Progress on the new STEM building at GMIT is a boost for the plans to establish a new technological university in the West of Ireland, according to Minister Sean Kyne.
The GMIT project is one of eleven higher education facilities to which design teams have now been appointed. The teams will progress the projects through design and planning processes.
Minister Kyne said that the progress on the 5,500 square metre STEM building, as confirmed to him by Minister for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, is very welcome and will see the provision of new facilities for students and researchers including laboratories, seminar rooms, classrooms and multi-purpose rooms.
“Minister Mitchell O’Connor has also confirmed that that necessary technical and economic appraisals on the project have been completed which paves the way for the appointment of a design team for this public-private partnership project,” he said.
“The GMIT STEM building project is being progressed alongside the development of a new library and education building, with IT and innovation labs, at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, one of GMIT’s partners in the new Connacht Ulster Technological University development. As Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, with responsibility for the Atlantic Economic Corridor, I am particularly encouraged by the inclusion of not only the GMIT and Letterkenny IT projects but also the new facilities for IT Tralee and Limerick Institute of Technology. IT Tralee is to receive a new STEM building while a new Applied Science and IT Building is being progressed for Limerick IT.
Minister Kyne said that collectively, these projects are helping to consolidate and further the reputation of the West, North West and South West as locations of world-class learning and cutting-edge research and innovation.
“With this investment, coupled with the strong focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, students of all ages can acquire highly sought-after skills while researchers can undertake leading, innovative research.
“The continued development of the higher and further education institutions along the Atlantic Economic Corridor is also one of the key factors in attracting investment, and encouraging local entrepreneurship, in the IT, life sciences and engineers sectors,” he concluded.
