A planned accommodation project in Trinity Hall that would have seen 300 to 400 beds built on the site has been “deprioritised”. College is, however, exploring possible accommodation projects at Grand Canal Dock and Santry.
The project at Trinity Hall in Dartry would have seen Cunningham House, which was built in the 1970s, replaced with a more modern accommodation complex.
Speaking to The University Times, Provost Patrick Prendergast said that the accommodation project in Dartry’s Trinity Hall had been “deprioritised”. A project there, he said, was not likely in the “immediate future”. Prendergast is bringing a memorandum to the College Board next week that will reassess Trinity’s approach to the development of accommodation.
“I hope for student support that will really pressurise the Board into doing something to change the dynamic in some way that we secure deals for student residences”, he said.
Speaking to The University Times, the Dean of Students, Prof Kevin O’Kelly, stated that the sidelining of this project is “a huge disappointment”. O’Kelly said he was “determined to push for this” but acknowledged that College is “going through one of the largest development phases in recent history, and we have to recognise that we can’t do everything”.
Trinity was advertising in September for a project manager for an accommodation project in Trinity Hall. “They never questioned the financial viability of it or its benefit to College, but when you’ve got too many projects on the table, and you have to prioritise, this one just fell down the rankings”, O’Kelly added.
Trinity is currently awaiting planning permission for the Oisín House accommodation project, which, if approved, would allow construction to begin on the project, delivering 250 beds for Trinity students, with construction ending in 2019 at the earliest.
Geraldine Ruane, Trinity’s Chief Operating Officer, speaking to The University Times, said that “Dartry got pushed down the ranking order”. Ruane continued, saying this is an issue that must be addressed as “it is critical that we get the student accommodation, but we have only so much bandwidth to do all these projects”.
College is now turning its attention to potential sites for in Trinity’s Technology and Enterprise Campus (TTEC) in Grand Canal Dock while accommodation at Santry is also a “possibility”, according to Prendergast. Ruane said that, as part of the development of Trinity’s Estates Strategy, College could examine the possibility of a possible 500 beds in TTEC or 300 beds in Santry.
O’Kelly recognised a longstanding view that “what we should focus on is the primary role of College, which is education. And with diverting resources to accommodation, there’s always a debate in terms of space and money in relation to that”.
O’Kelly stressed, however, the increasing importance of the College providing student accommodation as its schools grow, both for attracting international students, where providing accommodation as “part of the package” is attractive, but also for attracting students from within Ireland.
Students, he said, will be “very wary and think twice about coming to a city centre university without some confidence of accommodation. It’s become more part of the academic mission of College, rather than something nice we used to do if we could”.
Ruane warned, however, that there is no indication that more student accommodation will help lower the cost of rent in Dublin: “For the next five years, you can expect the price to go only one way, and price centrally is going up, so students’ rental is going to be impacted.”
“I am determined to push for this, but I am not at war with College”, O’Kelly stated about the Trinity Hall project. “Sometime in the near future, there will be another prioritisation exercise, which they are continuously doing, and hopefully this will go up the ladder.”
