The investment has transformed a derelict 200-year-old church into a 10,000 sq ft innovation, R&D and science centre.

Future Cast, an Innovation, education and R&D non-profit focused on the construction and quarrying industries, has invested 3.25m into developing a 200-year old church into a 10,000 sq ft centre for innovation, R&D and science.

The funds will also enable the creation of 15 new jobs over the coming years, with opportunities for jobseekers in concrete and material science, machine design, prototype development and specialist training.

The former St Clare’s Hall church in the town has been redeveloped into a  ‘state-of-the-art’ facility featuring a geological material science laboratory, prototype-building and machine-development spaces, facilities for green skills training and a 3D concrete printer.

The centre, which was supported by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment under the Border Enterprise Development Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland, will provide companies and designers with access to space, technical expertise and equipment, as well as opportunities to develop ideas, build prototypes and progress R&D projects.

It is expected that skills training will include programmes related to 3D concrete printing and the maintenance of offshore wind energy infrastructure.

Future Cast is a European Digital Innovation Hub, that helps companies across Ireland access innovation, digitalisation and R&D support and it currently employs 22 people across its existing facilities at the W8 building in Manorhamilton, Leitrim and Ballaghaderreen, in Roscommon. 

The projects represent a sum total of more than €5m invested  into the development of supports for businesses in the construction, quarrying, manufacturing and wider industrial sectors in recent years.

Shane Kerrigan, the founder of the W8 Centre and director of Future Cast, said: “The opening of Future Cast’s new Research, Innovation, Development and Education Centre represents the next step in our mission to demonstrate that rural communities can be places where innovation, enterprise and opportunity thrive. 

“Together with the W8 Centre, we are creating an innovation ecosystem that gives businesses, entrepreneurs, researchers and learners access to world-class facilities, expertise and opportunities that will help them prosper and grow into the future.

“We see this investment helping to build long-term economic resilience, supporting our young people, enabling the development of future industries and ensuring that the north-west and border region can play a leading role in Ireland’s future economy.”

Also impacting the west and north-west, in April, the Advancing Innovation in Manufacturing Centre in Sligo, which is a collaborative partnership between the Atlantic Technological University, Sligo County Council and Leitrim County Council, announced an expansion with a new Galway base of operations. 

The AIM Centre intends to strengthen its links within the medtech and life sciences sectors and for the first time will expand outside of Sligo.

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