Casement Park project boost for Ulster Council
August 07, 2015
An artist's impression of the night time view of the new Casement Park
Ulster GAA has welcomed the independent Project Assessment Review (PAR) of the Casement Park Stadium project undertaken by the Cabinet Office and released today.
The report finds that a Regional Stadium can be developed on the Casement site to meet Ulster GAA's strategic Provincial need. Specifically the report highlights; "Despite these challenges at project and programme level, we believe that meeting the goal of successfully constructing and operating a strategic regional stadium at Casement Park is still achievable."
In a statement this evening, the Ulster Council said: "This is a welcome and important development as we progress with the Casement Park Stadium project. The delivery of the Casement Park project involves a complex set of relationships with various statutory organisations including the Safety Technical Group. The GAA strongly welcomes the recommendation for new Terms of Reference to be agreed and implemented to govern the operation of the Safety Technical Group alongside the appointment of a new independent Chair. These developments are in response to the reports findings that there were significant issues with the operation and administration of the current STG and with their assessment and interpretation of the safety requirements of the proposed Casement Park project.
"The PAR report is a clear vindication of the premium which the GAA attached to the development of a new safe stadium on the Casement Park site. It is also supports the interpretation of both the Red and Green guides in terms of emergency exiting, as advanced by the GAA's project personnel and our world class stadium design team.
"The report also makes recommendations for the project which the GAA will address alongside the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. The GAA remains resolutely committed to the development of a new GAA Provincial Stadium at Casement Park in order to host major games including national GAA fixtures, Ulster GAA Finals and Semi Finals. We will continue to progress the project and we look forward to announcing our next steps in the near future."
