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Westport House in Mayo is getting a €40m makeover

The plans include creating a new treetop walkway and refurbishing the existing Coach House.

THE OWNERS OF Westport House are set to spend up to €40m on restoring and renewing the popular Co Mayo attraction.

The project is aiming to combine cultural, heritage and family activities in a ‘sensitive and complementary’ way.

The plans include creating a new treetop walkway and refurbishing the existing Coach House.

The operator of Westport House, Inishoo Management Ltd, is seeking parties to express interest in tendering for the estimated €40m project.

A document related to the tender states that the scheme will include a Coach House Visitor Centre, which will include restoration, conservation and refurbishment of the existing Coach House and a new extension.

The work will also include the restoration, conservation and refurbishment works to Westport House and surrounding gardens.

The tender states that the scheme will involve the development of three wild realms “which will provide a unique Irish landscape experience”.

The tender documentation states that “included within the three realms are landscaping, elements of restoration work to existing buildings, a new treetop walkway and ancillary infrastructure”.

As part of the pre-qualification process, the operators of Westport House will draw up a short-list of firms who will then be invited to submit tenders for the project.

The planned €40m scheme follows on from Failte Ireland in 2021 awarding the Westport Estate a Platforms for Growth grant for Heritage and Cultural Attractions, worth €20.2m.

The €20.2m funding was to be part of an ongoing, ambitious masterplan that plans to transform Westport Estate into a world-class tourism destination and visitor attraction and benefit the overall region.

In 2017, the house was bought by the well-known local family Hughes family of Portwest and The Hughes Group. 

The overall vision of the Hughes Family is to reimagine the entire offering within the 433-acre grounds as part of a €75m master plan, which also includes the redevelopment of Hotel Westport.

At the time of the 2021 grant announcement is expected that Westport Estate will attract over 277,000 visitors to the key attractions supported by Failte Ireland by 2033, generating a huge economic and tourism boost for the entire northwest region.

The most recent accounts for Inishoo Management Ltd show that it had shareholder deficit of €521,953 made up of accumulated losses of €10.94m offset by a capital contribution of €10.4m.

The company incurred a loss of €1.8m for 2023 and this follows a loss of €2.33m for 2022.

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    Mute brendan fitzsimons
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    Apr 9th 2020, 11:45 PM

    They should simply cancel all traffic offences where no injury occurred and all TV licence charges.

    That would reduce some of the load.

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    Mute Tom Heffernan
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    Apr 10th 2020, 12:33 AM

    @brendan fitzsimons: Hey Bren, one might think that you have a few penalty points on the way, or the lad with the TV license check, is hanging around your area! Wink,wink,

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    Mute John Stafford
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    Apr 9th 2020, 11:29 PM

    Public has to have acess to the hearings.

    Justice must be done but must be seen to be done.

    Can’t have public justice done in private for obvious reasons.

    I’m sure this will fail in an accused states it’s obvious flaws.

    At moment done with accused consent

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    Mute Belebop
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    Apr 10th 2020, 9:39 AM

    Stephen, you might want to change the F for C?

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