Shannon Free Airport Development Company, or Shannon Development, as we are known today is Ireland’s only regional development company. Its remit was formally inaugurated on 28th January 1959 when it was set up by Government to promote Shannon Airport and its hinterland. Its first Chairman was visionary and innovator Dr. Brendan O’ Regan.
This was a challenging task at a time when airplanes no longer needed to stop to refuel at Shannon. In response to this Shannon Development set about coming up with a whole range of innovative ways of giving industrialists reasons to locate in the area, and tourists reasons to holiday here. Among the first of these initiatives was the establishment in 1960 of the world’s first Duty Free Zone, known today as the Shannon Free Zone, which now employs 7,000 people and is the largest multisectoral business park outside of Dublin, generating annual sales of over €3.5 billion. Over 100 companies have chosen to Invest at the Shannon Free Zone which is also home to the largest cluster of North American manufacturing and international service companies in Ireland. Over the years Shannon Development has built a wide range of business premises primed and ready for industry to locate. Today the company owns and manages a diverse range of 57 Technology Parks, Industrial Estates and Business Parks throughout the Shannon Region.
On the tourism side the company came up with a novel idea of offering mediaeval banquets to US visitors as an incentive to come to the Shannon Region. The scheme was initially undertaken on a pilot basis and the world’s first mediaeval banquet was held at Bunratty Castle in Co. Clare in 1963, followed a year later with the opening of Bunratty Folk Park as a visitor attraction. In its first year of operation the Bunratty Mediaeval Banquet recorded 4,500 visitors. To-date over 4.5 million visitors have enjoyed the unique mediaeval banqueting experience.
Shannon Development today
Shannon Development has its head office in Shannon Town Centre, and has a presence in every corner of the Shannon Region which comprises Counties Clare, North Kerry, Limerick, South Offaly and North Tipperary where it operates a variety of different projects to deliver economic benefits to communities around the Shannon Region. Its role has expanded and changed over the years.
Shannon Development is self financing through a range of initiatives including an extensive property portfolio which it uses to drive economic development in the Shannon Region. The business of Shannon Development is regional economic development – a complex process embracing all sectors of activity and utilising multiple processes to achieve the vision of a world class region where people will want to live, work, learn and spend leisure time.
The unique way that Shannon Development works
Over the years Shannon Development has pioneered many new initiatives and continues to do so today. As a regional development agency the Company carries out its work in a unique way. It looks at every part of the Region as a blank canvas. It identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a particular area within its region and from this works out what type of development would most suit that area. In some cases this might be an industrial development; in others a tourism development, or something entirely new that has never been done before.
Developing world class tourism facilities – a case study
Doonbeg Golf Club and Lodge on the west coast of Co. Clare is one of the largest tourism developments in Ireland in recent times and is an example of the unique way, as a regional development company, that Shannon Development has been able to realise development opportunities. The project involved a €150 million investment by US Company Kiawah Development Partners, yielding an estimated €300 million in indirect tourism investment and generating an estimated €20 million annually in economic benefits to the local community. Direct and indirect employment at Doonbeg is 400.
This project was initiated by Shannon Development which carried out research in the mid 1990’s to find out what kind of development would best suit this part of West Clare i.e. the Doonbeg area. This identified the idea of creating a world class links golf course with accommodation. Shannon Development then went about identifying a site, got the land package together, and worked with the local community keeping them updated on the project. Shannon Development then undertook an international marketing campaign targeted at the worlds leading golf course developers. We secured a developer for the project in 1999 and in 2000 secured €3 million in EU grant aid for the project. The Golf course element of the Doonbeg project was designed by Greg Norman and it opened in 2002. The Lodge, the name of the luxury accommodation side of Doonbeg opened in 2006. It is a massive project for this area bringing US and international golf tourists to the region, creating direct employment and a range of spin-off economic benefits.
Working in partnership
With a keen eye to the future today, Shannon Development is working with the people of the Region, Government, and the private sector in delivering new projects and initiatives that will:
• Enable the more developed areas of the Shannon Region achieve their full development potential.
• Ensure that the potential of the less developed areas of the Shannon Region is realised.
• Create demand for the Shannon Airport Gateway
Key Projects
We resource, develop and deliver key strategic projects across sectors and places. Among the projects are:
Shannon Free Zone:
As previously outlined, Shannon Development manages and promotes the Shannon Free Zone, Ireland’s leading location for Knowledge Age Business investments. Global leaders such as Avocent, Digital River, GE Commercial Finance Aviation Services, Sykes Enterprises, Halifax Insurance Ireland Ltd, Intel, Lufthansa Technik, Mentor Graphics, Molex, RSA Security and Symantec have all invested at Shannon. More recently Zimmer Holdings Inc, a global leader in medical devices has announced that it is to establish a new orthopaedic implant manufacturing project at Shannon Free Zone and plans to invest €50m in its first two years. Supported by Shannon Development, it will create 250 new high quality jobs over the next five years. Powered by good connectivity, pro-business regulatory environment and cosmopolitan work environment, Shannon is one of Ireland’s premier business locations.Shannon Free Zone also provides information and grant supports to companies investing in Shannon. Looking to the future, Shannon Development has completed a master plan for the regeneration of Shannon Free Zone. The implementation of the master plan will result in large scale development of offices, laboratories, factories and warehouse accommodation for the next generation of national and international entrepreneurs.
Knowledge Network Business Parks:
Another unique product is the Shannon Development Knowledge Network which provides an impressive environment for business. This network comprises five world-class business and technology parks at: the National Technology Park in Limerick; Kerry Technology Park in Tralee; Tipperary Technology Park in Thurles; Birr Technology Centre in Co. Offaly, and Information Age Park Ennis Co. Clare. The Knowledge Network is focused specifically on supporting the development and growth of technology-driven enterprises. Linked in most cases to 3rd level institutions, a skilled graduate base is available to potential clients as well as the research expertise and capability of the colleges.Each of these locations provides an environment which is a blend of the natural amenities of the local area, leading edge telecommunications facilities and next generation business facilities. In these environments, new and innovative knowledge-led businesses flourish alongside established national and international enterprise. But there’s a lot more to the Shannon Development Knowledge Network than simply providing the right environment for new ideas to grow and businesses to succeed. It’s also about people – about building real communities, where people are happy to work, prosper and enjoy life.
The Company’s Knowledge Network of business parks is a long-term investment designed to ensure that all parts of the Region have the facilities and support systems required by entrepreneurs who want to develop businesses that can compete on the global market.
Kerry Deepwater Zone
In April 2006, Shannon Development granted an option agreement on 281 of its 600 acre landbank at Tarbert/Ballylongford to Shannon LNG, an Irish subsidiary of Hess LNG Limited. The purpose of the option agreement was to allow time for detailed design and appraisal of their proposal to build a €500 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal on the Shannon Estuary, and for full consultation with the relevant authorities and with the local community. The Shannon LNG project could provide 60% of Ireland’s projected gas needs, resulting in security of supply and more influence over price.
€18.5 Million investment to make Broadband connectivity a reality in the Shannon Region
As part of its commitment to the development of broadband in the Shannon Region, Shannon Broadband Ltd, a public sector consortium led by Shannon Development, in partnership with the regions’ local authorities, has invested €12 million in a network of 52kms of fibre optic cable in eight Shannon Region Towns. The towns selected were: Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West, in Co. Limerick; Kilrush Co. Clare; Nenagh, Roscrea and Templemore in Co. Tipperary; Banagher and Birr in Co. Offaly. The network installed around the towns is called a ‘Metropolitan Area Network’, or ‘MAN’ for short.
Over 57kms of fibre optic cable was laid in Limerick City in phase one of the project at a cost of €6.5 million, bringing total investment in broadband infrastructure to-date in the Shannon Region to over €18 million. In today’s knowledge-based economy and society, the availability of high speed, competitively priced Broadband is critical. The new networks will send a message to any investor that these Shannon Region towns are at the cutting edge in terms of internet access and willingness to embrace the information economy.Established by Shannon Development in 2003, Shannon Broadband Ltd is the first public sector regional telecoms company to be set up in Ireland. It was set up to accelerate competitively priced digital broadband ‘connectivity’ throughout the Shannon Region. The MAN programme is made possible by funding from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and from the EU European Regional Development Fund.
Shannon Development commits €7 million to develop E-Town’s
The E-Towns concept was initiated by Shannon Development as a way of regenerating smaller communities, and providing people who can work from home with an opportunity to enhance their quality of life by living and working in a custom designed ‘live work’ unit in a beautiful location. Work on Ireland’s first E-Town at Miltown Malbay in Co. Clare was recently completed and the first E-Town client has moved in. To make this project a reality Shannon Development invested €4 million to develop 12 houses with work units either attached to the house or adjacent. As part of its ongoing E-Towns development strategy, Shannon Development has just secured planning permission for a second E-Town development in Tarbert, Co Kerry will cost €3million.Shannon Development’s work as the Shannon Region Tourism Authority:
Shannon Development is the regional Tourism Authority for the Shannon Region and as part of this role we develop new and existing visitor attractions and engage in strategic marketing to make the Shannon Region a must-visit location for tourists. Among its marketing initiatives the Company undertakes extensive e-marketing campaigns, attends international trade and consumer tourism promotions world-wide, and undertakes advertising and PR campaign on behalf of the Shannon Region’s tourism industry.During 2008 Shannon Development succeeded in signing 35 major tourism marketing agreements with key travel companies world-wide. These initiatives, undertaken directly by Shannon Development, resulted in over 426,000 additional bednights for the Shannon Region and boosted visitor spend in the area by over €43 million.
As part of its role the Company undertakes tourism product development, and works closely with private sector promoters and investors on a range of tourism product developments. Since 1989 alone Shannon Development has assisted companies to develop a range of visitor attractions and tourism infrastructure around the Shannon Region valued at over €600 million.
A new €2million tourism trails programme to encourage the development of a series of visitor trials around the Shannon Region is one of the latest Shannon Development tourism initiatives.
Shannon Development operates a network of Tourist Offices throughout the region. They aim to ensure that visitors to the Shannon Region are furnished with information and a range of services that help them to enjoy the region and to enhance their experience of Ireland.
Shannon Heritage Ltd: In 1986 Shannon Development established a wholly owned tourism subsidiary company, Shannon Heritage Ltd., to manage its growing tourism portfolio of visitor attraction. These now includes 8 day visitor attractions and 4 evening entertainments, all of which contribute an estimate €20 m in spin-off revenue annually to a range of businesses around the Shannon Region. Over the past 45 years, Shannon Heritage visitor products and entertainments have attracted over 17 million visitors from all over the world. Shannon Heritage is one of the largest and longest operating tourism companies of its type in Ireland. Over 300 people are employed by Shannon Heritage across their range of visitor attractions during the tourism by US company Kiawah Development Partners season.
Shannon Development - Providing Property Solutions:
Through our property portfolio of land and buildings, we provide world-class enterprise space and infrastructure for small to large scale businesses. The Company provides property solutions for indigenous and foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises around the Shannon Region.Shannon Development provides a wide choice of property solutions, built to varying designs to meet alternative and changing needs. These include:
• Large scale industrial space at Shannon Free Zone and regional Business Parks
• Knowledge Age properties in regional Technology Parks
• Large and medium size distribution facilities
• Office space
• Enterprise Centre units for small enterprises
• Business Incubator units for new start up enterprises
• InnovationWorks in five centres throughout the region for knowledge businesses
• Strategic development sites for industry, enterprise and knowledge based activities
Nandi O’Sullivan
Public Relations Manager
Tel: +353 61 710259
Mobile: +353 86-2371510
Fax: 061 363180
E-mail: Click Here