Trinity’s newest accommodation complex could be finished by the end of this month, but an independent monitor has warned that a more “realistic” deadline is April or even May, The University Times has learned.
Printing House Square has been dogged by delays for nearly three years, including contract disputes and pandemic-related “slippages”.
A confidential memorandum circulated to College Board members, seen by this newspaper, indicates that those overseeing the project are doubtful that the most recent deadline will be met, as “there is still a considerable amount of work to be done in multiple areas by multiple trades”.
The memorandum, presented by independent monitor for the project Denise Kennedy, was presented to Board last month. It says that Bennett Construction indicated in December that the project would be completed on March 31st, 2022. However, Kennedy said, Bennett “are already reporting some slippage to this programme largely due to the lower resource levels than is required”.
“While BCL report that it expects to recover this lost time by the end of the month, it is difficult to have confidence that it will do so given its consistent failure in the past to recover lost time.”
“I sincerely hope that I am proven wrong”, Kennedy said. “But personally, I consider it more realistic to expect that it may take BCL until the end of April or possibly into May, before it is in a position to hand the building over to TCD.”
Trinity did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Last year, The University Times reported that the building was projected to be finished by September 30th, but construction was still taking place on the site by that date.
Speaking to The University Times on that date, Project Sponsor Kevin O’Kelly said that, by Trinity’s own estimation, the project is five weeks behind schedule, and “optimistically” would be finished by Christmas.
However, O’Kelly said that the project could fall more behind schedule over Christmas because “an awful lot of the labour force” on the project are from outside Ireland, many of whom go home in December and do not return.
O’Kelly said the project would “more realistically” be completed in early 2022, but would not be ready to take in student renters at the start of the second semester.
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 2020, 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.
In 2019, The University Times reported that up to 30 construction workers in Printing House Square were demanding remuneration for wages they say they are owed.
Kelly said he was “very disappointed” in Trinity’s handling of a situation that has seen up to 30 workers – including 11 first-year apprentice plumbers, mostly from Co Donegal – paid below the legal rate since October 2018, when subcontractor GMG Mechanical began plumbing work in Printing House Square.
Kelly called the main contractor in Printing House Square, Bennett Construction, “unhelpful”, and added: “It seems to me that they’re hiding things.”
