School razed to make way for new scheme

SCHOOL days have ended with a bang for the former Rochelle school in Cork city. Demolition work is paving the way for a scheme of 70 up-market apartments.

A number of former pupils of the old boarding school returned to their alma mater in recent weeks to salvage small mementos of their school days before the demolition hammer hit its mark, while other larger elements of the building on three acres have also been salvaged.

It has taken about four years to get the Old Blackrock Road site, which made headlines at the time of the sale when it fetched a record c €1.5 million an acre, cleared for development.