SPRING CROSS DEVELOPMENT PROMISES 2,000 CONSTRUCTION JOBS - Listed property company REO, which is 65% owned by Treasury Holdings, says it has secured planning permission on its behalf for the €800m redevelopment of Ballymun Town Centre in North Dublin. REO chairman Ray Horney says he is confident construction will begin in 2010. The new development will be called Spring Cross and REO claims that at more than a quarter of a million square meters, it is the largest town centre planning permission ever given in the history of the state. The project will take three years to build and promises 2,000 construction jogs. The planning permission was secured without oral hearing and two objections were withdrawn.
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TENDER PRICES DOWN ALMOST 25% FROM 2007 PEAKS - Tender prices for construction projects have fallen back to 1999 levels. The Society of Chartered Surveyors says tender prices fell more than 17% in the last 12 months and by almost a quarter since the 2007 peak.
The President of the Society of Chartered Surveyors, Ken Cribben, says that the society has been carrying out the survey since 1998. He says that in the first six months of the year, tender prices have dropped by 10.5% and that comes on top of a fall of 7% in the previous six months. He says that there is now great value in the industry and points out that prices have fallen by about 23% since the peak of the market in 2007.
On the news of the Ballymun Town Centre deal, Mr Cribben says that it is an absolute vote of confidence in the construction and property industry. 'An announcement such as this we haven't heard for quite some time,' he added.
He says the move will help to create and protect up to 2,000 jobs. He says that it appears as if REO has been assured of getting bank finance for the project
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TELECOMS SPEND DOWN €200M - Later today the chief executives of Ireland's biggest telecoms players will be in the same room to debate how to they are going to improve access to better and faster broadband services, at the same time as they are slashing investment spending. Employers group IBEC, which is hosting the conference on telecoms in Dublin today, estimates the annual spend on telecoms infrastructure by the big companies has fallen by almost €200m because of the recession.
Eamonn Wallace of Ireland Offline, which has a long history battling for better telecoms services, says the country still has a really big broadband deficit with only 20% broadband penetration. He says the figures given out by the telecom firms, which would suggest higher penetration, are really only 'pr'. He says that people have substituted mobile dial-up for broadband, and states that it is not really a proper substitution.
Pointing to the reduced spend on broadband, Mr Wallace says that spending on the fixed line aspect of the business is not very good either. He says the only company which seems to be spending is cable company UPC.
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MORNING NEWS - Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns Ulster Bank, is declining to comment on reports that it is considering a rights issue to raise between £3-5 billion sterling. The bank is 70% owned by the British taxpayer and it wants to avoid placing any more of itself into government hands as it tries to deal with toxic debts on its balance sheet.
*** You might have thought the ban on smoking on planes would help people kick their habit, but Ryanair feels there is a buck to be made. The airline is to start selling 'smokeless cigarettes' which deliver nicotine without needing to light up.
*** The Tokyo markets today are closed for Respect the Aged Day.
*** On the currency markets this morning, the euro is worth $1.466 cents and 90.65 pence sterling.
