Maureen O'Sullivan
Question:260. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a sensory room for children with special needs in a school (details supplied) will be provided. [5635/19]
View answerTuesday, 5 February 2019
Questions (260)
Written answers
A building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s 6 year Construction Programme.
A project brief has been prepared and includes an extension of 6 additional classrooms, split into 2 classes for Mild General Learning Disability, 2 classes for Moderate General Learning Disability and 2 classes for ASD. The total area of this extension is approx. 1,066m2. The scope of the brief includes for refurbishment of the existing buildings subject to verification by the Design Team on appointment.
Special Schools can require a very high level of design development and interaction between the Design Team and the client to ensure functionality and building design meets the school needs. It is open to the school to request their Design Team to incorporate a sensory room within their project brief.
This project will be delivered via the ADAPT programme which uses a professional external Project Manager to coordinate and drive the respective design teams on each project.
In this regard, a tender competition is in train to establish a Project Manager framework which is expected to be in place by early March. The formulation of tender documentation is underway and once the framework has been established a tender exercise will be carried out to appoint a Project Manager for this particular project.
All schools with projects on the ADAPT programme will be contacted shortly by my Department to provide an update on the status of their respective project. I wish to confirm to the Deputy that my Department is committed to providing a new school building for the school in question.