Phase III August 2023 Update

Phase III: August 2023 Update by Professor Padraig Dunne

We are moving into the final stage of the decant to allow the start of construction for Phase III of the UCD O’Brien Centre for Science. The pace of fit out and movement has really picked up in the last few weeks, both towards Beech Hill and into Science South, East and Hub. The flexibility shown by students and staff is making the process possible, and is deeply appreciated by the teams running the decant part of the Phase III project.

It has not proved possible to lay out in detail a schedule of moves at a granular level, as the dependencies and inter-dependencies mean that the picture is constantly shifting. The hard deadlines are set by the start of the 23-24 academic year on 11 September 2023, and by the date to vacate Science West and North, the 31 August 2023. It is likely that construction will commence early in October and that the month of September will be needed to prepare the vacant building for handover to the main contractors.

Refurbishment of Beech Hill

The largest single component of the move involves the refurbishment of Beech Hill for people from the Schools of Mathematics and Statistics, Computer Science and Physics, and from the Insight and ML Labs Research Centres. The bulk of the works on Beech Hill are complete (as of 11 August 2023) and many of the new occupants are settling in.

Re-purposing of Science East and Science South

The second major component of the decant is the re-purposing of space on the Third Floor of Science East, to accommodate research laboratories from the School of Biology and Environmental Science, and to accommodate graduate student write-up space for a range of disciplines. This work is ongoing, and will run close to the deadline.

Another major component is the move of the National Centre for Isotope Geochemistry into Science South, which is almost complete.

In addition, a large number of laboratories, offices, student spaces and meeting rooms have been repurposed for the decant. The School of Earth Sciences is moving to locations in Science East, South and Hub from Science West. Colleagues and students from the School of Chemistry have been very accommodating and are experiencing disruption. Students and colleagues from the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science have also been displaced, and are sharing resources where possible. 

The decant is expected to last for a period of three years, and the return to the new, connected, North and West buildings will be completed over the Summer of 2026. That is something to look forward to.