The National Concert Hall has unveiled a plan for a new 2,000-seat auditorium in a development that could cost more than €100 million.
The development is a "once in a lifetime" chance to build a state-of-the-art concert performance centre at the concert hall after UCD moves its medicine and engineering faculties from Earlsfort Terrace next year, NCH chairman Dermot Egan said.
The development will involve a three-venue performance centre including a new auditorium with 2,000 seats, the refurbishment of the existing 1,200-seat auditorium into a 900-seat venue, and a smaller hall catering for 400.
Among the problems with the current auditorium is it cannot be used simultaneously with the John Field room because the sound carries.
The size of the auditorium also limits the economic viability of events, said NCH director Judith Woodworth.
For example, José Carreras, who was at the Point last weekend, would not be an economic proposition for the 1,200-seater NCH; the same would have applied to Placido Domingo's concert.
"When compared with Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, London and Birmingham, we are the smallest, the oldest and the most restricted even though we date from 1981. We are lagging in the development of a concert hall of 1,800-plus seats," said Mr Egan.
Klaus Unger, senior architect at the Office of Public Works, said yesterday there was "significant scope" to make a new building for contemporary use, subject to planning permission.
UCD faculties are due to leave Earlsfort Terrace by the end of next year. The issue of what happens at the city-centre site, which borders Iveagh Gardens, will then be imminent.
The strategic development of the NCH is in the Programme for Government and last week the Minister for Arts, John O'Donoghue, said his department was discussing with the Department of Education and Science, the OPW and UCD the "financial and other implications of meeting the needs both of UCD and the NCH".
He said he hoped to bring a joint submission to Government soon.
Mr Egan said the redevelopment of the site could generate over €50 million a year for the local economy.
He estimated that the Earlsfort Terrace site, which covers about seven acres, is worth about €40 million. Redevelopment and building costs could be over €100 million on a phased basis, he added.
Mr Egan said there was a strong cultural and business case to be made for the Government to grasp the opportunity to acquire the site.
Last year 396 concerts were staged at the NCH, while attendance figures were 280,683, averaging at 74 per cent of capacity, the annual report of the NCH for 2004, published yesterday, showed.
The first quarter of 2005 saw attendance up to 83 per cent, which compares well with concert halls in Europe, Mr Egan said.
The NCH received a Government subsidy of €1.6 million (about a third of annual income) and made a "modest profit" of €17,497. The NCH is a State body with a remit to break even and to invest in cultural inclusiveness, the annual report notes.