Progress to build new Portlaoise secondary school building

A new Portlaoise secondary school with room for 1,000 pupils has reached a crucial stage in the long process to build it.

The planning application for Dunamase College / Coláiste Dhún Mhasc has been submitted for approval to Laois County Council this month.

A decision is due in mid July, unless council planners request further information. 

It is planned on 9.42 hectares of land in The Downs, Portlaoise behind the former equestrian centre.

The non-denominational Irish /English school was founded in 2017 and is growing fast, with students divided in classrooms across multiple buildings in Portlaoise town centre, either owned or rented by its patron, Laois Offaly Education and Training board (LOETB).

It is the fifth and youngest secondary school in Portlaoise. The others are St Mary's CBS, Scoil Chríost Rí and Portlaoise College, while St Francis School teaches children from 5 to 18 with moderate learning disabilities. 

Dunamase College's permanent home would be part two storey and part three storey.

It would have general classrooms, specialist classrooms, a general-purpose hall, a PE hall, offices, staff room, library, sanitary facilities and ancillary spaces.

The development will get two entrances, one from O’Dowling roundabout on the Portlaoise South Orbital Route, the same roundabout serving Portlaoise Gaelscoil, Educate Together and Maryborough primary schools.

That entrance will lead to a car and bus set down/ drop off area with 49 carparking spaces and a pedestrian and cycle route to the new school. 

The main entrance is from the Timahoe / Well Road (R426) with a road, cycle and foot paths will lead to bicycle spaces and 92 car parking spaces. A new footpath on the Timahoe / Well Road (R426) will connect to the existing one.

The principal Dympna Kelly spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

“We are delighted that planning permission for our new school building has been officially lodged. The proposed building will offer state-of-the art facilities for all aspects of the curriculum, along with dedicated spaces for extracurricular activities. Being a digital school and focusing on fostering academic excellence and personal growth this development will greatly benefit our students.

“We are committed to working closely with local authorities and stakeholders to ensure the project progresses smoothly and meets the highest standards of quality and sustainability,” she said.

Dunamase College's chosen focus sport is hockey, so they plan in the future to build a new hockey pitch with associated fencing, shelter dugouts and 8 flood lighting standards. There will also be six ball courts, landscaped gardens and external social space. 

The site will include a flood zone / biodiversity garden area.

The school will be heated with two heat pumps with mechanical ventilation to bring in fresh air to classrooms. It will also have gas storage areas, external stores and bin storage area. 

There is provision for landscaping, boundary treatments, associated drainage, attenuation and other site services with all related site development and ancillary works.

It is designed by Laois architects McCarthy O'Hora.

A Natura Impact Statement (NIS) will be submitted to the planning authority with the application. It recommends an ecological assessment before construction to protect local biodiversity, and recommends pollution prevention measures to protect the SAC river Barrow, via the river Triogue.   It notes that some of the site includes part of the former glacial esker Ridge of Maryborough but that this was delisted from protected status because it has largely "been destroyed" already by developments in Portlaoise.

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A Flood Risk Assessment found a low flood risk. It said three watercourses flowing through the site, the Triogue river, Maryborough Stream and Little Borris stream, as well as the Golf Course stream, but the Maryborough stream is the only one posing a flood risk in extreme weather. It recommends a retaining wall along it and regular maintainence of the stream and culverts.