A new Armagh Planetarium and Observatory could cost in the region of £50 million to deliver – one of the biggest investments ever in the city – but would put it firmly on a world stage.
And while the exact plans for the College Hill site are currently being considered, a senior representative of the Department for Communities has hinted there might be potential to relocate the public library at Market Street as part of such a newly-developed location.
A detailed presentation of the next steps was given to ABC Council’s economic development committee last night (Tuesday).
Observatory and Planetarium director, Professor Michael Burton, was accompanied by AOP colleague Ronan O’Hara and Ian Greenaway, of the Department for Communities, to put more meat on the bones of the little that had already been revealed to the public domain.
They asked for – and received – the support of the committee in moving forward through the next phases.
Professor Burton said: “ We have a very special place in this part of the world. The reason I did come here from Australia was because it is completely unique. Through the city of Armagh and its surroundings, we actually can see the full development of human civilisation, going back to Navan Fort, the origins and mythology, the ecclesiastical capital of the island here, with the beginnings of our modern society, leading to the Observatory and the Planetarium, which is really the foundations of science and the communication of science. It is truly a special place.”
During the course of his presentation, Professor Burton detailed four elements to the plans to be taken forward in terms of “the research, the education, the visitor experience and the heritage”.
“The first is the restoration and conservation of the Observatory,” he explained. “The second is the building of an education and research centre. The third is about a new exhibition and conference centre, and the centrepiece of all is actually a new Planetarium dome, what’s called an LED Planetarium dome. It’s the next generation of technology.”
With the new dome, it would be the first of its kind in the UK and only the second in Europe.
“It’s going to have a true immersive experience,” said Professor Burton. “If we can bring it to Armagh it’s going to truly revolutionise what we can do inside the facility.”
Currently, the AOP director said, almost 70,000 people a year visit the facilities at the Planetarium.
The ambition is to “over double” that, drawing around 150,000 visitors annually.
But Professor Burton said the Observatory and Planetarium were “more than just a visitor experience”. There was, he explained, an “amazing scientific heritage”, and it was home to the “oldest telescope in the world still in its original setting”, dating back to 1795 and upon which “the modern telescope is based”.
The director continued: “We do have both the oldest running Observatory and the longest running Planetarium in the British Isles, in the UK, or Ireland. It’s amazing that Armagh has both those attributes.
“But there are challenges. The Planetarium itself is still the original dome going back to 1968, when it was founded. The demand outweighs the capacity. We really are limited by what we can do, because logistics inside it do not work. The buildings around it are not suited for the modern experience. And indeed, the dome can’t take the next generation of technology.
“ The Observatory is a wonderful place. It’s a Grade A listed heritage building. It’s on the way to UNESCO World Heritage, but it’s also literally falling apart. We have to conserve and preserve it, and so, the project I’m talking about is about taking both the Observatory and Planetarium forward for the next 200 years.”
Professor Burton said the core of what AOP was about was learning, adding: “The education covers all the way from pre-school to post-grad. Every day during term time, we have school groups and that is the absolute core of our activity. We’re also a world class research centre. We are a frontline research centre. We have been that since 1790 in our foundation.
“We’re also a public realm; the Astro Park surrounding the Observatory and Planetarium is frequented by the dog walkers of the city and it’s a wonderful best views of the cathedrals. We don’t close the gates. It’s always open to the public.”
Detailing “aspirations” towards UNESCO World Heritage in partnership with the Observatories of Dunsink in Dublin and Birr in Offaly, he said: “We’re on the way. Birr and Dunsink are already on the tentative list of Ireland, and we’re on the progress to get the tentative list of the UK for Armagh, at which case a full nomination can go forward.”
The project is now at development phase, committee was told, with the Department for Communities committing £4m and the National Lottery £1m to “plan and design” the new facilities.
Over the next two years, it is hoped to be in a position to take it forward, and what follows will be a five-year implementation phase.
Said Professor Burton: “The National Lottery have already offered £5 million to that project, assuming we can get the other funders to go forward. This is a project which has started and in two years time we will be seeking planning approval for it.”
Some of the world’s leading architects firms have come on board, with a collective CV of works including the Gherkin in London, the Eden Project, the National Space Centre in Leicester, the Titanic Centre in Belfast and the Public Records Office.
“These architects have come together because they wanted to do this project, they want to put on their portfolio,” said the director.
“We are going to have vastly increased vistor capacity here. Indeed, we believe we can readily bring 150,000 people a year. There’s going to be great economic benefits from that. We very much want to work with the ABC Council. That’s why I’m here today. This has to be a project which we’re doing with ABC, part of the rejuvenation of Armagh and the whole district around it.
“We need to work together for that and we want to do so. We’re basically future-proofing the Observatory and Planetarium into the next century going forward, so we need help to go forward in doing this.
“There’s still a long way to go, even though we’ve appointed the architects. We do need support to turn this design into reality. We do need to find more partners to unlock the investment of opportunity. It’s an investment opportunity here and we need to form an investment board to unlock that. We’ve got a project board, which is dealing with the nitty gritty of taking the project forward, but we’ve also got to go forward to the next, how we actually find the funds to unlock the investment.
“In the 60s, at that stage, the Armagh Rural and the Armagh Urban Council came together with Stormont in order to invest in the Planetarium. It must have seemed like a ‘way out’ project back then. But look at what the Planetarium has brought to Northern Ireland over the last 50 years. We’re trying to do the same for the next century, to bring the Observatory and Planetarium through the 21st Century.”
Asked how the development would be funded and how much it would cost, Professor Burton confirmed: “We have funding for the next two years, which is roughly £5m to take it to planning stage. We have, essentially, the offer from the National Lottery of a further £5 million, which will be for the conservation and restoration of the Observatory, but that is dependent upon our raising the rest of the funds. The Lottery aren’t going to give it if we don’t get any other funds.”
An accurate costing will emerge during the next two years, but around £50m was quoted as a “ballpark figure for the full project”, of which “£5 million is on the table at the moment”.
Further asked how it was intended to ‘lever’ such an amount, the director explained: “That is the big parallel challenge of the next two years, while we put the plans together, of how we raise the funding. The short answer is I don’t have an answer to that yet, because that’s what we need to work on. It’s going to have to be a cocktail of funders to do this. It’s going to be no single funder, so we indeed do want to have the support to our Department.”
And he added: “We do need the support of the council to come forward. There is no doubt that unless the council are behind this project, other funders aren’t going to come in. We are also looking at the potential for shared island funding, particularly with our partners in Dunsink and Birr. We have actually had some seed shared island funding to get to this point. I mean, it’s in the level of a couple of £100,000, not enough to do the project, but that’s been to help support the UNESCO project. But, indeed, we know more needs to be done to that, so that is why we also need to set an investment board up.
“We haven’t started with that yet, but that will take in the key stakeholders to come together, to essentially map out a plan. Indeed, philanthropic funding comes in. But that’s all sort of work to get the philanthropic funding, and we need help, because we are a small organisation. We don’t have the capacity within our organisation to go out and seek all these funders ourselves without help. So that’s where the partners come in to help us do that.”
Ian Greenaway, of the Department for Communities, backed the director, and said the next two years will be “incredibly important”.
“This is actually the period in which we all have a chance to shape what will be on that site,” he explained. “As just one example, the public library – which is also part of a sponsored body under the Department for Communities – we know it’s not fit for purpose in the current wonderful building in Market Square. Could that, or could that not, go into the Planetarium site? So there’s all of these discussions we need to have and how to fit with the (future planned development of the) Gaol.”
Mr Greenaway said some elements would be “more funder-friendly than others”, adding it would be great and beneficial to have council on board, and acknowledging the Department would have to “put its hand in its pocket”.
Ronan O’Hara, a management committee member at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, detailed how he had also spent 10 years working for the Strategic Investment Board for Northern Ireland and “seen many projects and business cases come and go”.
And in his ‘day job’, as chief executive and accountable officer for Scottish Crown State, he described the plans as “one of the most investable projects in Northern Ireland at this point in time”.
“I earn millions and millions of pounds for the people of Scotland, and I invest, on a daily basis, millions and millions of pounds in projects across the length and breadth of Scotland,” he told the committee. “I think building on that sentiment of funder-friendly, I think that is the most important aspect that I would encourage you to take away and reflect upon.
“Because, in my free time, I come here to support this project, because to me, in my career of 25-plus years working across these islands, this is one of the most unique investable projects I have ever come across. It absolutely ticks every box. It is unique. It’s world class. The economic ripple that it will create, not just across ABC but for Northern Ireland, and these islands as a whole – because there’s a north, south, east, west opportunity – it’s significant.
“Money attracts money and what this project has achieved is that first seed funding and I think it’s really beneficial and important, as we go on the journey to secure the additional investment, that we have your support at our side, because what investors from London and from other jurisdictions will want to see is place-based, collaborative, transformative. And we’ve got all of that in this project, and then, in addition, it’s not a single facet opportunity.
“We have those lovely strands of education, visitor attraction, heritage and research. And so, I encourage you all to lean in and support us on the journey and ensure that we attract and secure the out-of-jurisdiction funding. It’s great to have the support of Department and Minister, but this opportunity’s bigger than that. And ultimately, as well, what’s rather special here is it’s also a commercial enterprise. So we crave that element of self-sufficiency as we move forward over the next decade.”
Councillors across all parties voiced their support and believed it would link in with plans for Armagh Gaol and boost other attractions including Navan, the two Cathedrals, the Mall and the Georgian city itself, as well as future plans for a rail link to reopen.
Independent Unionist Paul Berry said the potential for the city and district, borough and Northern Ireland “would be nothing only fantastic”.
“This here has the potential of being a really, really fantastic opportunity for us in this council and further afield, and I think it’s important and imperative that we, as councillors, and our officers, work tirelessly with yourselves and everybody in the Department that we can make this a reality, because it’s not every day you see something like this coming to your doorstep,” he added.
“When you look back at 1968 and where we are now, there is a clear need for investment. It would be a shame and utter disgrace that we would be sitting back and watching it decay even further. We want to see that being preserved for many years to come.”
SDLP Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon said the integral part for him was the link with Navan Fort and the “two potential World Heritage sites within miles of each other”.
And adding his support, he stated: “In a week whenever we have astronauts coming back from the moon, I suppose it’s very apt that we are hearing this presentation tonight and a bit of vision for the future. I think it’s really important that council row in behind this. I’m delighted to see the link between yourselves and the two other Observatories on the island.
“ I think it’s hugely, hugely important, not just as a tourism potential, but also in relation to the education, the learning, and the science behind it.
“It’s a real place for learning, and it’s a real place that we should be very, very proud of and be very proud to be associated with.”
DUP Councillor Scott Armstrong said it was an “important place” and worth “investing in”.
“It’s a very exciting time for the city, with multiple projects,” he added. “And I think these projects can all work hand-in-hand together for the betterment of the city, with the Gaol, the train station, Planetarium and Navan Fort. If they can all move together in the right direction I think we’re in a very exciting time.”
Sinn Fein Councillor John Og O’Kane said: “It’s a fantastic site, but with the investment we can improve it and we can get it ready for the next 100 years.”
Alliance Councillor Joy Ferguson stated: “The economic and social impacts of this for Armagh and for the borough and for Northern Ireland are clear to be seen.”
The DUP’s Ian Wilson said: “I think it is an exciting project for the borough wide, and it can bring investment and more visitors to the area, which is only a good thing. It’s totally unique. There’s nothing like it.”
And Ulster Unionist Councillor Kyle Savage – who said “partnership was key” – added: “I do believe Armagh Planetarium is one of those gems within the crown of this council area and I think we all should be getting behind that.”
