SYNOPSIS OF
SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECT TO DATE
- Principal met with DES inspector in 2005 and he agreed that school in need of a large extension. Principal agreed that if the process of design and construction was expedited he would not seek the replacement of the 20 year old prefabs on site. The inspector was Sean O’Cearruill.
- In May 2006 DES wrote to Chairperson outlining their approval for 16 classroom school.
- December 2006 Chairperson and Principal attended a general meeting in Tullamore to outline the building process. It was clearly stated at that meeting by senior DES officials that if the board followed procedures there would be minimum delay in the building project.
- In January 2007 principal provided detailed information on numbers and projected numbers for the school to the Commission on School Accommodation. The Commission identified the need for a 16 classroom school in Julianstown. Principal also met with members of CSA to outline needs of the school.
- DES requested a plan of the school. A plan of the school and grounds had to be drawn up at a cost of over €3700 to the board. This process also required a number of meetings with the draughtsman.
- Principal met with 4 DES officials, during Easter holidays (12/4/07) to assess the building needs of the school.
- A building subcommittee was formed in May 2007. This committee consists of 8 members and has met on at least ten occasions.
- Tendered for PSDP
- Reviewed PSDP tender documents and hired same after checking bona fides
- Met with PSDP in school
- Checked and marked 60+ prequalification tender documents for design phase. The building committee were assisted in this process by a consultant engineer at a cost of over €1000.
- Wrote to unsuccessful prequalification candidates
- Wrote to 24 successful prequalification candidates inviting them to submit tenders for design of school.
- Competency of PSDP was checked and approved
- PSDP reviewed tender documents and approved these for the school
- PSDP approval document was forwarded to DES for review
- All 24 tender submissions were reviewed and date stamped
- Responded to phone calls, emails and letters from unsuccessful prequalification candidates
- 24 shortlisted submissions were scored, reviewed and checked. The board employed a consultant to help them with this complicated procedure. Cost €750
- Four companies were chosen to design the school in four disciplines (Mechanical and Electrical, Architectural, Civil and Quantity Surveying)
- The HSA was also notified of the choice of design teams
- The 4 successful companies were notified
- The unsuccessful companies were also notified. This entailed writing 20 separate letters of regret
- Responded again phone calls, emails and letters from unsuccessful award stage candidates
- Towards the end of the process DES looked for clarification on the fee proposal structure from the QS Design company. Clarification sought and received from that company. Forwarded to DES
- Successful design tendering companies were requested to produce tax clearance certs, certified turnover documents and evidence of indemnity insurance. These were also sought received and forwarded to DES
- Shortlisted design team written to and apologised to on behalf of the DES and the board, when DES failed to move on contracts
- Because award stage candidates are chosen some unsuccessful companies are awaiting final marks re price and the DES will not allow us to issue this information until contracts are awarded
- This whole process has been regularly punctuated by emails and phone calls from the DES
- At the end of all this process the DES promised to make a decision regarding the awarding of contracts within two days.
- Now there is no communication from DES (up to April 2009)
- DES official visits school to review need for prefabs to replace 25 year old prefab classrooms (2+1ls room)
- Meeting set up through Thomas Byrne TD with Minister O’Keeffe and DES official (July 09).
- Letter subsequently from Minister O’Keeffe to state that DES will consider building in the light of current economic climate
- Met with Brian Hayes, Shane McEntee, Fergus O’Dowd January 29, 2010
Liam Burke email to claire_jones
show details Feb 18; 2008 Reply
Claire,
Can you give me an update on the progress regarding appointing a design team for the school. As far as I know the building sub-committee have gone as far as they can go with their work and we are waiting for a decision from DES.
Regards,
Liam
--
Liam Burke
Principal
Whitecross Primary School
Julianstown
Co, Meath
00353/41/9829229
00353/87/6701726
Roll No: 17705J
Above is my email to Claire Jones. I received no reply. I phoned on Friday, Feb 22. She wasn’t at her desk but the official said she would call back. Eventually on Tuesday, Feb 26 I got hold of her:
‘There is a delay in the progression of the building project for the school and the project will now be considered in the context of overall DES building projects.’ She was unable to give a time-frame for this.
In the meantime the school will have 360 pupils in September 08, up from 171 in June 03. 60% of the school population will be housed in prefabs at a cost of almost €6000 per month to DES