Over the summer months the Estate and Support Services Department has been busy with a schedule of operational preparation for No.26 York Street, key capital projects and maintenance and improvement works with the aim of further improving our facilities and amenities for our students, staff and visitors.
A key deliverable this summer was managing the operational familiarisation of No. 26 York Street for the start of the new academic year. The team also completed the procurement of a new campus wide catering contract resulting in Compass Group being awarded the contract and subsequently launching in the Dispensary on Monday 28th September.
Ongoing capital projects are the ERC Phase II, 123 SSG Basement Catering Quarter & Student Union, Mercer Library GEM and a host of major maintenance and improvement works.
No. 26 York Street – Dispensary
Following a comprehensive tendering process the delivery of a new catering provision in No. 26 York Street has been awarded to Compass Group. On Monday 28 August, Estate and Support Services welcomed Compass to RCSI, and we invite all to visit the new dispensary to sample the food and barista coffee on offer.
Opening Hours
• Monday – Friday 8.00am – 7.00pm
• Saturday – 8.00am – 2.00pm
Capital Projects Updates
123 SSG Catering Quarter & Student Union
Works are continuing apace on the new Catering Quarter and Student Union space which will be located in the basement of 123 SSG where the old gym and basketball court were located. The project encompasses almost 10,000sqft and will include a new SU office and hang out space along with a new coffee shop and 200 seat restaurant; these great new facilities will be opened in January 2018. Construction commenced in June and has involved some extremely challenging demolition and structural works to date, which are now complete. One of the main design features will be a new staircase linking the main concourse and the basement, entering into the old SU pool table space. Ongoing works involve the installation of the new mezzanine floor, structural steel and mechanical and electrical installations.
Opening formed in concourse for feature stairs
View from basement up to ground floor concourse
Structural steel installation for mezzanine floor over basketball court
Mercer Library GEM Project
While the Library relocated from Mercer to No.26 York Street on week beginning the 19th June the Estate & Support Services Team wasted no time in commencing the major repurposing works to ready the landmark Mercer’s Hospital building for the Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) programme’s relocation from Sandyford to our St. Stephen’s Green Campus in January 2018. The works span 3 floors of the building to over 15,000sqft and entail a complete strip out of existing fabric and services and bespoke fit-out of tutorial rooms, large multi-purpose rooms, faculty offices, student amenity spaces and new mechanical and electrical services. The works also include new offices for the Department of General Practice led by Prof. Tom Fahy. The building has been ‘live’ during the works with Mercer Medical and the Archivists working through the noise so we would like to especially thank these teams for their patience to date and assure them the worst is over!
Partitions being installed on ground floor, Mercer Building
ERC Phase II
The ERC Phase II Project is now at the halfway point, almost 9 months into the 18 month build. Those of you that are based in the ERC or who have visited Beaumont lately will have seen the structure now almost up to roof level along the south façade; polished concrete panels are in production for this side of the building and will be installed in mid-September. The large atrium space with link bridges to the existing building is now visible; this space forms the centrepiece of the design and will provide abundant natural light, tiered seating areas, balconies and a vertical link between the existing and new building once completed
South façade up to roof level
View from the rear of the building along gable end of ERC
Atrium void
Ongoing maintenance
In addition you may have noticed that there have been a significant number of smaller projects and refurbishment works undertaken throughout the summer months including painting works in various locations, floor resurfacing works, replacing electrical power distribution boards, enhancing air handling and air conditioning in specific areas, enhanced CCTV coverage, office moves and refurbishing and many more.
We understand these works can be disruptive at times and we can assure you we put in place rigorous control measures to reduce the impact of works on our students and colleagues; Estate and Support Services would like to thank all staff, students and visitors for their ongoing cooperation during all of these projects and ask for your continued support for the remainder of the year.