2005 Press Releases
Brookfield Health Sciences Complex - Official Opening, 28 November
The largest single investment in a facility for the education of Health
Professionals since the foundation of the State, was opened today
(Monday, 28 November 2005) at University College Cork, by the Tánaiste and
Minister for Health and Children, Ms Mary Harney TD.
The euro 45 million Brookfield Health Sciences Complex is the largest,
integrated health teaching facility in the country and represents one
of the most significant infrastructural investments in the Irish Third
Level sector in recent years.
The new complex on a 4.5 acre site provides accommodation for the
Schools of Nursing & Midwifery, Medicine and Clinical Therapies
(including Occupational Therapy and Speech & Language Therapy).
There is also a stand alone Crèche which can accommodate 80 children.
The project includes the retention of the 19th century Brookfield House
and the development of an academic building of up to five storeys in
height, including a sub basement. The complex also provides
state-of-the art clinical training facilities, teaching, office
and meeting facilities for the schools, a health sciences library, a
200-person restaurant and medical faculty offices with a total floor
area of 12,300 sqm., The building also incorporates a suite of
clinic rooms where Health Service Executive (HSE) speech and
language therapists provide a clinical service for patients from
the north and south Lee catchment areas, with student participation. A
similar service is being planned in Occupational Therapy.
Professor Gerard Wrixon, President of UCC said: "University
College Cork now has the most diversified portfolio of health education
degree programmes in the country, including Medicine, Dentistry,
Pharmacy, Nursing, Midwifery, Public Health and Health Promotion,
Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy. UCC also has a
wide range of post-graduate specialist diplomas and degrees. The
underpinning philosophy in the development of Brookfield has been to
maximise integrated education of health professionals through shared
facilities and also through the sharing of professional staff."
Professor Wrixon added that the Brookfield project was the latest in a
range of major capital projects being undertaken by University College
Cork to create a unique cluster of health teaching facilities.
A new School of Pharmacy, the only such school outside Dublin, is now
in operation and will be fully completed in January 2006 at a cost of
euro 25 million. In addition, one of the country's foremost Biosciences
Institutes has already been completed at a cost of euro 17 million.
The Nursing School, one of the largest in the Republic, with over 1,000
students, arises from recommendations by the Nursing Commission
to transfer responsibility for nursing education from the Health
Service to Third Level institutions. It replaces five schools
previously distributed among the acute hospitals in Cork.
The UCC Medical School, for 160 years the provider of doctors for the
province of Munster, has been housed in scattered, substandard
buildings for many years with a severe lack of teaching facilities. The
Brookfield complex has been designed to provide state-of-the art
training facilities for an intake of 150 students annually, a doubling
of capacity, in line with anticipated demand for additional places for
Irish graduates, both through direct and graduate entry programmes
medicine.
UCC has also recently launched degree programmes in Occupational
Therapy and Speech & Language Therapy with an annual intake of 25
students in each discipline. The first of these students will graduate
in 2007 and will directly address the severe shortage of therapists
nationally.
To extend its portfolio of health programmes, the College of Medicine
and Health has also embarked on the country's first undergraduate
degree programme in Public Health and Health Promotion. Having
experienced high demand among school leavers, the first graduates will
emerge in 2007.
Funding for the new complex was derived from a variety of
sources. The Nursing School is funded by the Department of Health
& Children, the Medical School by a Medical Faculty Development
Fund, the Therapies School by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and
the Crèche is jointly funded by The Department of Justice, Equality and
Law Reform and UCC. The project also benefited from a significant
private donation.
The Design Team were appointed by UCC in July 2002 and phase 1 of the
building was occupied by the Nursing School in November 2004 (27 months
later). The complex was completed within three years in July 2005.
Designed by RKD Architects, the complex is centered on the original
Brookfield House dating from the 19th Century. Informed by
UCC's Conservation Plan the Project team decided to retain the house,
not only on architectural and historical significance, but also as a
result of a sustainability analysis.
RKD Architects worked closely with Cork based conservation specialist
Christopher Southgate and Dr Colin Rynne, Archaeologist, to utilize
best practice to conserve and refurbish this building of national
significance. Brookfield House is situated in the geographical
center of the site and forms the natural visual focus for the new
elements of the development creating an exciting interplay between the
new and old building. The success of this sympathetic design
approach is further enhanced by the use of a careful selection of
material for the external facades. The 12-metre high-glass wall
of the atrium, copper and zinc cladding as well as a purpose designed
curtain wall system with integrated timber panels, contrasts with the
original industrial brickwork.
In the future, UCC proposes linking the site to the planned IT Building
on the Greyhound Stadium site via a pedestrian bridge over the south
channel of the River Lee.
The main contractor for the project was PJ Walls Ltd. The Design Team for the Project consisted of:
RKD - Architects
Project Management Limited - Project Managers
Arup Consulting Engineers - Civil and Structural Engineers
E.G. Pettit - Mechanical and Electrical Consultants
Bruce Shaw Partnership - Quantity Surveyors
Chris Southgate and Associates - Conservation Specialists
Mitchells and Associates - Landscape Consultants
151MMcS
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