January 2015, Issue 44
Photo by Adam Sullivan, Stephen Hennessy & Ryan Sheridan, TY photography
Welcome to the new Newpark: the sky’s the limit! The ‘new’ Newpark School building has finally arisen from the ashes of what were some very poor dilapidated, totally unsuitable and quickly becoming unusable pre-fabricated building units. We have now seen the end of a common sight of buckets in some of those very old classrooms to catch the rain as it dripped through the roof. The dampness also created what could best be best described as a very particular smell. Today we have a wonderful new school building which at last will facilitate everyday living for both staff and pupils with an environment which lends itself definitively to learning and education in its widest sense. On travelling up Newtownpark Avenue the new school building suddenly emerges. Gone is the high wall which obstructed the view of the worn out temporary school building that endured for more than forty years. Now we
have a first class facility for some 850 students who have experienced since the first day of December a complete metamorphosis of life. This has been created by persistent lobbying, but ultimately made possible through an injection of a twelve million euro public sector investment programme by the Department of Education and Skills. We have more to do as we move into Phase Two of the building project. On the school site is the Victorian house where the original Avoca School (a precursor to Newpark) was born, and this redbrick house will be completely and faithfully restored. The restoration will contribute to the essence of modern architectural thinking by merging old and new buildings on the same school site. We expect to complete Phase Two in the second quarter of 2015. Continued on page 13 1