Building for a brighter future

SETTING its crescent face firmly against the pessimism currently in the Irish tourism sector is the €30 million new tourism and catering building in Cork’s Institute of Technology — due to go on site within weeks.

Finally approved by Education Minister Noel Dempsey in the spring, the building go-ahead sees the third phase of the CIT campus’ expansion kick into gear.

Representing a total investment of over €30 million, the three linked buildings coming on stream will offer new administrative headquarters, a new student centre and a 4,250 sq m tourism and catering college that will be the biggest in the country and “the finest in Europe”, says CIT assistant principal Dr Michael Noonan.

Construction has already begun on the administrative building and student centre, with the tourism and catering building forming the “final piece of one particular jigsaw” says Dr Noonan.

The new buildings are concentrated at the northern end of the campus, formerly the playing fields, and their construction, along with a new entrance road, will tilt the focus of the campus, giving the institute a totally new entrance and facade.

This circular courtyard of buildings will break from the standard design format of the original campus, a plan replicated in the then Regional Technical Colleges throughout the country, and will mark the coming of age of CIT.

Design is by de Blacam Meagher Boyd Barrett Murphy O’Connor, a string of names that form a collaborative fusion of two architectural firms who, according to Dr Noonan, will continue in partnership to design other academic and public buildings.

Shane de Blacam was chief design architect and his earlier work for the institute, a new library, won an RIAI award in the 1990s.

The original campus had facilities for between 3,000 to 4,000 students but present levels are closer to 10,000 and accommodation is “bursting at the seams”, according to Dr Noonan.

The new buildings will, he says, be fully in character with a third level institute but are only one part of a major redevelopment of the campus, with two other buildings at the planning stage.

These are an apprentice skills building of 10,000 sq m, (the equivalent of an average shopping centre) and an advanced technology building, which, at 5,500 sq m will cater to computer and electronics students and will also include a centre for research, development and enterprise.

The present project under construction comprises a total of 10,000 sqm of which the tourism and catering facility will run to 4,250 sq m. The contract for the building was won on international tender by Rohcon and the admin and student centres are under construction by John F Supple and Co, who also cleared the “rigorous vetting system” of the Department of Education before being awarded the contract, says Dr Noonan.

Accommodation for upwards of 1,000 students at the tourism and catering building is in response to the demand for highly qualified students in the southern region.

The second largest destination in the country, next to Dublin, this region has twice the number of business units, creating a demand that far exceeds supply, say CIT. This new building is expected to bridge that gap, while at the same time providing top class training and facilities for the hospitality industry.