Massive regeneration project set to transform Mayo town

Westport town is building up to become a bigger attraction than ever as it prepares to unveil a new side to it with a massive regeneration project ongoing on the grounds of the former Sisters of Mercy Convent site on Altamont Street, which is located on the Ballinrobe side of the town.

Set to become a new community hub for the town, the development will see a modern state-of-the-art iconic oval-shaped library (The Oval), with the repurposed former school as a main library building, all fronting on to a new public realm with seating areas, pathways and cycleways, adjacent to what will be Westport-Belmullet Municipal District’s new civic offices. Next to this will lie a large community complex – with plans for even more to be added on as time goes on.

Separately, towards the rear of the site, the historic Westport convent, which was built in the 1840s, is being repurposed by an approved housing body, Tuath Housing, into 18 age-friendly/assisted living apartments, while the former Scoil Phadraig national school that faced onto Altamont Street, is also being regenerated as a fresh new school building for the town.

Construction work on the three-pronged council project of library, civic offices and community buildings has been quietly continuing for some time now, although strategic hoarding has concealed much of the operations. More recently, the shape of things to come (including The Oval), and indeed the massive scope of the development, has become apparent, and once the big reveal occurs, the new streetscape promises to be simply jaw-dropping.

Westport councillor Peter Flynn, who was cathaoirleach of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District at the sod-turning for the development, sums it up: “When people talk about a transformational project, this is a perfect example. It’s a long time coming but at the end of it all, we will have a property that was synonymous with dereliction in our town becoming one of the key attractions on entering Westport.” 

The man in charge, Westport native and engineer, Pat Staunton, who is head of the strategic capital delivery team in Mayo County Council, lays it all out.

“Being from Westport myself, it’s a privilege to be heading up the team delivering this project and we’re all very excited about it. I went to school on the old convent site and know it will be transformational for the town. It will shift the entire centre of gravity in Westport from the middle of Bridge Street by opening up a whole new direction of activity this side of town.” 

The entire community will have a place in this new part of town once it opens, Pat adds. 

“We expect students from the nearby Sacred Heart and Rice College schools will be using the park a lot. Then you’ll have the community groups, and the clients coming in for the Meals and Wheels; then the older people will be living in the new apartments and coming and going, and on top of that, you’ll have the footfall to the new library, all tying in with the existing adjacent attractions of the Fairgreen and the Paddington Bear amenity.” 

Visually, the town will have a completely new look once the former convent at the front of the site, which has been vacant since 2008, is transformed.

“The iconic Oval building will be a brand-new landmark that is immediately visible to people from Distillery Road, at the entrance to town, and then again, all the way from the clock in the town centre and up along Mill Street, you are going to see it in front of you.” 

Contrasting sharply with what for many years was a boarded-up site, the convent project is set to do exactly as planned and completely regenerate a historical part of Westport town.

“Before this the site had the big high wall the whole way around it as well as locked gates. Now we are opening the whole thing out and the day the hoarding comes down, people will be amazed.” 

Council's key role

The reworking of the site could not have happened without some major funding, and while the library and community buildings received €13.5 million from the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, headed up by Minister Dara Calleary under the 2020 Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, with Mayo County Council providing matching funding of over €11 million, the civic offices are being funded by the council at a cost of around €7 million.

The sod was turned by Minister Calleary in October 2025, while former Westport TD and Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring was also in attendance. The ceremony brought finality to a project that began in 2008 with the purchase of the site by the former Westport Town Council in 2008. The contract for the major development was awarded to Carey Construction.

The council’s input is instrumental to the project, Pat explains. 

“We are the strategic capital delivery team, set up in 2024 by Mayo County Council. I am an engineer and head up the team and Padraig Kelly is an architect, and the project manager. The council part is the library, the civic offices and the community buildings, while the old convent house and school developments are separate.

“As a project team we are working with the Library Service as our client on the library, and the MD (Westport Belmullet Municipal District) as our client for the civic offices and community buildings, which the MD will own and manage, and Padraig is also busy liaising with the housing section in the council.

“This project has been going on a long time and by the time we got it, it had been through planning, and our role was just to deliver and build it. It is intended as a regeneration project to regenerate this part of Westport and then be a catalyst for other projects in the area. This entails being true to the original buildings by putting back as much as possible as was there before.

“No doubt this is a big one for us and Mayo County Council has a lot of pressure to deliver these projects. Thankfully, we’ve had great support from everyone, including elected members, schools and Westport in general.

“We also had close discussions with all stakeholders in the area in advance, and none of this could have happened without the intervention of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht’s Rural Regeneration Development Fund. We had to actually bring electrical energy to the site as what was there was totally inefficient. Now there is medium voltage supply, and this will allow for further development on the site.” 

The addition of another public park and green area for Westport will be especially welcome.

“Essentially, the public realm will house a small but brand-new public park and form a natural trailhead for the [Great Western] Greenway. The area will be very pedestrian-friendly, with new paving, hard landscaping and street lighting”, explained executive architect and project manager Padraig Kelly.

Padraig confirms the project is progressing well and on target: “The builder is expected to finish by the end of 2027. The housing will follow after that, while the school has plans to be finished quite soon. By mid-2028 we expect the fit-out of the council project to be complete.” 

Naturally, the project has an environmental emphasis, Padraig adds.

“In line with the council’s commitment to decarbonisation, all the new buildings will have heat pumps so there will be zero carbon emissions. The municipal district offices and the library will also be generating electricity on site from photovoltaic panels.

“There are two community buildings, with the entire ground floor of the main one set to house the Meals and Wheels social services, while there are two large rooms on the first floor for flexible use as community offices or meeting rooms; then the annex is a smaller community building but has a very grand, tall space. The old glasshouse is also there, and we would like to see that refurbished, maybe as a community garden in the future.” 

On target

Padraig explains that the oval library building will house a staircase and lift to bring people up onto the main floor. 

“The library is two-storey with the main entrance being via The Oval, which acts as a way to negotiate levels. It’s an iconic shape and will become a fulcrum piece and a grand social space. People can potter in and do their business electronically or go upstairs and join the main library itself.” 

Pat adds: “It’s also a new generation My Open Library, so as a customer you will have access literally 365 days a year electronically. You can also gain access with your library card from 8am to 10pm at night, without any staff being there, so this will be a total gamechanger and mean there is life in the area both day and night.” 

Even nature’s little creatures have been considered in the development, as Pat reveals: “Bats and swifts are present, so Mayo County Council had to provide a little re-housing scheme for them, both a summer and winter housing.” 

The strategic capital delivery team worked closely with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, as well as Linda Huxley of Swift Conservation Ireland on this aspect. Padraig explains that bat tubes have been installed into cavity walls.

"You would not even know they are there, they are so tiny.” 

Landscaping will also take biodiversity into account to increase insect numbers, “so it’s not just homes for bats but also to enhance the environment for them". 

"Lower temperature lighting will also make the area conducive to our animal friends.” 

Having worked for Castlebar Town Council and its municipal district, Padraig’s role for many years has been “thinking about our towns and villages and how we can spark new life into derelict areas”, meaning the convent project is right up his street.

“This is a site where the gates were closed for so long in a part of town that was very much underused, derelict and vacant. Now, all of a sudden, the whole area is being worked on and in a year or two, it will be utterly transformative for the eastern end of Westport. It will bring new life and a whole new vibe and open the whole area up to the community.” 

He visualises the place being full of activity with people coming and going and chilling out in the public realm space beside The Oval.

“You can imagine people sitting out enjoying the park, school children coming and going, and all the footfall to and from the library, the new civic offices and the community buildings. The entire area of the public realm is not huge but will house a new public park and be an important stitch in the urban fabric, knitting all these little layers of the Mall and Altamont Street and the greenway, together. I expect it will have a very positive impact as a new amenity geared towards the community.” 

Cllr Peter Flynn adds: “The design is really impressive and the fact you’re going to have a new library coming out beyond what was the old convent wall, creating a completely new visual as you come into Westport town, will be really significant.” 

As for the new civic offices, he says: “I know people can be critical but ultimately, this will be the council chamber that will host dignitaries and different people coming to town and it really is important to have somewhere that is representative of our town. We have also been blessed to have Carey's as a contractor. At a time when people are talking about overspends and projects going beyond their targeted date, Carey's have stuck to their plans exactly and are sticking to their budgets and timelines.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme