SETU’s Waterford city campus gets green light for new five-storey teaching building

SETU applied to Waterford City and County Council on September 3 this year for planning permission to develop the facility at its campus on the Cork Road in Waterford city.

The development will consist of a third level educational building consisting of engineering, computing and general teaching facilities of a floor area of 12,894 sqm.

The application site is located within the SETU Waterford Campus which is generally bounded by Paddy Browne's Road on the west and the Cork Road to the south.

The building consists of a five-storey over lower ground floor building, together with roof-top plant and architectural screening. The application includes two new disabled access parking bays, 360 cycle spaces, and the removal of an existing campus service road.

In addition, the plans entail the creation of soft landscaping with sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), and footpath connections to the existing campus landscaping, a hard landscaped entrance area, and seating and lighting stands are proposed.

Internally the building will incorporate a central atrium and provide general teaching spaces including lecture theatres, laboratories, workshops, studio spaces and administration. The application includes for all site signage, utility connections and ancillary site works associated with the project.

An architectural design statement prepared by Taylor McCarney Architects stated that this application for the SETUW Cork Road Campus is one of the eleven new facilities planned.

"Over the years the campus has grown considerably with significant new developments along the Cork Road, including the School of Tourism and Leisure Building, the Dome Student Social Centre, The Luke Waldron Library and the O'Connell Bianconi Health Services Building.

"These buildings establish a scale and height appropriate to the Campus and address the Cork Road. Our proposed Engineering, Computing and General Teaching Building takes its place in the context of these existing structures.

"The new Engineering, Computing and General Teaching Building picks up on the well-established campus palette of materials, of white and cream coloured engineering brick, black metallic cladding and natural finishes.

"While utilising these materials, we seek to use them in a modern architectural manner and form to create a building of strong character which will address its local context and add to the quality of the overall campus environment."

The new building will add value "to the external environment of the campus, providing a new public face of South East Technological University Waterford as a vibrant third level campus for the 21st Century," added the report. Waterford council granted permission for the plans on Tuesday, October 22, subject to 12 conditions.