€220M TU Dublin Campus Development in Grangegorman Unveiled
1st June 2023
Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe T.D unveiled two major campus buildings costing €220m in Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) today.
The newly opened East Quad and Central Quad on the University’s campus in Grangegorman are now home to over 10,000 students and 1,200 staff representing a range of disciplines in the Arts, Humanities, and STEM subjects.
The investment, the largest in Irish Higher Education in over a century, will see the University consolidate all of its Dublin City activities on a purpose-built, state-of-the-art campus.
Welcoming attendees to the unveiling of the East Quad and Central Quad, the President of TU Dublin, Professor David FitzPatrick, said, “Today’s official opening in Grangegorman represents a significant landmark in our ambition to deliver a world-leading University campus in the heart of Dublin City. Today, we celebrate the wonderful progress that we have made, yet we are less than halfway through the construction planned for this transformative investment for the University.”
Signalling potential challenges to the completion of the Grangegorman Campus, Professor David FitzPatrick continued, “The University generated much of the funding for the Grangegorman Campus by selling former campus buildings in Dublin City; however, uncertainty in the commercial property market, coupled with a substantial increase in construction costs, are hampering plans for the development. We look forward to working with Minister Donohoe and his colleagues to find alternative funding solutions to progress our campus development plans and build on-campus accommodation, providing future TU Dublin students, including those sitting Leaving Certificate examinations next week, with a world-class University experience.”
The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), part of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), acting on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Innovation and Science as Approving Authority, managed the procurement of this PPP project with the Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA) acting as Sponsoring Agency.
The East Quad, which accommodates almost 4,000 students, is the Cultural Hub Grangegorman campus and a new multidisciplinary arts space for Dublin, featuring a 340-seat Concert Hall, an 80-seat Black Box Theatre, an 80-seat Recital Hall and a range of exhibition spaces. Located beside the Green Luas Broadstone University stop and just 16 minutes from St. Stephen’s Green, the building is an exciting new addition to the cultural life of the capital. The Central Quad, catering for approximately 6,000 students studying Science, Health, Culinary Arts, Tourism, Hospitality, Computer Science and Engineering, is at the heart of the Grangegorman campus. Facilities include highly specialised laboratories, state-of-the-art kitchens and hospitality training areas, and large lecture halls, including the 250-seater Intel Auditorium.
In addition to a milestone event attended by Minister Donohoe, students, staff, industry and community partners, TU Dublin and the Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA) are hosting Revealing Grangegorman, an exciting programme of events for the community to enjoy and see the extensive transformation the University is bringing to Dublin 7. Highlights include a bespoke tour hosted by the School of Culinary and Food Technology of its state-of-the-art facilities and a chance to experience samples of the student’s work.
TU Dublin’s Art, Design and Media Graduate Exhibition will launch later today, presenting the work of over 200 graduating students from creative disciplines located in the East Quad and will run daily from 10am to 5pm until Saturday, 10 June. The history of the Grangegorman campus will also be brought to life by drama students of TU Dublin Conservatoire in a performance of ‘The Asylum Workshop, written by Colin Murphy, based on fragments from the archive of the institution once known as the “Lunatic Asylum”, Grangegorman. This play, supported by Grangegorman Histories, was a sell-out at its limited run in December, and tickets are available here.
The full programme of events is available on TU Dublin’s website.
