Trinity has opened applications for a new head of accommodation and commercial property, who will earn between €88,959 to €118,086 a year.
The person appointed will be in charge of the 1,900 accommodation units that the College owns, as well as the 740 beds that Trinity leases from private landlords.
Applications for the position will be open until 12pm on September 4th. The requirements for the job include a primary degree and at least 10 years experience in the property management. The successful applicant will work a 37 hour week and will be hired on a five-year contract.
Trinity’s properties bring in €20 million every year for the College, with flats on campus rented out to the public over the summer. The College’s property portfolio was valued at €46 million in the 2017/2018 financial statement released by Trinity.
Rent made from student accommodation is one of Trinity’s main sources of income. Trinity received an income of €13 million from its student accommodation in 2018, a 33 per cent increase from 2014.
The College came under fierce criticism at the beginning of August after it hiked up the prices of its on-campus accommodation by six per cent. A room in the College’s Goldsmith Hall costs €389 more than last year.
The College is currently building new student flats in Printing House Square. The complex will house 250 students and is due to open later this year.
Plumbers working on the Printing House Square site have said that they are being underpaid by GMG Mechanical, one of the companies subcontracted by Bennett, the construction hired by Trinity to build the new student flats.
Initially, apprentice plumbers, who are legally entitled to a wage of €7.57 per hour, were receiving €5.74 an hour. In March, after complaints were made by Unite the Union, their wage increased to €6.30 per hour, still below the legal minimum rate.
Last month, Trinity launched an investigation, headed by former chair of the Labour Court, into the underpayment of the plumbers. In an email statement to The University Times, the College Press Officer, Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn, said that “following the outcome of this investigation which is still on-going, if required, Trinity College will take immediate steps to ensure that there is full compliance with the rates of pay prescribed by the Sectoral Employment Order (SEO) [and whatever further actions might be required or advised]”.
