Children’s science museum’s cost would exceed estimates of €47m, OPW admits

The cost of the proposed children’s science museum for Dublin is likely to exceed the current estimate of €47 million because of construction inflation, the Office of Public Works (OPW) has warned.

Plans for a new National Children’s Science Centre, which is to be located on a site beside the National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace, off St Stephen’s Green, drew 17 third-party observations, according to Dublin City Council’s website.

The plan for a project along the lines of the London Science Museum dates back to 2007 and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern who championed the idea. It was initially shelved when the financial crisis hit in 2008 but has subsequently been revived by the original consortium chosen to operate the project, the Irish Children’s Museum Ltd, which is chaired by senior counsel Michael Collins.

The OPW’s original planning permission fell foul of recent changes to planning law, which removed the possibility for existing permissions to be extended for developments where work had yet to commence.

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Titanium dome

Earlier this year, the OPW resubmitted planning proposals for a four-storey building topped with a titanium dome to house a planetarium that would be connected to the back of the National Concert Hall through an underground tunnel.

An Bord Pleanála had previously directed that the State’s only real tennis court in Earlsfort Terrace be brought back to a playable condition as part of the development.

The latest plan has drawn 17 observations. Several submissions questioned whether the proposed structure was suitable in such a historic area of the city and whether it would compromise the neighbouring Iveagh Gardens. Others welcomed the proposals, saying it constituted a long-overdue overhaul of the north wing of Earlsfort Terrace.

An OPW spokeswoman said the new planning application was substantially the same as the previous one.

Proposed landscaping

“The landscaping proposed at the entrance to the Iveagh Gardens has been revised to retain and protect as many category 1 trees and existing soft landscaping as possible, while keeping the aspiration to provide a fully accessible access point into the gardens from the Children’s Science Centre/ Earlsfort Terrace,” she said.

Critics claim the final cost could be a multiple of the current estimate.

“The most recent cost estimate is €47 million but this will have risen since, due to higher construction inflation than calculated at the time. The fitout costs are a matter for the Irish Children’s Museum Company Ltd,” the OPW spokeswoman said.

Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill claimed there was no business case for the project at that cost and in that location. She suggested the Government should explore developing existing science venues, including the privately run Explorium centre in Sandyford, south Dublin, which has been closed since the outbreak of Covid-19, as an alternative.