DESIGN TEAM FOR NEW SCHOOLS

THE development of a new post-primary school to replace Selskar College, which will have the capacity to accommodate 1,000 pupils, alongside a new eight classroom Educate Together National School took a significant step forward last week with the appointment of a design team to oversee the project.

Chief Executive of Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board (WWETB) Kevin Lewis was delighted to reveal the team appointed to the project, which will see both schools built on a 16 acre site to the rear of Whitford Hotel and stretching back to the Clonard Road. The site was acquired subject to planning permission being granted for the development.

The team consists of Architect and Design Team Leader Coady Architects; O’Connor Sutton Cronin & Associates Ltd (Civil/ Structural Engineers); BDP (Mechanical & Electrical Engineers); MacMinn O’Reilly Mahon (Quantity Surveyor); Atkin (PSDP).

Mr Lewis said that the WWETB hopes to have a timeline for the project, which carries a ball-park figure in excess of €30 million, shortly from the design team.

‘That (a timeline) was actually one of the things we asked for this week when we met the design team,’ he said. ‘It will take a while to put that together. It’s quite a complex site. I suppose you’d be talking a minimum 15 month run-in on the design side of things and then another minimum 15 months for construction anyway, so we’re quite a way away yet.

‘There’s been no decision on access to the site yet,’ Mr Lewis said. ‘Now that our design team is in place, we’ll have engagement between them and the council to look at different priorities and needs. I know there’s a lot of interest access to the site from a traffic point of view,’ he added.