Work expected to start on Enfield Community College within weeks
Work is expected to start next month on the permanent school building for Enfield Community College after the Department of Education confirmed that the Letter of Intent has been sent out to the successful contractor.
Principal Shane Foley explained that it will be a rapid build project and the new school must be open for September 2025 as the temporary accommodation will not have any more capacity by then.
As it is, five more classrooms are needed for this coming September to cater for the growing school, which first opened its doors in 2020. The initial cohort of first year students are now in Transition Year and the school now has an enrolment of 420.
This will increase to 550-570 this September between first year enrolments and those seeking to transfer from other schools to other year groups.
After that the temporary school is full and Mr Foley said there is no choice but to have the new school ready for the following September when enrolment will be at around 700.
“Enfield Community College has grown so rapidly over the last three years and this has justified the need for the school. The evidence is clear. Even with five additional classrooms next September on a site that was only handed over in August, it is critical that we have the new school in place for September 2025. There isn't a choice.”
Some preliminary works on services and attentuation tanks were carried out as part of the contract for the temporary school which he said will help speed up delivery of the school.
Last week, Minister for Education Norma Foley TD announced the issuing of Letters of Intent to successful contractors for Lot 6 of the Department’s Design & Build programme comprising 10 schools, including Enfield.
A Department spokesperson said the next step will be the issue of the Letters of Acceptance (LOA) to the successful contractors.
“This will provide clarity on the contractor’s programme of works for the delivery of the projects and timelines. Following receipt of all the necessary documentation and clarifications, the Department will then be in a position to issue the LOA which will allow the contractor to mobilise on site.”