THE Grangegorman regeneration project has scooped its second major award of the year, despite being postponed by the Government last November.
The latest accolade is the sixth international award for the landmark project in Dublin’s north inner city which has been deferred under the Government’s Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-2016 plan.
However, the Grangegorman Development Agency are still hopeful the multi-million euro project will go ahead and are examining alternative funding and construction arrangements that could see the DIT campus open to students from 2015.
The proposed redevelopment of the former St Brendan’s Hospital grounds involves relocating DIT, which is currently based in 39 locations across the city, to the new campus near Constitution Hill and North Circular Road.
The plan also involves the redevelopment of HSE facilities for the elderly, as well as a new urban quarter.
The project received a welcome boost last week when the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), which is the largest independent organisation in the world focused on campus planning and design, announced the Grangegorman Masterplan as the recipient of its 2012 Honour Award.
And later this month designers of the Grangegorman plan will be presented with the Honour Award for Regional and Urban Design by the American Institute of Architects at a ceremony in Washington.
Speaking from his home in California, principal designer James Mary O’Connor said he hopes the two prestigious awards will help publicise the Grangegorman project.
The Dublin 7 native, who is also a DIT graduate, said the project needs all the
“support and momentum
? it can get to keep on track despite the deferral of major infrastructural funding.
“Our goal for Grangegorman is to create a place which will enrich the city fabric, a place full of vitality to serve the needs not only of the immediate users of the quarter but indeed the entire community,
? said Mr O’Connor.
Although Government funding has been postponed, the Grangegorman Development Agency is doing all it can to bring the site into use as soon as possible, with the encouragement of Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn.
GDA chief executive Michael Hand said that although the agency was not faced with an easy task, receiving recognition such as the SCUP and AIA awards served as a reminder to all concerned that the masterplan is a great project.
“Coupled with the invaluable support from all sectors, we are focused on ensuring that the Grangegorman project proceeds,
? he added.
“Sometimes one just has to be innovative and creative to find the way forward. That is what we are currently doing.
?
An Bord Pleanála is due to give its decision into the Grangegorman planning scheme soon following a hearing last November.