First large group of DIT students won’t move to Grangegorman until 2020

New academic buildings set to be built in DIT Grangegorman won’t be available until “early to mid 2020,” according to the Department of Education.

DIT students had previously been told they would be moving to Grangegorman in 2019.

The two quads set to be built will ultimately accommodate 10,000 students and 600 staff members.

A Department of Education spokesperson told The Liberty the project is due to achieve financial close in the next few weeks.

“Based on the current construction programme, the buildings are scheduled to become available in early to mid 2020,” the spokesperson added.

The public private partnership development has been plagued by delays since the planning began.

Construction had initially been expected to start in 2017 but a legal objection to the tender process by an underbidder delayed the development for almost two years.

The National Development Finance Agency website, which is the state body responsible for procuring public private partnership developments, states they had expected to “commence construction towards the end of 2017”.

This would have meant the buildings would have been available in September 2019.

DIT has said, “As soon as building work begins, we will be in a better position to confirm the dates on which student migration to the new academic quads in Grangegorman will commence.”

There are already a few hundred DIT students in Grangegorman. The new estimate means the first large set of students won’t transfer to Grangegorman until September 2020.

In the south inner city, Aungier Street will continue to be home to DIT’s business students for some years after 2020, while Kevin Street will close sooner.

The new northside development will be home to the still-unnamed technological university, which will be an amalgamation of DIT, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown and the Institute of Technology Tallaght.

Head of Campus Life Brian Gormley gave reassurance that, “fit-out will be complete for students and staff to move in to the quads in September 2020”.

The development is being partly funded with 100 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and is expected to create up to 2,500 construction jobs.