Community Centre to house Kingscourt students again

Kingcourt’s Community Centre is to be repurposed again to house students from Coláiste Dún an Rí.

It has opened applications for tenders to provide temporary accommodation to house more classrooms as the school is fast outgrowing its current capacity.

Under the plans the previous engineering room in the community centre is to be “reintegrated”, along with a previous science room on the first floor.

The community centre’s snooker room is to be converted into two classrooms.

The centre and school building are to be “fully integrated” as part of the plan, with all mechanical and electrical systems to be connected.

A tarmac path is also to be built to link the buildings.

Coláiste Dún an Rí was originally housed in the Kingscourt Community Centre after it first opened for students, while awaiting the construction of its current campus.

The €15 million building was officially opened in 2018 but it quickly became clear it would not have the capacity to meet demand.

CMETB was last year granted approval for a major new extension, which would double the size of the school.

However, it’s expected to be a number of years before construction is complete. It’s expected to consist of more than 40 new rooms, including general classrooms and specialist subject rooms.

It’s expected to cost in the region of at least €15 million.

CMETB has faced difficulties in securing temporary accommodation for schools as construction costs have risen in recent months.

St Bricin’s tender

At the April meeting of the organisation’s board, members were told a tender for modular accommodation at St Bricin’s College in Belturbet had to be reissued due to a lack of submissions from suppliers.

It’s not yet known how many, if any, submissions have been received as part of this tendering process.

Applications are open until Wednesday (May 11).