New buildings in both Westmeath and Roscommon 2008
according to new figures released by GeoDirectory.

Westmeath in 2008 was 698
Roscommon in 2008 was 988

They identified

Westmeath
650 new residential buildings,
38 commercial buildings and
9 dual purpose buildings with both residential and commercial space

Roscommon
913 new residential buildings
55 commercial buildings
14 dual purpose buildings with both residential and commercial space

Total no. of buildings in Westmeath 36,716.
Total no. of buildings in Roscommon 34,975.

Following a weak month in October (-5.1% m/m), sales in retail sectors linked to the housing actually rose by 2.1% m/m in November. This was driven by a 3.5% increase in sales of electrical goods and a 2.8% rise in hardware, paints and glass. Despite some respite in November,
total sales of household equipment are down 16.8% in annual terms, the most significant of rate of decline of the major retail sectors.

The books, newspaper, and stationary and other goods category, was the second largest contributor to the monthly decline in November. Sales fell by 6.9% from October, driven by an 8.1% fall in other goods, which includes sales of home-heating oil, mobile
phones, jewellery and toys. November was also a weak month for sales of clothing and footwear, with volumes falling by 4.5% m/m, and by 6.7% year-on-year. Sales in food businesses fell by 1.1% in the month, to leave the annual rate down 4.2%. It would appear
that the rise of 1.2% m/m in October, which we attributed to the price wars underway in Irish supermarkets, was short-lived. Bars sales continued to slide, falling by 1.9% in the month, and by 10.5% on November 2007. Lynsey Clemenger, Economist

Westmeath County Council announce details of New Enterprise Ideas 2009 competition

The objective of the competition is to encourage new enterprise development and assist in the translation of creative  ideas into new projects or ventures. The competition is open to individuals or teams with a business idea they wish to develop, which should be original, be the basis of viable enterprises and can demonstrate the potential for growth.

Entries will only be accepted from individuals or teams or companies registered since the 1st September 2008 and that in any event will not have begun trading by the closing date for receipt of applications on the 13th March 2009.

The winner will receive access to a rent-free enterprise unit in the new Castlepollard Enterprise Centre, for a period of twelve months. The value of this is an estimated €10,000 dependant on the enterprise space that may be required. The winner will also be given expert business advice and support from Westmeath County Enterprise Board to help put their business idea on the road to commercial success.

The competition will have two stages, the first of which will concentrate on the business idea.  This is the essential basis of the business i.e. - what is the product, who are the customers, what will the business offer them and why will they buy it. Based on the outline business ideas,
finalists will then be selected by the Judging Panel and invited to submit business plans for the second stage of the competition that will hopefully produce a winning enterprise idea.

To enter the competition a clear concise and convincing outline of the business idea will need to be submitted on the official entry form. Competition guidelines and entry forms can be downloaded from  www.westmeathcoco.ie or at www.westmeath-enterprise.ie For further information contact: Maurice Stenson, Community & Enterprise Section, Westmeath County Council,  044 – 32136, Fax: 044 32064 mstenson@westmeathcoco.ie

€18,000 worth of Athlone Gift Vouchers still in circulation
Over €12,000 worth of Athlone gift vouchers has been spent in the 50 businesses signed up for the Athlone Chamber Gift Voucher programme.  This is out of a total of spent out of a total of €30,000 worth of vouchers Bought to date.  Two more businesses signed up to join the scheme this week, providing even more choice for people.  If you are interested in buying or signing up for the Athlone Gift Voucher Programme ring 090 6498838 or email athcci@iol.ie

Enterprise Irelands Going Global fund - Call Close Dates  Friday 10th April 2009

Going Global is a new competitive fund which is focused on locally trading companies that have successfully established businesses in Ireland, and wish to explore opportunities to internationalise their business as a route to growth.

The aims of the fund are to assist successful applicants to:

• evaluate and assess overseas market opportunities,
• develop plans to localise their current service/product offer for overseas markets,
• identify suitable channels to international markets,
• examine possibilities for web-enabling its service offer for export markets and,
• undertake overseas market research.

The fund is open to existing and potential clients of Enterprise Ireland that meet both  of the following criteria:

• 1. engage in an eligible service activity or manufacture in the Republic of Ireland and,
  2. have ten employees and/or annual turnover > €1m.

The maximum support is €50,000 grant. The maximum support rate is 50% of all eligible costs.
Eligible costs include wages/salaries; consultancy costs; travel and subsistence in addition to overhead costs.
The study must be carried out mainly within the State.

Further Information
Contact the International Services team on 01-7272100 or email going.global@enterprise-ireland.com

Renewable energy in Co. Westmeath  Study Commissioned by Westmeath Community Development
Recommendations
• A review of the planning guidelines concerning the erection of wind turbines in Co. Westmeath should be undertaken considering the wind energy potential of the region in addition to the factors identified in the Draft County Development Plan.

• An energy agency should be setup in Co. Westmeath to advise on energy solutions for individuals, companies and government agencies thus supporting the development of renewable energy technologies and resources in Co. Westmeath.

• Local authorities and Westmeath Community Development (WCDL) should support the development of national energy policy by identifying barriers to renewable energy and by working closely with national colleagues, local politicians, and regional politicians to identify and prioritise appropriate changes to legislation.

• WCDL should provide training courses, possibly in co-operation with other national or regional agencies and should support the region in becoming a leader in the renewable energy sector.

• WCDL should itself use best-practice in energy-efficiency and energy supply for its own electricity, heating and transport needs. It should work with partner organisations in the public sector to encourage them to lead by example.

• In the short term Co. Westmeath could use its biomass resource to help Ireland meet its 30% co-firing target in peat stations by 2015. At the same time WCDL should support the development of other more profitable regional markets.

• Where possible funding for new projects should be directed towards building infrastructure and stimulating market outlets for renewable energy.

Midlands & West Enterprise Programme 2009 now recruiting

The Midlands Innovation and Research Centre at Athlone Institute of Technology and Enterprise Ireland are now recruiting for the next Midlands & West Enterprise Programme commencing in April 2009.  The programme is an exceptional opportunity for early-stage entrepreneurs with an innovative business idea.  Entrepreneurs are provided with incubation facilities, business training, mentoring and assistance in all aspects of developing their business.  Eligible participants may apply to Enterprise Ireland for CORD funding which could provide up to 50% of previous year’s salary. If the programme is potentially of interest to you or your clients/contacts, for more information, please contact MIRC Manager Michael Lonergan at 090-6471882huirc.ie/mwep/documents/MWEP2009AppForm.doc

PPD to establish Significant Operations in Athlone

Release date: 18 Dec 2008 Contract Research Organisation to create up to 250 high value-added positions Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD today (Thursday, 18th December 2008) announced that PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPDI) headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, is to establish a contract research facility in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, which will initially include a cGMP analytical testing laboratory. With the support of the Irish Government through IDA Ireland, the company expects to invest up to €14 million ($18 million USD) in the facility and create approximately 250 high value-added positions over five years for Ph.D.-level scientists, analytical laboratory staff and other clinical development professionals.

200 jobs are to be created in Athlone

Pharmaceutical Product Development is to set up a base at the IDA Garrycastle Business & Technology Park. Taoiseach Brian Cowen will formally announce the new investment later this morning.  It comes days after the firm announced a major expansion into the Asian market.
Executives from PPD will be in Athlone this morning to confirm details of the jobs.
The firm employs more than 8,000 workers in 27 countries helping to coordinate clinical trials for some of the world's top drug manufacturers.  The Irish operation fits neatly into the IDA's pharmaceutical portfolio already set up in the midlands.  Recruitment of staff for the new operation will get under way next year.

Athlone's next retail park

A € 30m retail park expected to create hundreds of jobs is set for the go-ahead in Athlone. The proposed retail park will be located on a 17.5 acre site, with 235.000 sq foot provided for retail use. It will contain 10 retail units, including an anchor store with an associated garden centre. It will also contain provide 915 carparking spaces and 180 bicycle spaces. The car park will be subdivided into three landscaped zones to minimise the expanse of carparking. There will be a significant element of accessible carparking spases and a covered bus shelter will also be provided within the retail park. The u-shaped retail park will incorporate a two-story administration office area, a restaurant unit and three ATMs. A free-standingsingle-story coffe shop will be located adjacent to the secondary carpark. The development will include new road infrastructure extending from the existing infrastructure in Athlone Business Park.

The developers behind the project are Michael O'Sullivan and Aidan Kelly. The architect firm behind the design Fitzgerald and Kavanagh, "The scheme will be a leading edge model, which will provide a shopping landscaped street, with seating. The developers have strived to create a state of the art shopping destination, having visited and reviewed other centres in Ireland, UK and Europe.

AIT Successful in €42m Government Strategic Innovation Fund

Athlone Institute of Technology has been grant aided by the Governments first round of Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) offers. AIT is the lead partner on one project and a participating partner on a further six. The total value of the projects is worth nearly €17million.

The project which AIT is leading is to establish a Regional Assessment and Resource Centre. The Government has allocated €900,000 for the project, which also involves GMIT, NUI Galway, IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT. This will fund a regionally based service so that all students entering further and higher education have timely access to needs-assessment services. In addition it will promote the use of assistive technology, provide advice on inclusive teaching and learning strategies, and enable students with disabilities in the BMW to compete on an equal level.

The other successful collaborative projects in which AIT is involved are: Access led by NUIG (€7.3million); Education in Employment led by Letterkenny IT and Cork IT (€2.6million); Embedding Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise in the Higher Education Curricula led by GMIT (€400,000); Institutes of Technology Graduate Research Alliance led by IT Sligo (€295,000); and Strategic Alliances between NUI Maynooth and the IoTs led by NUI Maynooth (€1,535,000). AIT is also involved in a sectoral submission from the Council of Directors of the Institutes of Technology and DIT on The IoT Sector: Learning Netowrk, Delivering Systematic Change (€3,800,000).

Athlone Garrycastle Business and Technology Park

Athlone Business & Technology Park is a fully landscaped 28-hectare (70 acre) park 128km from Dublin Airport and 134 km from Shannon Airport. Located on the River Shannon, there is direct access to the N6 National Primary Route and M4 motorway to Dublin.
* Athlone Advance Office Building 3 has 1,291 m² (13,895 sq ft) office facility The building, situated on a 0.52 hectare (1.25 acre) site at the entrance to the Park
* Athlone Advance Technology Building B has 2,330 m² (25,080 sq ft) facility
* Advance Factory Athlone has 232 m² (2,500 sq ft) remaining of the ex Polymer Building
* Athlone Advance Office Building 4 has 2,787 m² (30,000 sq ft) office facility
* Athlone Advance Technology Unit has 465 m² (5,000 sq ft) office space
* Athlone Advance Technology Unit has 929 m² (10,000 sq ft)

Inish Carraig Development at Irishtown 13,000 square feet of retail space, that has been sold - much of it to top name retailers looking to expand into the Midlands.

40,000 square feet "executive space", wich compromises with computerised flooring, air conditioning, real high-tech systems. The investiment has been of approximately €36m

Monksland Business Park, with units ranging from 140 square metres to 5,575 square metres.

60,000 sq. ft. of retail and apartments on the West Side of town at a cost of 8.9m euro

Shannon Retail Park located along the route of the Athlone Broadband metroloop, ground-floor area a total of 54,000 square feet.

Athlone has access to natural gas, part of Bord Gais's Euro 1.4 billion infrastructure development programme.

Warehouse Development at Blyry Industrial costing Euro 6 million on 4.6 acre totaling 59.000 ft