Sod turned on new €14.5m Kingswood secondary school
By Aura McMenamin
Students from Kingswood Community College on Wednesday turned the sod for the new post-primary school.
Construction of the long-awaited new school building officially began on August 28.
Kingswood Community College opened in August 2016 and is currently operating in prefabs accommodating first and second year students only.
The event was attended by school staff and Kingswood Community College students Chloe Hicks, Owen O’Gorman, Caoilainn Kearns, Dylan Finn, Max O Reilly and Katie O Keeffe. Sinn Fein councillor for Dundrum Sorcha Nic Cormaic also attended Wednesday’s event.
There are currently 180 students enrolled in the Kingswood College and the new building will comprise a two-story school catering for 1,000 pupils.
Deborah Dunne is the principal at the multi-denominational school.
Speaking to The Echo, she said that progress on the building was ‘exciting’.
She said that space was needed to accommodate current students as well as their expected intake for the next two years: “We’re expecting a huge intake of students. We’ve already allocated places for 2018 and we will open up allocations for 2019 in November.”
The new school building is costing some €14.5m and Glasgiven Contractors are the builders.
The design by Scottish architectural practice ARPL has clusters of teaching spaces around a central “public square” allowing the circulation to become a ‘series of social and teaching break-out spaces.’
According to the Dublin Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board, outdoor learning will be encouraged with the creation of four rooftop garden teaching areas.
“Landscaping in the grounds retains the original tree belt with extensive new tree planting. Biodiversity is encouraged with the planting of native Irish trees, fruit trees and wildflowers sown in grass.”
