Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 February 2024
197. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education for an update on the school building programme at a school (details supplied) in County Meath; when works will commence and be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9855/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe school referred to by the Deputy is part of the Department's construction programme. It was originally planned to be delivered under the Design & Build programme and was progressed to planning permission stage.
8 Design & Build (D&B) projects (Lots 1 & 2) went to construction in 2021, with a further 10 projects (Lots 3, 4 & 5) progressed to construction in Summer 2022. A further 10 projects (Lot 6) progressed to tender stage in April 2023.
All of these projects are tendered to my Department’s current D&B Contractors Framework of three main contractor consortia. It will be 2024 before the next scheduled bundle of projects can be tendered to that framework and into late 2024 before further projects could proceed to tender.
In order to have projects delivered at the earliest possible opportunity, my Department is of the view that the intervening period can be utilised to bring a number of projects with planning permission, including the project referred to by the Deputy, to the level of employer-led design with a Design Team assigned to do so under the supervision of my Department’s project manager. This will ensure that such projects do not have to await capacity on the current framework to proceed to tender but rather can be progressed and actioned over that timeframe to tender outside of the D&B framework. It is envisaged that this will also serve to broaden the range and number of Contractors to which such projects can be tendered than would hitherto have been possible within the Design & Build Framework. This forms part of my Department’s ongoing strategic approach to seek to widen the pool of Contractors tendering for school building projects.
The process of appointing the Design Team from my Department’s Frameworks of Consultants was completed in September 2023 and the project is now progressing through design development stages. It is anticipated that the project will proceed to tender later this year.
My Department will keep the school and patron body updated in relation to progress.
