The Turf Club has assured there will be no disruption to Ireland's Classic races after the redevelopment of the Curragh racecourse yesterday received a vital green light from An Bord Pleanála.
The board approved the re-alignment of the road at the back of the current stands and the construction of a 72-bedroom hotel as part of the Curragh's massive development plans.
Those plans also include the construction of a new grandstand and the overall project, which was estimated yesterday will cost close to €80 million, is tentatively aimed to be completed at the end of 2008.
Tenders for the road have been released for the past month and work on that is expected to start soon. Completion of the realigned road is hoped before the end of this year which will leave the 2006 racing programme at Irish racing's headquarters unaffected.
Work on the massive grandstand can only begin after the road is finished but the Turf Club yesterday stressed that the five major Classic races will remain unaffected during the entire course of the redevelopment.
"There are no plans to move the Classics. In fact any construction work will be planned around those races," said the regulatory body's chief executive Denis Egan yesterday.
"We are trying to ensure minimal disruption to racing but it is possible we will lose some meetings at the start and end of 2007," Egan added, before nominating the end of 2008 or the start of 2009 as a likely end to an ambitious project that began with the Aga Khan's purchase of the Stand House Hotel. The cost of the hotel, which was vital to any future expansion plans, was estimated at €15 million.
An original timescale pointed to the development being in place by the end of 2007 but that has had to be revised. The project also attracted attention when trainer Dermot Weld, who trains just yards from the racecourse, objected to An Bord Pleanála on environmental grounds. Weld withdrew those objections earlier this month.
"We hope the road will be finished by September or October and in the next four weeks we will lodge planning permission for the stand. We hope all the hurdles will have been crossed by the time the road is finished and we can then begin construction of the stand by the end of 2006," said Egan.
"In some ways the stand will be done in two phases. The hotel development cannot be started until the stand is completed and at the moment I would say the whole project won't be finished until the end of 2008 at the earliest," he added.
The Turf Club's senior steward Pierce Molony welcomed An Bord Pleanála's decision and said: "It is wonderful news for Irish racing.
"Our intention is to obtain planning permission for a new grandstand while the road redevelopment is being constructed with a view to commencing work on the grandstand and hotel when this year's Curragh racing season concludes."
