AT Monday’s night’s virtual Fermanagh GAA AGM, delegates were told about plans to develop the current Lissan facility. Upgrade and development is proposed to cost in the region of £2-3 million and will take place in four phases over the next five years.
The development is subject to planning permission which will be sought in late January but if passed the plans would see the facility transformed into a complex which will include a 3000 sq ft gym, a dining space which would cater for 50 people, a meeting room which could hold 150 people, a covered stand and dugouts, parking facilities and floodlight facilities to enable games to be hosted at the venue.
Phase 1 has already been completed with two grass pitches resurfaced which will be fully open next April and it is envisaged that Phase 2 will take place over the next two years. The main focus of this stage of development will be upgrading the floodlights to 500 lux at an approximate cost of £300k widening and upgrading the access road, building a new stand, fencing and dugouts and upgrading the car park and existing building. The projected cost for this phase will be £550k.
Phase 3 will see the largest expenditure, an estimated £1.5 – £2million will be spent on a new pavilion and it is hoped that it will be completed by 2028. This will house the strength and conditioning hub, dining, meeting and changing facilities and office space.
A total of four pitches is needed by Fermanagh GAA but only two can be housed at Lissan leaving a shortfall. In Phase 4, this means acquiring land elsewhere in the county with the Bawnacre/Necarne a potential site to build another two pitches.
Pre-Covid, Fermanagh GAA had agreed significant funding from Croke Park and it’s hoped that this can be secured within the next three years with other funding also being sought to help cover some of the projected costs. Club Éirne are also planning a major fundraising initiative to help alleviate the financial shortfall on the development.
The design for the development is being drawn by Keys and Monaghan Architects in Irvinestown, they recently completed the Ederney and Roslea developments and the spectator stand at the Garvaghey centre in Co Tyrone.