LOCAL CONTRACTOR WINS BID TO BUILD NEW ESB OFFICES
AVENUE ROAD SITE WILL ACCOMMODATE REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS FOR STATE BODY
DECEMBER 1988
THE ESB signs a contract with Brendan Duffy Construction Ltd. for their new engineering and technical operations headquarters at the Avenue Road.
This, and other developments by the ESB in Dundalk, will represent an investment of between £4m and £5m, and includes the provision of a sales outlet in the centre of town.
Dundalk is upgraded from a district office to the headquarters of the northeast region, one of six regions in the country, and encompasses an area as far west as Ballinasloe and as far south as North Tipperary.
The Avenue Road development will house all the engineering and technical back-up services required, with the latest in communications to make it all possible.
Just over half of the 12-acre site, acquired and surfaced some years ago by the ESB, will be developed. The rest of the land is reserved for phase two of the plans which is administration and accounts.
Until that happens in the 1990s, all admin, including the office of regional manager, will remain in Chapel Street premises.
The board is aware that Chapel Street is ‘ totally unsuitable’ as a sales and consumer accounts outlet and for that reason active negotiations are on-going for a town centre site.
‘We are impressed with plans to restore the heart of Dundalk’s town centre,’ says Des Doherty, regional manager.
‘Hopefully, we can move our sales and direct customer services there within the next year.’
Mr Doherty won’t be drawn on an exact location but does confirm that if The Demesne development proceeds the ESB is interested in taking retail space in it.
The selection of Dundalk as regional headquarters is known for some time, but Mr Doherty points out the choice brings considerable economic advantage to the town in that fifty of the 200 ESB jobs in Dundalk would not have remained here had the headquarters been elsewhere.
The fact a local builder wins the contract for a 16,500sq ft office development, garage and stores, is also a boost and during the 15 months it will take to complete the work, 40 jobs will be provided.
When the Avenue Road site is finished, the ESB will vacate their stores and garage at The Laurels, offering the site for sale. The urban council has first refusal.
Demand for electricity increases by 3% in the last year, reflecting greater confidence in the economy, and Mr Doherty confirms that £1.5m is being spent per year upgrading networks in the Dundalk area.
He doesn’t envisage natural gas being piped to local homes in the foreseeable future and reveals that where industries are switching over to gas, they are doing so to replace other sources of energy other than electricity.
The majority of domestic consumers in town has moved to electricity with the run-down of Dundalk Gas Company.
‘ The ESB is becoming more cost-effective with prices as cheap as the European average, and significantly cheaper than those across the border.’