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Canal Avenue and Environs Regeneration

Canal Avenue Regeneration Masterplan

The Canal Avenue Regeneration Masterplan was presented to the Elected Members at the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad Meeting on 12th February 2024.

The Masterplan will guide the comprehensive regeneration and transformation of the Canal Avenue area over the next 20 years to facilitate the delivery of new homes in a mixed-use integrated neighbourhood.

The Masterplan is holistic in its approach and comprises of 8 no. distinct ‘Development Opportunity Sites’ supported and enabled by a network of high quality ‘Public Realm Infrastructure’. The plan area also includes the proposed Cornmill Part 8 development that presents a key precedent for positive regeneration and a catalyst for sustainable compact growth.

A copy of the Masterplan and appendices is available to view or download: Canal Avenue Masterplan - Volume 1

A flythrough of the plan area is also available here:

What is being proposed?

The core objective of the Canal Avenue Masterplan is to enable comprehensive regeneration and to encourage economic, social and community development by creating a highly sustainable and integrated mixed-use quarter in Mullingar that reconnects the town to the River Brosna and the Royal Canal.

The Canal Avenue Masterplan will be delivered as a phased development over the short, medium and long term.

The project is guided by the following key design principles and objectives, namely:

  • Deliver an exemplary town centre regeneration project with a focus on sustainable urban living, underpinned by age friendly principles;
  • Facilitate the development of a mixed-use scheme to support Mullingar town centre;
  • Enhance the amenity potential of the River Brosna and the Royal Canal and reconnect the town centre to the river and the canal;
  • Optimise the potential of vacant properties and underutilised lands;
  • Provide for the creation of a safe, permeable and well-connected urban environment that reinforces a sense of place for Canal Avenue;
  • Adopt best practice placemaking principles in the creation of a lifelong neighbourhood;
  • Develop building types, urban forms and public realm works with a reduced environmental footprint, that are consistent with Climate Action Policies and environmentally sustainable.

Canal Ave Regen - Proposed Masterplan

Sequencing of Development

  • The Masterplan provides guiding urban design and architectural principles that will ensure the cohesive and coherent regeneration of the area. The Masterplan allows for flexibility in the future regeneration of the Canal Avenue area as the ability to accommodate design flexibility is a key feature of any successful masterplanning framework.
  • Masterplan should not be read as a definitive design proposal, but rather, as a set of principles and a design framework for the new residential-led quarter, through which the overall objectives of national, regional, and local policy and guidelines will be implemented on the ground. It should not be read as a rigid blueprint, but as a conceptual context within which each individual component/phase can come forward in accordance with the statutory overarching Mullingar Local Area Plan.

Implementation

  • Implementation of the plan will be delivered over the short, medium and long term. It is envisaged that the full ambition of the plan will take up to 20years to be realised.
  • Westmeath County Council will be proactive in delivery public realm projects such as the River Brosna Linear Park together with enabling works and public realm infrastructure to create a platform and a catalyst to successfully regenerate the area.
  • Details of the Implementation Strategy can be found in Chapter 5 of the Canal Avenue Regeneration Masterplan available here: Canal Avenue Regeneration Masterplan (to be added)

This project is funded under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund and is part of Project Ireland 2040.

If you have any queries regarding the project please contact us by emailing regen@westmeathcoco.ie