Students may not be able to move into accommodation in Printing House Square in time for the start of the second term, as the project misses yet another completion deadline.
The most recent completion date for the square was today, September 30th, but construction is still taking place on the site.
Speaking to The University Times, Project Sponsor Kevin O’Kelly said that, by Trinity’s own estimation, the project is five weeks behind schedule, and “optimistically” will be finished by Christmas.
However, the project could fall more behind schedule at Christmas, O’Kelly said, because “an awful lot of the labour force” on the project are from outside Ireland, many of whom go home for Christmas and do not return.
O’Kelly said the project would “more realistically” be completed in early 2022. “That means it’s not going to be available for a semester-two start, [because] even if we get it in January, we need it for a month, to bring in all the furniture, the fittings, the bed linen, the beds.”
“An awful lot of, for example, non-Erasmus exchange students come for the second semester, they will definitely need to have something sorted out before Printing House will be done”, he said. “It probably won’t be ready for the start of semester two.”
In February 2020, The University Times reported that College’s Commercial Revenue Unit recommended a “€10 per week premium” on rooms in Printing House Square.
However, Neal Murphy, Trinity’s head of accommodation, told this newspaper today that “with the delays to the project there has been no discussion on PHS rates for some time”.
Printing House Square has been plagued with delays and roadblocks for two years, with the coronavirus having a halting effect on its completion.
When complete, the building will have space for 250 student beds. It will also provide a new home for the Disability Service and the College Health Service.
The building will also house squash and racquetball courts and a renovated rifle range, as well as ergonomically sound seminar rooms. The student apartments will be arranged in groups of six ensuite rooms, all connected to a communal kitchen space.
In November of last year, this newspaper reported that the building would likely open this spring, after the development was slowed due to contracting issues and coronavirus measures.
When planning permission was granted for the build, it was projected to be completed in 2018. But a number of setbacks created by An Taisce and An Bord Pleanála held up the complex, with An Bord Pleanála arguing that the construction could compromise the existing aesthetic of Dublin city centre.
When these issues were eventually resolved, the project was then given a revised completion date of August 1st, 2019, in time to house students for the 2019/20 academic year.
At the beginning of July 2019, the project was nine per cent behind schedule, and it was reported in September 2019 that the build had hit more roadblocks and was less than 50 per cent completed at the end of August, far behind where College hoped it would be.
As well as housing students, Printing House Square will provide a new home for the College Health and Disability Service.
