Green light for new school in Kildare Town

THE long planned re-location of the Curragh Community College from the Army headquarters has been given the go-ahead with the decision to build a 37-room, two-storey secondary school on the Magee Barracks site in Kildare Town.

The campus will be almost 11,000sqm, and will share sports facilities with Kildare Town Educate Together and Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha.

Phase one of the build will see just under 5,000sqm of the school, providing 16 classrooms, changing rooms, a general purpose hall, staffroom, and a dining room which will be converted to specialist classrooms when Phase Two is completed.

Phase one also includes a temporary permission for an interim entrance on the south facade of the site, and a temporary drop-off area and car park.

There will eventually be a through road to Melitta Road to the north of the site — practically a bypass in Kildare Town — but it will not be accessible until phase two is completed, which will see the final 6,000 sqm and 21 classrooms built. This phase will also include 92 car parking spaces, a sensory garden, a grass pitch, and soft landscaping over the Phase One temporary drop-off zone.

There have been some concerns locally about added traffic congestion during the first phase of development, and also with the proposed location of the through road, and access for St Barbera’s Park.

This development is in line the local area plan, and should facilitate a number of large housing estates that have been applied for in the town in recent years, though turned down because such infrastructure wasn’t in place. The delivery of the distributor road is an integral part of the development … and connections into Ruanbeg housing estate should be included,” said the planners. 

This will allow for greater pedestrian and cycling access from the far side of town, without having to drive through the Square.