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Tag: Technological University Dublin

  • The dawn of a new era: TU Dublin Aungier Street campus enters the market for €110m

    The dawn of a new era: TU Dublin Aungier Street campus enters the market for €110m

    DIT Aungier Street campus
    Photo: Kim O’Leary

    The next academic year will see many changes on the way for staff and students at TU Dublin, reports Kim O’Leary. With the move to Grangegorman slated for September 2020 and the last of the old buildings hitting the market; a brand new chapter for the university has officially begun.

    TU Dublin’s Aungier Street building has entered the property market with a guide price of €110 million – and its sale will signal a new era for TU Dublin, according to the university’s president.

    The property has been brought to the market by selling agent CBRE on behalf of TU Dublin — the successor of DIT — and while the worldwide markets have taken a nose dive recently due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the sellers are confident that now is a good time to invest.

    “We expect to see considerable interest from a range of interested parties for D2HQ given the scale and development potential to provide for a brand-new urban quarter in Dublin 2,” Peter Garrigan, head of CBRE’s development land division, told TheCity.ie.

    “There is huge potential from anything from offices to hotels and student accommodation, it’s in such a prime location right in the city centre and now is the time for ambitious developers to make a bid.”

    Indeed, the Aungier Street property is situated just 350m from St Stephen’s Green. The 1 hectare (2.5 acre) D2HQ site is zoned “Z5 City Centre” under the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022, offering the purchaser scope to provide for a broad mix of uses including offices, retail, residential, hotel and student accommodation.

    The existing Aungier Street buildings range in height from four to five storeys above basement, and extend to 25,833sq m (278,064sq ft) in total and were developed in phases between 1989 and 2004. The building accommodates 5,000 students at present.

    The 2.54 acre Aungier Street campus comes to the market just over one year after TU Dublin secured €140 million from the sale of its nearby Kevin Street campus to developer Shane Whelan’s Westridge Real Estate.

    In acquiring the Kevin Street portfolio, Westridge fended off bids from several of the country’s top developers, including Johnny Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE), Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore, Joe O’Reilly’s Chartered Land and Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group.

    Potential buyers

    In recent weeks, speculation has been growing concerning who will eventually buy the Aunger Street campus, with rumours of interest from Dublin Business School. However, according to sellers CBRE, official offers have not been made as of yet.

    Meanwhile local businesses have cautiously welcomed the entry of the DIT Aungier Street property to the market.

    “It’s obviously a great location for either a hotel or a big office block, the college has plenty of history and someone will surely snatch it up very quickly,” said one local business owner.

    Meanwhile, another business owner said that local shops will miss the business brought to them by students making their way to the Aungier Street campus:

    “The students usually pop into my shop to pick up rolls and sandwiches on the way to their classes and during their lunch break, so I suppose I’ll miss the business they bring. It’ll be a big change for everyone, local businesses in the area, the staff, and the students themselves when the move to Grangegorman goes through.”

    The move by TU Dublin to sell both its Kevin Street and Aungier Street properties forms part of its master plan to relocate its entire student body and faculty to its new centralised campus at Grangegorman in Dublin 7.

    According to president of TU Dublin — Professor David FitzPatrick — the sale of both campuses and the move to Grangegorman will see the ‘beginning of a new era’ for TU Dublin:

    “Our College of Business in Aungier Street, with 5,000 students and staff, is the largest business school in Ireland. We are now preparing for them to join our students of many other disciplines and to enjoy the new facilities on our flagship campus at Grangegorman, just across the Liffey in September 2020,” he said.

    The university is set to welcome 10,000 students and staff to Grangegorman from this September. The 29.5 hectare (73 acre) site will ultimately come to accommodate more than 20,000 students and 2,500 staff.

    It’s certainly the beginning of a new era for TU Dublin.

  • Technological University Dublin: new learning opportunities in third level education

    Technological University Dublin: new learning opportunities in third level education

    This time next month, students from DIT, IT Blanchardstown and IT Tallaght will have to acclimatise themselves with telling their friends, relatives and future employers that they studied in the Technological University Dublin.

    TU Dublin will be the first university of its kind in Ireland.

    Professor Brian Norton, the current President of DIT, discussed what it meant to become Ireland’s first Technological University, “I think Technological University Dublin brings together the institutions with a common mission in Dublin. To provide clear, legible opportunities for a whole range of students in a larger institution.”

    The project to unite these three institutes began in 2011 when the Hunt Report suggested the introduction of a technical university to the Irish education ecosystem.

    In the last year, efforts to make TU Dublin a reality began to ramp-up. In March, Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins signed into law the Technological Universities Act 2018 following its successful passing through the Oireachtas. In April, a formal application to the Minister for Education & Skills was submitted, to seek a designation as Ireland’s first technological university and in July An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the decision to approve the establishment of TU Dublin.

    Some logistical questions still remain for prospective students, existing students and the Blanchardstown and Tallaght communities. Professor Brian Norton said, “Students won’t be moving under the one roof. The idea is, the institution will have three campuses and is online. I can see a situation, where there is a demand to offer the same course in two different locations; to meet different needs.”

    One example Mr Noton proposed where the same course is offered in two locations is culinary studies which is taught both in DIT Cathal Brugha St and IT Tallaght at present. Mr Norton said these courses could even become one course, under the right circumstances, but he was clear to point out that any change to a course would be subject to local and national needs. “What we don’t want to lose is certain campuses that are rooted in meeting local needs. We don’t want to lose that in exchange for getting a bigger institution.”

    The creation of TU Dublin will offer current DIT students more employment opportunities especially when applying for jobs abroad.

    “Internationally the ‘Institute of Technology,’ doesn’t travel very well, so certainly to the international standing of the institution, it will be very important. I know it’s important to our graduates, particularly internationally, because again on an application form when it says ‘which University did you study at?’ To have a university [degree] is important there.” said Professor Norton.

    From the first of January, 28,000 students will be enrolled in TU Dublin but the spirit and teaching style of three Institutes will not change. Professor Norton said, “In Ireland, the range of universities has been limited.

    “Internationally there are many different kinds of universities. This [TU Dublin] is really part of getting a range of institutions that meet different learner needs, different graduate requirements and different industry standards.

    “The difference I would say is retaining the types of things around small group work, practical work and that students are demonstrating their work by the application of knowledge and not just closed book exams. But it is a university – it’s just broadening the opportunities for university education,” he added.