€15 Million Investment in Improvements
for Dublin City Centre
Ireland’s First Business Improvement District Launched
€15million will be invested in making Dublin City Centre ‘Cleaner, Greener & Safer’ over the next five years by the country’s first ever Business Improvement District (BID) it was announced today (Tuesday, 26th August).
The Dublin City Centre BID, was established by business leaders in Dublin 1 and Dublin 2 to provide a range of additional services to make the area a more attractive place for customers to visit and people to do business in. It will deliver world class environmental standards on the streets of the Capital. Services will include Street Cleaning, Capital Improvements, Street Ambassadors, Street Landscaping, Local Community Initiatives and Area Marketing.
Almost €1million will be spent annually in the provision of additional cleaning services of the BID area (over and above those provided by Dublin City Council). Services will include mechanical street washing, chewing gum removal, graffiti removal etc. It will also include a 1-hour Clean Up Guarantee, whereby a rapid reaction force will be employed for instant graffiti removal and clean- up for the first time on the Capital’s streets.
The BID has already introduced full-time Street Ambassadors to the city for the first time who now patrol the streets of the city daily. Their role is to monitor cleanliness, identify improvements that can be made, identify security issues and assist the general public to create a more welcoming environment for the city centre. Each street in the BID area will be monitored at least twice a day by the BID Street Ambassadors.
Over its five year term the BID will also contribute to delivering tangible physical improvements to the streets of the Capital including street signage, street landscaping, renewal of Christmas lights and local community initiatives.
According to Richard Guiney, the Dublin City Centre BID, CEO “The Dublin City Centre BID is the first of its kind in Ireland and we anticipate it will be the first of many around the country. I would like to thank Dublin City Council for their ongoing support in the development of the BID. BIDs benefits are experienced by all visitors, residents, tourists, property owners and local businesses. We will provide world-class world quality lifestyle, environment and services for our Capital City.”
BIDs are a predominantly Canadian and US concept which have proven to increase footfall, decrease crime, increase property values and overall trading performance. US BID areas include Times Square and The Fashion District in New York City and the Centre City District in Philadelphia. Where introduced BIDs have reported significant improvements in their local areas; - e.g. 40% decrease in crime in some areas, 30% increase in trade/ residential occupancy, increases in property value etc.
The geographic area of the Dublin City Centre BID includes 115 individual streets and runs from Parnell St to Stephen’s Green and from South Great Georges St to Talbot St. The term of the BID is five years, after which businesses in the area will vote to retain or reject the continuation of BID for the area.
