Vol. 568 No. 1
144 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Education and Science if his Department has in the past or intends to allow proposed new schools progress to design stage without having completed or signed contracts for site purchase. [15817/03]
The general policy of my Department is to endeavour to ensure that issues in relation to site purchase are finalised prior to the design of a school building.
Into the future, at primary level, plans for generic school building models are being developed. This will allow a template design to be used with minor modifications in any green field site situation. It is envisaged that this approach will, subject to the availability of funding, significantly reduce the time taken to progress a project to construction once a site has been acquired.
