Sisk to take over construction of Athboy school

Work is due to recommence this week on the construction of Athboy Community School, after it was halted by Pierse Construction when the company went into examinership. Last week, the building company went into liquidation, and John Sisk & Son Ltd have taken over full management of the entire site as is required under the provisions of the construction joint venture (CJV) contract. The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), on behalf of the Department of Education, signed the contract in early June 2010 with Macquarie Partnership for Ireland (MPFI) for the provision of six new schools under the Department’s Schools Public Private Partnership Programme. Pierse Contracting was contracted to build four of the six schools in this bundle: Bantry Community College and Gaelscoil Bantry, Kildare Town Community School and Athboy Community School, while John Sisk & Son is building the other two schools, Wicklow Town Community College and Abbeyfeale Community College. The contract signed with Macquarie Partnerships for Ireland (MPFI) provides that should there be any difficulties in relation to a contractor being unable to continue, the consortium must make alternative arrangements to deliver the schools. The National Development Finance Agency said it has been in constant contact with MPFI and arrangements are already in place to provide for the continuation of the construction of the schools, according to the Department of Agriculture. John Sisk and Son Ltd have taken over full management of all three Pierse sites and anticipates productive work will re-commence on all three sites within the next couple of days, the Department said on Monday. The board of management met on Monday night of this week and welcomed the fact that Sisk has moved onto the site. It will take three weeks to establish if the initial timeframe can be adhered to, but a lot of progress was made over the summer, and the contractors are hopeful that the original schedule will be met. The new school building is due to be completed by November 2011 under the PPP scheme. It will cater for up to 950 pupils and will have state-of-the-art facilities, including 21 general classrooms, three woodwork/architectural technology rooms, two engineering rooms, two home economics rooms with a dedicated dress design room, three art rooms, five science rooms, three multi-media rooms and a fully equipped gym and fitness suite. The building will also have dedicated rooms for music, mathematics, social studies, business, religious education, technical graphics, a library and parents’/guardians’ room. On-site provision will also be made for a six hardcourt playing areas and a full-size soccer pitch. The new building will also incorporate a special needs unit which will provide for students with special needs and allow for access to mainstream classes as required.