Opening of new event space in Newry delayed

The 'meanwhile use' area at the entrance to the Albert Basin in Newry will not now open this week as planned but has been postponed to a later date. Meanwhile use is a term used to describe use an area is put to while waiting for it's ultimate use. In this case it is the use of the front of the Albert Basin Park site while waiting for work to progress on the facility.

The area has seen some construction work take place but this ground to a halt earlier this month before it continued with some tarring of the facility. The area takes in the Patrick Rankin sculpture and an area behind it which has been tarred. it is planned to use the facility as a location for events organised by local community organisations etc. Currently most of the area is tarred but fencing remains to be carried out. It's believed that around £200k has been funded for the project by the Department for Infrastructure.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council had originally hoped to officially open the facility on Friday 30 June to allow schools to attend but a Council spokesperson in reply to a Newry.ie query said "Due to unforeseen circumstances this event will take place at a later date."

It is hoped the meanwhile use area will be used for events such as film screenings, drama productions, concerts, orchestra events etc.