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 finalised and the project will be delivered via the ADAPT programme. The ADAPT programme is an innovative delivery programme first introduced by my Department in 2016. It 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 shortly. Tenders have been returned and are currently being evaluated. Once established, this framework will be used to appoint a Project Manager for the ADAPT programme, following a further tender exercise specific to ADAPT.
Whilst the Department must adhere to the Public Procurement rules for the appointment of consultant Design Teams the Building Unit will expedite this process in so far as possible.
My Department wrote to the school on March 19th to provide an update on the status of this project.