums and heritage centres.  Having completed their research phase, EPIC is now carrying out work to produce a clear interpretative strategy and interpretative plan which can be implemented by third parties.  This work will demonstrate how the core narrative and its associated messages will be imparted in terms of the materials and mediums (e.g., multimedia, interactive, AR, VR, digitisation of archives etc) to be used in order to deliver a distinctive visitor experience. Exhibition proposals are now being developed by EPIC for presentation to South Dublin County Council.

In parallel to the above, the Council published a tender to engage the services of an architect led design team, who having regard to the work undertaken by EPIC, will progress the design and delivery of a purpose built facility. A number of tenders were received and evaluation is ongoing.

The development of the Heritage Centre in Tallaght will complement current investment of over €80m in other infrastructure projects underway in the area such as the delivery of a new innovation centre, the completion of Tallaght Stadium bringing it to 10,000-seater capacity, a new public transport interchange, major public realm enhancement, a new affordable rental housing scheme and the district heating project. These projects, together with existing retail, community and cultural infrastructure represent a structured investment in enhancing the vibrancy and attraction of Tallaght town centre, representative of a focal point of a population approaching almost 100,000 people.