Hello all,

Lots of people from who started this year and last year will probably not have heard much about the Boathouse Project so here is some info to let you know about this unique project that reflects the commitment of certain individuals and the open mindedness of the student body in general.

I depend a lot on hearsay of how the project and the requirement of such a facility came about. I will relay it to you in little detail and maybe someone else can add a few stories if they are more familiar than I of what happened back in the day...

For years the kayak club have been struggling for store space. Before the squash court that we are now in, all gear was kept in a narrow passage with a door covering one end. There has never been enough space and it has never really been sufficient for our needs.

After many people trying down through the years to get space it was decided to go to a referendum to extend the student levy for the mortgage on the Student services building in order to pay for a boathouse. As I understand it, some land had already been granted by the college to build on but turned out to be inadequate for the intended building.

Other clubs were in need of appropriate space also. For several years, the UL rowing club had suffered through increasing rents at Castleconnell to store their boats. MBUL (mountain bikers) and UL Sub Aqua Club also needed space. A push was made to promote the boathouse and to convince the student body that this project was about more than these four clubs.

The work that was done around that time was incredible - the four clubs to be housed in the boathouse rallied to get enough people to vote on the referendum which was to be held in parallel with the sabbatical elections.

Then the result - A resounding YES!

With the decision made it was time to start the design and planning processes. Obviously, there was no point in being short sighted so and equipment schedule was drawn up and each club was asked to draw up a kind of "wish list" that would list what a club would get in the event of having unlimited resources.

Then it was down to the reality of what is required. Our requirements are mostly down to having enough secure space to store all our gear and have the facilities to clean and dry our gear also. Ourselves and other clubs required an amount of common use area including toilets and changing facilities. One of the main features of the project will be the Rowing Clubs indoor rowing tank. This is a real big deal as it will mean that it will change the Rowing Clubs position from having to rent space and travel pretty large distances for training to having access to on river training and indoor training for times when they normally may not be able to use the area out the back (i.e. if in flood etc). Also, as a benefit to the building in general there is real potential that the rowing tank can generate revenue that will help pay for ongoing expenses in the building - to the advantage of all involved.

At this point, the general design of the building has been decided and planning permission submitted. That means that it is not far from turning sod and actually getting moving. When work starts I have no doubt that the building will shoot up and be seen as a massive success.

You can see the planning submission here.

Currently, the County Council is seeking more information about the planning application. Mostly, the questions are about how to deal with certain environmental issues.

Below are 2 impressions of how the building will look:






And an idea of where the boathouse site is:




Pretty impressive looking eh?

The future:
Once planning permission is received a tendering process will begin. After a contractor is chosen it will be time for site clearing and building.

As mentioned before, the building should go up quite quickly, both due to the nature of the building itself and due to the fact that (I am told) the buildings department here at UL are usually very good to get builders to stick by their commitments to get the job done on schedule.

So, that is about it. I do not know if there is anything else I can tell you other than that each club has a representative to protect their clubs interests. That is me for ULKC so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Lastly, I would like to say a massive thank you to all those who have worked on this project before I even came near it. It is obvious to me that a lot of work went in to covering all bases and ensured that I was always informed when I got into the role. For that, it is thanks to Jimmy, Jenny & Kev.
More massive thanks to those who promoted the Yes vote in the referendum and went as far as giving people lifts to the vote to ensure success.
If I have forgotten anyone it is more to do with my ignorance toward your involvement and I apologise!

Tony Canning

UPDATE 12 September 2006!