Visionary €130 million Crystal plans unveiled for Waterford city
Peter McLoughlin, SETU, Noel Frisby Snr, Frisby, and Sarah Hickey, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. Photo: Patrick Browne
The former Waterford Crystal manufacturing site in Waterford city is to be transformed to become part of the country’s first co-located university enterprise quarter in a €130 million initiative.
Showcased last week at a media briefing was an overview of the 37-acre ‘Glassworks’ site, which will feature world-class offices located beside South East Technological University’s (SETU) academic and research facilities.
Press and shareholders were informed at the briefing that the overall site is expected to eventually have capacity for up to 6,000 employees.
Planning permission has also been granted for a 582-student bed development on adjacent lands.
The development marks the beginning of a new company, a joint venture between Waterford-based Frisby Developments and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF).
This new company says it will support and be part of the university and enterprise quarter, focusing particularly on the progression of its commercial enterprise elements.
Approximately 20 acres of the 37 acre site were acquired by SETU in 2023, with the remaining lands, former offices and showrooms, held by Frisby.
“The site sits adjacent to the existing SETU campus and in time will become an extension of it,” Noel Frisby Jr told an audience at the official briefing last week.
“This is a place where students will graduate into real jobs, where spinouts will launch and where global companies can tap into a live local pipeline of talent."
ISIF’s involvement comes as part of their city-specific investment programme, which involves a €500 million investment to support the five regional cities and their development.
“We’ve already invested in similar projects in Limerick with the development of One Opera Square, and also in Kilkenny with the ongoing development of the Abbey Quarter,” said ISIF’s Sarah Hickey.
The new development aims to take inspiration from successful international university enterprise quarters, such as the University of Nottingham’s Innovation Park and the Cortex innovation district in St Louis, Missouri.
Regarding SETU’s direct involvement in the site, President Veronica Campbell said that "although SETU is not legally part of the joint venture construct, the university is of course a co-partner working with the new joint venture, as we have been working very closely with Frisby group, ISIF and Waterford Council.”
It is 16 years since crystal manufacturing ended at the iconic Waterford Crystal site at Kilbarry.
The site has since sat idle.
"The site we are focused on is steeped in legacy. Once home of Waterford Crystal it was recognized around the world," Noel Frisby Jr said.
"When production ceased, it left behind not just empty buildings, but the loss of thousands of high-quality manufacturing jobs. These were jobs that sustained families and built communities.
"The closure left a vacuum, not just economically, but also emotionally, for a city that had long been synonymous with excellence and craft, it left a requirement to reimagine the future."
Frisby acquired the site in 2012, when it was a dormant, complex, industrial legacy site.
Mr Frisby said the site required significant upfront investment, planning and remediation to unlock its true potential.
"The simpler route would have been a commercially focused, lower-risk approach. Low-density housing, apartments, warehouse units, with a short-term return in mind, but we took a different approach," he added.
"We invested heavily in site preparation, infrastructure upgrades and a strategic planning to ensure that when development did begin, it would be done correctly, sustainably, and with long-term impact in mind. That early commitment lay the foundation for what we are here to proudly unveil today."
"We waited and we planned and we aligned our vision with a very powerful catalyst, Waterford achieving university status.
"From that moment our ambition was clear, to create something strategically positioned, ambitious and world-class. To deliver Ireland's first university and enterprise quarter, a place where education, enterprise and opportunity converge."
During the launch event last week, stakeholders described the development as "a very special moment for Waterford".
Noel Frisby Jr added, “Our ambition is to put Waterford firmly on the map, not just as Ireland's oldest city, but as a national centre for innovation and opportunity.
"Glassworks is for the people of Waterford, and it’s about making sure young people can stay here, build their careers here and raise families with confidence that opportunity doesn’t mean having to leave."
