Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor turns sod on new student residences at Trinity

Posted on: 08 December 2017

Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor officiated the sod turning of Printing House Square, new student residences for Trinity students on the city-centre university campus this week.

The new Printing House Square development on Pearse Street will provide accommodation for 250 students, as well as a student health centre, disability service centre and sports facilities. It will include a series of well-designed individual rooms gathered in six and eight-bed units around common living room/ kitchen areas. The development will integrate contemporary architecture with the historic fabric of the city and the university.

Officiating at the sod turning ceremony, Minister Mitchell O’Connor said: “We want all our school leavers and current third level students to have access to safe and affordable accommodation. Trinity’s Printing House Square is an example of just that, and I congratulate Trinity today on making this happen. When complete, 250 students will benefit from the best of on-campus student accommodation. I launched the National Student Accommodation Strategy on this site last July and I am delighted to be back here today to see the progress of an important contribution to the targets set out in the plan. The target of 7,000 additional bed spaces will be met, if not exceeded.”

Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast said: “Building new student accommodation in the College itself was one of my main goals when I first became Provost. I am delighted we are turning the sod for Printing House Square today which when complete will provide high standard rooms for our students on the Trinity campus in the heart of the city.  We are very conscious of developing Trinity as a residential College and Printing House Square is a further step in that direction. We are also very conscious of the difficulties students face in relation to securing accommodation in the current national housing crisis. We can’t solve it, but we hope that Printing House Square is a step in the right direction for improving this situation.”

Printing House Square also represents another milestone in Trinity’s redevelopment plans along Pearse Street.  It will join the flagship building of the new School of Business which will be finished next year.