Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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885. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the five most recent significant capital projects in the major functional responsibilities of her Department which have required her sanction; the time which elapsed between the initial submission of the proposal for consideration until the construction commenced; the significant elements making up this period; the time spent in assessment prior to approval in the planning process; the time spent in assessment prior to approval in the procurement process of contractors; and the way this duration compared with the targeted time to delivery set out at the outset of the process. [14774/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The main focus of resources over the last decade and for the coming period is on provision of additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics. The key drivers of the education sector capital programme are demographic change, alignment with housing provision and national planning at school planning area level, construction costs, catch-up to address legacy of underinvestment and climate action objectives including deep energy retrofit. The Department has a large pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme. The main elements of this pipeline currently involves in excess of 1200 projects for delivery under the Department’s Large Scale and Additional Accommodation Scheme. 

At present, there are five stages of architectural planning involved in the delivery of major school projects. 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.

Design Teams are appointed to progress major projects through the stages of architectural planning. In normal circumstances once a Design Team has been appointed, the project should be progressed expeditiously to the completion of Stage 2b i.e. the preparation of Tender Documents. The responsibility for the progression of the project from Stage to Stage (in accordance with the Project Brief and the Department's Design Guidelines) rests with the Design Team in agreement with the client, subject to the project timelines and the availability of funding. The written authorisation of the Department to proceed is always required prior to progression to stages 3 (tender) and 4 (contract award & construction).

By nature each project is significant for the local community, in answer to your query the table outlines the progress of the five most recent projects at final account agreed and paid with a cost of over €1 million.

Table: most recent school building projects with a value greater than €1 million where final account has been agreed and paid.

*Clifden Community School

Approval to proceed with the project was given in November 2005.  In January 2008 approval to proceed to Stage 2a was given in principle. However the project was not authorised to proceed any further as a result of the economic downturn. In January 2010, when funding became available, the project was permitted to progress through the stages.

**Edgeworthstown NS

The delay between final account agreed and final account paid was as a result of an internal Design Team dispute and as such was beyond the control of the Department.