Crawford could leave city centre for main CIT campus

THE fate of Cork’s Crawford College of Art and Design (CCAD) remains unclear as college chiefs await details of plans for building funds for the college from the Department of Education.

Despite poor conditions and health and safety concerns at the college’s city centre building, students and staff have voiced anger at suggestions that the college might be forced to move from Sharman Crawford Street to the main Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) campus in Bishopstown.

The college is one of a number of CIT building projects approved for funding by Education Minister Mary Hanafin last month.

But CIT’s development manager, Michael Delaney, said details of how the money must be spent has not yet been discussed with the Department of Education.

“They haven’t told us how much we are getting or what it must be spent on. All we know is what was in the Kelly report,” he said.

This was the September 2004 report to the Higher Education Authority, prioritising third-level capital projects for State funding.

While CIT sought €14.7 million for the project, the report only proposed an allocation of €5.3m, to replace the city centre location with facilities at CIT’s main Bishopstown campus.

Mr Delaney said this was one option presented by CIT in its submission to the group.

“One option was for the art college to remain where it is, which has its constraints and disadvantages, another was to relocate within the city centre,” he said.

“The Kelly report came down in favour of Bishopstown as the most cost effective, but we can’t be sure if this is what is proposed with the recently-announced funding.”

While the local colleges branch of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has yet to take a formal stance on the location issue, the union’s CCAD representative Kevin Gill said that, as a cultural institution, the college’s location should not just be considered as a monetary issue.

“This side of the city is becoming a cultural quarter, classes can visit the nearby galleries or artists’ studios and still get back for lectures, which could not be done from Bishopstown,” he said.

Although CIT would not allow photographs to be taken inside the art college, there have been numerous complaints in recent years about outdated electrical and heating systems. The standard of equipment for students and staff has also been criticised.

But, Mr Gill said, the majority of the college’s 40-plus staff are opposed to moving. “The building might not be in good repair but the money would be best spent improving and refurbishing it rather than moving us,” he said.

This might, however, require investment in adjoining property currently in the ownership of the Church of Ireland diocese.