Several of Trinity’s business societies will be given communal office spaces in the new Trinity Business School, according to its Dean, Andrew Burke.
The societies that will get space in the building include Dublin University Business and Economics Society (DUBES), Trinity Entrepreneurial Society (TES), Enactus, Trinity Student Managed Fund (SMF), and Trinity TEDx.
Speaking to The University Times, Burke said that some business-related societies will be given “permanent offices” in the new building, one floor above the space allocated to Tangent, the College’s “ideas workspace” designed to train students in innovation and entrepreneurship.
“What they do is incredible”, he said, “so they’ll be here now”.
In an email statement to The University Times, Erin Kehoe, co-team leader of Enactus, said the society was “delighted to have this new space as it will really help grow our society”.
“It also creates a central location for social entrepreneurship on campus”, she said.
Kieran Gormley, next year’s SMF secretary, said in an email statement to The University Times that the society “couldn’t be happier about the rooms and are appreciative of the business school’s continued support to student societies”.
“As one of the biggest societies on campus with exciting new initiatives for the year ahead we are happy to have a space in one of the country’s most modern college buildings to work from”, he added.
Incoming TES President Kate Fullen said in an email statement to The University Times that the building is “state of the art”.
“Working out of our own space in the building gives us the means to accelerate the work of our society”, she said.
“We’re hoping that this shared space for business societies will transform the way that the business societies interact and collaborate with each other.”
Fullen said that “being based just one floor above the new Tangent innovation space will allow us to work more closely with Tangent and host more events for our members”.
Trinity’s Business School was opened last Thursday by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, six years after its construction was first mooted.
Speaking at the launch, Varadkar said the new building was “representative of the comeback story of Irish universities”, and hailed the contributions of its donors. Philanthropy, he said, is a “form of patriotism”.
Provost Patrick Prendergast also spoke, and said the new school “will be transformational not just for Trinity but for Dublin and Ireland”.
The College Board last Wednesday held its first-ever meeting in the new building, which also houses a 600-seat lecture theatre and two floors dedicated to executive education.
The Business School will also contain a 300-seat restaurant, called the Forum, which will be run by multinational catering company Sodexo, which also runs the Perch cafe in the Arts Block. The restaurant has yet to open.
In February, The University Times reported that the Business School would be verged on two sides by shrubbery, creating two living walls on the building’s facade.
At the time, speaking to The University Times, Burke said the walls “will add a nice bit of greenery on Pearse St”.
Over the years, the Business School has met obstacles that meant its launch was delayed and pushed back. Roadblocks included a dispute with Dublin City Council, which objected to several structural characteristics of the building, including a glass rotunda that the council deemed “not an acceptable form”.
In March, The University Times reported that the building would not be opened until May 23rd, despite plans for its completion early that month.
