Dingle Community School

Project:	Dingle Community School, Co. Kerry
Completion Date:	2011
Client:	Department of Education and Skills
Project Value:	€7.2m
Services Provided:	Full civil and structural engineering
Project Size:	5,375 m²

Project Description

Dingle Community School is a new purpose built secondary school for 800 pupils.  The project included classrooms, specialist rooms (science labs, technology rooms etc), offices, sports hall, ball courts and related site works.  The school was constructed on a sloping green-field site.  Reinforced concrete and stone gabion retaining walls were used to form tiered embankments, over 8m high, along the northern and western boundaries.  These works were carried out as part of an enabling works contract, providing a level site for the two storey school building, with some of the reinforced concrete walls forming part of the new building itself. 

The building is constructed from a combination of steel, concrete and masonry. The main visual feature of the school is the exposed reinforced concrete spine wall that extends right through the school.  The wall starts externally and as it approaches the school building increases in height, first to 9.5m, and then to 15m.  It continues through and above the building at this height, forming one side of an open atrium area internally.  The wall extends externally at the rear of the building, stopping just short of the 9m high embankment at the north western boundary.

In 2011, a two-storey extension to the west wing was constructed to accommodate 5 new classrooms.

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