A building which was originally part of developer Jim Mansfield's plans for a Boutqiue Golf Village at Citywest, where visitors could shop for clothes, has become classrooms for two new national schools.
The Department of Education leased the building from the receivers of Jim Mansfield's company and made them available to Citywest Educate Together School and Scoil Niamh Community National School which are now side-by-side in the shopping centre that never opened. The two new schools share a playground and are staggering their start and break times.

The schools have opened at extremely short notice. After the schools were given the go-ahead in May the principals had the summer to bring and builders to make the necessary changes.

When Jim Mansfield aborted his plan for the Gold Village, he subsequently planned for an Institute of Education for Saudi students on the site. As a result the classrooms came equipped with interactive whiteboards and some high spec mahogany fittings and luxurious toilets.

NAMA has indicated that it will give priority to public bodies when they are seeking property, including schools and colleges and has sold a 13-acre site in Hansfield, west Dublin to the Department of Education and another three-acre site in Galway for the development of a new school.

Comments