28 Nov 2005

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