Future of engineering building hangs in balance over delay fiasco
The proposed site of the new engineering building at SETU, which continues to lie idle after a saga of over 15 years.
A new planning application has been submitted this week regarding the long-awaited engineering building at South East Technological University (SETU) on the Cork Road.
A previously granted planning application for the building, from 2019, is due to expire on December 17 of this year. No building works have commenced at the site since the planning application was granted permission.
In fact, plans for the development of the much-needed engineering building go back as far as 2007. In 2009 the development was progressed with outline planning permission granted. However, the project was cancelled in 2011.
The site on the Cork Road continues to remain vacant, overgrown and surrounded by fences. With a new planning application going in, it looks almost certain that the engineering building won't commence under the term of the current government. With a general election imminent, it is unknown where the development would sit in a future programme for government.
The brand new planning application, submitted on September 3, 2024, is almost identical to the application from 2019.
It does, however, contain an additional 66 cycle spaces (rising from 294 to 360).
The application will consist of a third level educational building comprising of engineering, computing and general teaching facilities of a floor area of 12,899sqm, the same as what was in the original application from 2019.
The application site is located within the SETU Waterford Campus, which is generally bounded by Paddy Browne's Road on the west and the Cork Road to the south.
The building consists of a five-storey over lower ground floor building, together with a roof top plant and architectural screening.
Internally the building will incorporate a central atrium and provide general teaching spaces, including lecture theatres, laboratories, workshops, studio spaces and administration.
The application includes two disabled access parking bays and the removal of an existing campus service road. In addition, a number of landscaping measures, footpath connections, seating and lighting stands are proposed.
The application includes for all site signage, utility connections and ancillary site works associated with the project.
Deputy Matt Shanahan gave his reaction to the Waterford News & Star following the submission of the new application. Expressing his frustration at the latest delay he said: “It’s not a good look, but it doesn’t surprise me, I’ve seen it for far too long and I've called it out for some time. I'm very disappointed, but I shouldn’t be, because I've seen what goes on.
“It’s quite obvious now this project will be kicked into next year and beyond, and bear in mind all the while this is a project build of two and a half, possibly even three years before it will receive students."
Deputy Shanahan further commented that the development has been in a stop/start state for many years.
“The project first began in 2007, when the groundworks were first done on that site. In 2009, it was given the go ahead and then withdrawn in 2011.
"It was brought back by Richard Bruton in 2017 under a proposed PPP model. It was then kicked into touch in 2020 by Joe McHugh, who decided to prioritise building developments at third level in Dublin and Cork.”
“I was told over a year ago by the previous secretary general of the Department of Higher Education that he expected the project to be a go by the end of last year, and I think now that the fact that a new planning permission has gone in with no material changes to the specification of the building, other than the advancement of 66 (bicycle) parking spaces, is evidence that government are not going to do anything with it in the short term and that the project will be kicked down the road."
Deputy Shanahan said the impacts of such limited progress to Waterford's third level education offerings has far reaching impacts.
“The knock on effects is brain-drain, and a wealth transfer from Waterford into other counties or countries, where students leave to study to. The loss of that capital is very, very significant and this is one of the things, which was supposed to be addressed and hasn't been."
He added that Waterford has been left behind by government funding for many years.
“What has gone into this programme from government, just in the higher education sector in Cork alone, is nearly €400 million. What we have got to date in Waterford, is the purchase of half a brownfield site on the Cork Road for €4 million that has taken three years to make a purchase on.”
The Waterford News & Star spoke to a spokesperson from the Department of Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science, who outlined why construction has not commenced on the development:
“A number of issues have combined to result in the procurement delays on this bundle of five projects; included Covid-19, construction inflation and volatility in supply chain caused by war in Ukraine.
"This coupled with uncertainty in financial markets and interest rates have been the root cause of the delays. The Government through the Department remains fully committed to the delivery of the Bundle 2."
When asked about the current status of the vacant brownfield site, the Department said: “The site has been cleared and is ready for construction to commence.”
We also asked why a new and almost identical planning application has now been submitted regarding the development:
“The 2019 planning application gave five years to achieve substantive completion; with a three-year construction period anticipated a refresh of the planning has been submitted. Construction is expected to commence in February 2025, with a three-year construction period anticipated, subject to the successful completion of the tender process.”
A decision is expected to be made on the planning application before October 8.
