This project will replace existing accommodation which fails to meet modern requirements and has been in urgent need of repair for some time. The new accommodation will be provided at the South Eastern Regional College (with campuses at Downpatrick, Newcastle and Ballynahinch).

It follows a Design, Build, Finance & Operate procedure for 3 No new Colleges in East Down, Downpatrick, Ballynahinch and Newcastle, with multi-storey steel frame concrete composite floors. Cladding is a mixture of conventional brickwork and curtain walling. It should be noted that driven by curriculum requirements there is a high servicing requirement for IT and other M&E services. The user requirements include for high standards of finishes to achieve best practice cost in use parameters. It should be noted that with the exception of Newcastle the sites are existing college campus and have to remain in operation during redevelopment.

Gross floor areas are 18,425m2, 1,063m2 and 1,338m2 respectively. A Very Good BREEAM rating will be achieved as asked for in the clients’ design requirement.

At all Campuses the construction works totally involved working in a live campus environment with all necessary decant operations resulting from a phased handover. In each case it is essential that all services including IT were maintained operational and safe access for both staff, students and members of the public was maintained. Throughout the construction phases curriculum delivery was maintained

At Downpatrick a decant village was constructed as part of the Phase 1 works in order to achieve orderly move management and minimise disruption to curriculum delivery. This planning was done in close conjunction with the \college Management