High-tech €20m innovation campus in Ballaghaderreen to create 250 jobs

A €20m high-tech innovation campus that is set to create 250 jobs will transform the Fairgreen site adjacent to St. Nathy’s College in Ballaghaderreen into the headquarters of the creative sector of the West of Ireland. That’s the vision of An Bealach Nua CLG, a local non-for-profit company behind the multi-million euro project. It may sound a very ambitious project but its wheels continue to move steadily in the right direction, as two of the company’s directors, John Higgins and Micheál Frain, explained to the Herald.

The project took a major step forward earlier this year when it received planning go-ahead from Roscommon County Council. Behind the concept is a fully costed 10 year business plan with financial projections put together by economic consultants, PMC consulting.

The plans incorporate a 25,000 square foot educational and working hub along with a 7,500 square foot separate building comprising a cutting edge technology studio with augmented and virtual reality services.

This commercial XR studio is aimed at attracting international and national players in the industry who will hire these state-of-the-art production facilities. Meanwhile, the innovation hub, providing a range of digital facilities along with shared facility, office and hot desk space, has already attracted the interest of third-level institutions and education and training boards.

The concept for this creative and educational campus was inspired by an ideas process that has evolved over time, including meetings with like-minded people in Ireland and in Europe. The plans took a decisive step forward on a national level when they got buy-in from the Western Development Commission and were included in the Government’s Regional Enterprise Plan in 2021.

“It was going from a local concept, to a county one to a regional one. The Western Development Commission took a decision that the creative sector should actually be a development project for the entire region.

“Getting the buy-in from the Western Development Commission and Eugene Cummins, who was CEO of Roscommon County Council at the time, was key,” said Micheál. He pointed out that Mr Cummins advised that the project be included in the Regional Enterprise Plan.

“The effect of that (being included in this plan) in layman’s terms is that it is now part of Government policy. So now we have this project, which is of a regional and international significance,” he said. John pointed out that current Roscommon County Council CEO Shane Tiernan, who is a member of An Bealach Bord, was creating that important continuity by pledging the local authority’s full support for the project.

The original plan for the Fairgreen site was solely the development of an innovation hub but, as John outlined, the addition of the XR studio, as encouraged by Jessica Fuller from the Western Development Commission, would lend additional sustainability to the concept. This immersive technology studio will be the only such studio in the Republic of Ireland.

“Initially it was going to be the hub but as Jessica said, if you can go with this (XR studio), you create the sustainability for everything else,” he said.

The XR studio will allow for a diverse range of movie, advert and music production while the multi-faceted innovation hub, comprising a number of smaller digital studios, will be primarily an educational campus – “a training facility, an upskilling facility, a base for third-level students”. Both John and Micheál highlight here that the gaming sector is a key part of this.

John pointed out that there were plans to tie in with a number of third level institutions while Micheál noted that this could also have an international dimension. “This could be the University of New York or Boston operating from here, yes”.

The campus will also have exhibition space and the capability to provide traditional stage content production and live audience events – aimed at attracting a whole of host of productions, be it theatre, drama or music.

John and Micheál hope that the campus, when operational, would help drive the development of smaller studios around the town and simultaneously see the use of vacant industrial properties for this purpose.

Right now, the provision of a business plan and cost benefit analysis are running alongside discussions with Government Departments, agencies and private investors, both here and internationally, in relation to securing the required funding. The need for the provision of public monies to be matched with a direct input from the private sector is acknowledged by John and Micheál.

Not surprisingly, there are many stakeholders for a project of this scale, not least the key involvement of Roscommon Leader Partnership. John also highlighted the commitment of the Fairs and Markets Committee and its chairperson James Dooney who donated the Fairgreen site on a long-term lease basis to An Bealach.

“We are moving forward in relation to communication to the people of Ballaghaderreen and the region in relation to what's happening here,” said John.

Clearly, all the evidence so far shows that this creative tech enterprise and educational project is taking impressive shape and both John and Micheal fully believe it will be a “game-changer” for the region.