BALBRIGGAN CC INDOOR CENTRE

With the Balbriggan CC Indoor Centre having opened for use on January 16th, one of the driving forces behind the biggest project the club has ever seen, Damien Byrne, has provided us with some insight into how the project happened, starting right out at the beginning of the process.

It’s been the biggest project the club has ever undertaken, originally the committee were looking at extending the clubhouse, we had draft plans done up but hadn’t taken it any further, then a couple of the committee had the idea for an Indoor Centre, the clubhouse would have been lovely for parents, supporters and committee people like ourselves. We felt the Indoor centre would be something that would help grow the club, give our players of all ages somewhere to practice year round and would possibly earn some income for the club.

We had heard that another club had applied for planning and a Sports Capital Grant for an Indoor and thought we could do the same, we looked for quotes from Steel building suppliers but didn’t really look at it in any detail. It was when a round of Sports Capital Grant funding was announced in late 2020 that we kicked into gear and decided to see if we could make it happen. To apply for the sports Capital grant, we knew we needed to have a planning application submitted and it was a mad rush to get it submitted and accepted as a valid application, at the same time we had to source quotes for each element of the project, letters of support and various other docs to submit the grant application. But with a day to spare we got the application in thanks to various departments of Fingal County Council and various helpful suppliers. 

Looking back at the costings we submitted with the grant application, its hard not to laugh when comparing that cost estimate against what it has actually cost. Nearly everything doubled in price when we got around to starting the build three and a half years later and a whole host of other project costs and elements we didn’t even factor in in early 2021 had to be added on. All in, I think what we costed it for in 2021 was a few hundred thousand too low!!! 

The 4 years since that initial rush to get the planning and grant applications in has been a journey of ups and downs. There have been a huge amount of administration, meetings, phone calls, emails, sponsorship applications, loan applications, more grant applications, more meetings and a WhatsApp group chat that has taken up most of the storage on the phones of everyone in it, you could as they say, 'write a book about it!!'

There has been so many people who have helped make this project a reality, without the support and efforts of Primary Donors The Power Family, our 2 Primary Sponsors Progressive Credit Union & The Bracken Court Hotel, Fingal County Council staff and many more, this centre would not have been possible.  A special word of thanks to Cllr Tony Murphy who has been absolutely immense in his support over the past 4 years.

A project of this size and complexity, particularly one taken on by club volunteers who have jobs and families is a massive task. The Initial Project team of Damien Byrne, Albert Harper, Adrian Harper, Alan Richardson, Gary Dunphy, Duane Harper and Tommy Geraghty put in a massive effort over 3 years to get to the point where construction works began in May 2024. Hugh Cashell, Luke McLeod, Ray O’Carroll and Andre Botha also made important contributions to get us to the point where we could break ground.

The Construction period of roughly 6 months was a period none of us are likely to forget (or want to repeat) The project committee were joined by Barry Nelis and were stretched to breaking point on a near daily basis. Albert Harper, Alan Richardson and Barry Nelis were at the ground from morning to night nearly every day of the build and there was a constant stream of meetings, emails and admin required.  A project of this cost, size and scope and in a public park is a complex and stressful task to put it mildly but we had a design team of CWPA, Murray & Gillespie, MAA and Eamonn Doyle Engineers who were excellent support and guides for the club project committee and Fingal County Council have been hugely supportive.

Today, nearly 4 years on from the initial idea, the interior of the Indoor Centre is pretty much the finished article. We are delighted with the outcome and all users of the Centre to date have been very complimentary. The lights are of the highest lux levels available, the netting and matting installation by Durant Cricket is of the highest quality and the main contractor Halcon have done a superb job in delivering the finished Centre. We have speed radar, replay and ball tracking technology and are looking at other ideas to improve the experience for users.

So far we have had users and teams from pretty much every club in Leinster and everyone has been very complimentary. We will look to use the centre year round, grow our “Friday Night Blasters “ beginners group further and coach our younger up and coming players year round. We are also planning several Masterclass events, the first of these is our “Athletic Fielding” sessions on April 5^th with elite fielding Coach Jack Perham traveling over from the UK for it. There will be 3 sessions and there are still a few spaces available.

There was many times when it looked like the centre would not be even started, so to see the Centre in use is very satisfying for everyone that worked tirelessly to make it a reality. 

We still have some work to do externally in terms of paths, landscaping and signage and we are planning an official opening in April when we will invite our club members and everyone who helped make this idea a reality, see the Centre officially opened. 

Its an old saying that nothing worth doing is ever easy, this project was far from easy, but was most definitely worth it.

Damien Byrne
Balbriggan CC