“Developers with housing estates lying empty in Dublin are set for a huge fillip. Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has circulated a requirement for 1,000 student residential units by September 2010, and possibly as many as 3,500 by 2020. The student residences and associated facilities must be close to the university ‘or near a public transport system facilitating a maximum commute of approximately 30 minutes’, according to documents circulated by the university last week. That means areas as far away as Sandyford and Dun Laoghaire in the south of Dublin and Howth in the north could be considered because of the Luas and the Dart. Large parts of the docklands and Poolbeg would also be suitable. ‘The accommodation may be new purpose-built or existing accommodation, modified if necessary, to satisfy the university’s requirements,’ the documents state. Undeveloped sites will also be considered …” (more)
[An Irish Town Planner’s Blog, 26 April]
Obviously this is great news; TCD has always done badly relative to comparable city-center universities internationally in accommodating its students. Students in residences have a much better, more complete, student experience. This tender asks for accommodation anywhere within a half hour commute, but I hope the university finds somewhere much closer, Dublin lacks a university quarter and university quarters, the Village in New York for example, can be a great asset to a city.
It is a pity TCD seems to have a policy of only going for large scale student developments; typically city center universities mix large scale developments with piecemeal acquisition, individual houses and flats for graduates, post-docs and faculty.