Donegal County Council has given the go-ahead for a €500,000 increase in co-funding for the Inishowen Digital Innovation Hub in Buncrana.
The tender price for the project has become €226,147 higher than expected, Chief Executive John McLaughlin told County Councillors at today’s meeting.
Covid-19, Brexit and the general increase in construction costs since 2018 have all had an impact on the cost of the works.
In 2018, Donegal County Council was awarded a substantial €1.1 million grant from Enterprise Ireland to begin developing the hub. In July 2019, the Council committed to providing €1.4million co-funding.
The council agreed today to raise its co-funding allocation to €1.9million, to allow for other cost increases, delays in receiving income from occupants and a contingency amount of €150,000.
The new Digital Innovation Hub will be located in the former Buncrana Town Council offices and will provide a range of innovation, technology transfer and enterprise support services from LYIT/CoLab, IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office.
Now that the co-funding is secured, the project will be ready to be awarded. Chief Executive John McLaughlin said it is anticipated that construction work could start within the next two months, subject to Covid-19 restrictions being eased.
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