Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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864. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps and processes involved in the planning, development and construction of a new school in an urban environment, including typical timelines at each stage; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14574/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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At present, there are five stages of architectural planning involved in the delivery of major school projects, regardless of whether it is in an urban or suburban or rural environment. The stages reflect the Capital Works Management Framework developed by the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform. The stages and indicative timelines are as follows:

Stage 1 – Preliminary Design (5 to 6 months).  The Preliminary Design stage includes reviewing all information provided as part of the Project Brief.  Establishing and analysing all site factors and constraints which may impact on the projects viability.

Stage 2 - Design (which is divided into Stage 2a - Developed Sketch Scheme and Stage 2b - Detailed Design) (9 to 12 months at each stage)

The Stage 2a includes development of the design and accurately cost plan the options agreed with the Client to a stage where the project is fully cost planned and can be prepared to lodge for statutory approvals.

The Stage 2b includes obtaining all statutory approvals, preparing a set of fully detailed Tender documents, and preparing an accurate pre-tender cost plan.

Stage 3 - Tender Action, Evaluation and Award (9 to 12 months).  On the completion of the examination of tenders, written authorisation of the Department must be obtained before issuing Letter of Intent and Letter of Acceptance.  Once all the contract pre-conditions in the letter of intent have been met and the Department has given written authorisation to proceed to Contract, a letter of Acceptance can be issued.  This forms the contract and is the contract and is the date for the calculation of the Contract period.

Stage 4 – Construction (12 to 24 months) All members of the Design Team are collectively responsible for the effective management of the project in order to achieve its completion on time and within budget.

Stage 5 - Handover of Works and Final Account (12 months minimum). The Design team individually and collectively are required to effectively manage the Project, with the co-operation of the Contractor achieve a satisfactory standard of Construction, and achieve Substantial Completion of all elements of the Projects by the Contract Section/Phase handover dates and overall Contract Completion Date.

The timelines outlined above are indicative and can be achieved by an efficient design team encountering no problems along the way. However, the period of time it takes to progress through each of these stages varies from project to project depending on its size and complexity and can often take longer than that indicated.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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865. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of a project for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14583/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department remains committed to providing permanent accommodation to meet the needs of the school to which the Deputy refers. As the Deputy is aware, officials in my Department have been actively engaging with officials from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council via emails, phone calls and through online meeting platforms to establish all relevant information in respect of two site options so that a determination as to the optimum configuration of school sites can be made at the earliest possible date. As a result, the acquisition of this site is progressing well.

My Department has published technical guidance documents on the identification and suitability assessment of sites for schools which sets out the criteria to be used in assessing potential school sites. These guidance documents recommend that as part of the evaluation of site suitability a number of factors are taken into account including zoning, existing services, site orientation, topography, transport and access. My Department makes use of its own in-house professional and technical staff in relation to the technical assessment of sites, to ensure the suitability of a given site for the development of a school building.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the site acquisition process can be lengthy and there can be complex issues which need to be addressed during negotiations, technical assessments and conveyancing. In this regard, it is not possible to give a timeframe for delivery of the site. However, once my officials achieve agreement in principle on the final site, the Patron will be advised of the location without delay and the site acquisition will proceed to the conveyancing stage.

At all times my Department strives to obtain best value for the Exchequer and given the commercial sensitivities associated with land acquisitions generally, I am not in a position to comment further at this time.