Work to commence on new primary school to meet population growth in Drogheda
Construction work will begin on Monday (Oct 24) on a new 16-classroom primary school being built in Drogheda through a unique partnership between Louth Local Authorities and the Department of Education & Skills.
The school on a site at Ballymakenny Road is the first phase of a wider education campus and is being prioritised to meet growing demand for school places in Drogheda arising from population growth and an increased number of young families living in the town and its hinterland.
The partnership mechanism for delivering the school infrastructure is to be used as a model at a national level and may be replicated at other locations over time.
The new school building will provide capacity for up to 480 pupils and cost in the region of €3.3m to build on a site provided by Louth Local Authorities. Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa Drogheda is currently operating from pre-fabricated classrooms at the location of the new education campus.
Purcell Construction Ltd who have considerable experience of education projects won the contract to build the two-storey primary school designed by Gerry Cahill Architects while the project is being coordinated by Paul Kelly, Senior Project Manager, Louth Local Authorities.
Work is scheduled for completion next summer in time for the start of the new school year in September 2012.
Cllr Oliver Tully, Chairperson, Louth County Council and Cllr Kevin Callan, Mayor of Drogheda, joined members of the project team and Catherine Tiernan Bell, principal, Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa Drogheda; Canon Jim Carroll, chair, board of management and Tony McCann, Edmund Rice Schools Trust at a sod-turning ceremony at the site.
Cllr Tully said: “It’s vital that we forward plan in terms of providing the type of school capacity that all of the population data suggests we will need in the years ahead. Too often in the past, we reacted to demand rather than looking to the future.”
Cllr Callan added: “Drogheda’s population increased sharply during the last 10 years and many young families have moved to the town and surrounding area to make their lives here. We obviously need to have the school spaces to accommodate the children of these families and the innovative delivery model being used at Ballymakenny Road allows that happen more quickly. It also makes sense to centralise education infrastructure at a single location and that’s the campus approach being taken in this case.”
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