TUS outlines major expansion of Athlone campus in €750m plan

The Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) has set out a €750 million vision for the expansion of its facilities between now and 2040, with several major developments being proposed on its Athlone campus.

TUS last week published its Campus Development Masterplan, which was developed to steer the technological university's growth over the next fourteen years.

In Athlone, future developments being proposed include an extension of the international sports arena, a university commons building that would serve as an "arrival point" for the campus as a whole, a new library and learning centre, and the refurbishment of the John McCormack hall to facilitate "support services and student life activities" usage.

Other notable Athlone projects include a three-story extension of the existing nursing and health science building, an extension of the existing trades building, and a new three-storey graduate school building.

The plan also outlines the revival of the derelict former Athlone RTC premises on Northgate Street, which is being redeveloped, in conjunction with the council, as a digital hub that would "accommodate up to 200 people and offer spaces for training, meetings, and social activities".

TUS president Professor Vincent Cunnane said the masterplan has the potential to transform "the TUS student experience and the research, teaching, and learning of the future".

The plan outlines how, in Athlone, the campus would develop "as a centre for research and postgraduate activity, including a university commons student learning and social space, dedicated postgraduate and research facilities, a new library, and expansion of nursing, health science and apprenticeship facilities".

TUS said the masterplan would also ensure that the Athlone campus "can support wider sustainability ambitions for the Midlands region", including proposals such as developer Sean Mulryan's 'Green City' concept for Athlone.

The technological university said the cumulative value of developments outlined in the masterplan, which also includes a range of projects across its other campuses, is approximately €750 million.

It noted the financing of the proposed developments was "subject to detailed design, partnerships and national capital approvals".

The proposed four-storey university commons building would be located in front of the original Athlone RTC building, facing the Dublin Road, and would involve "upwards of 5,000 sq metres of new floor area on the campus... creating a coherent connection and permeability into the existing main building complex".

Also facing the Dublin Road, on the site of the original campus, would be a new library development, a "4,500sqm four-storey structure located to the southwest of the main campus building".

The plan notes that the aspiration of developing a new library has existed for some time and was "identified in two previous masterplans for the Athlone campus".

The proposed three-storey extension to the nursing and health science building has the potential to accommodate "up to 800 additional students", according to the plan.

An extension of the TUS international arena is described as "a key component of the campus masterplan" in Athlone. It would "provide a multi-purpose sports hall and related facilities to support a range of recreational, athletic, academic, research, and community activities on campus".

In addition, the arena's expansion "would enable the existing hall in the John Count McCormack Centre to be decommissioned and that space to be re-purposed for a variety of support services and student life activities".

The masterplan acknowledges that the former Northgate Street campus has become "an eyesore and a hotspot for antisocial behaviour" and its said its redevelopment would "resurrect and refurbish the protected Workhouse building, preserving its historical significance".

Adjacent to the refurbished structure, "a new state-of-the-art extension will provide flexible spaces for business, higher education, research, and community engagement," according to the masterplan.

In addition, the plan proposes the development of a new Midlands Technology Centre, a site for which has not yet been finalised.

TUS said a range of potential locations for the centre will be explored, both "on existing TUS campuses and new sites elsewhere in the Midlands".

Professor Cunnane, the TUS president, described the masterplan as "a statement of intent" and a blueprint for the growth of the university from now towards the middle of the 21st century.

"This plan is not just about buildings and facilities; it is ultimately about the lives of those who will benefit from these developments - our future students, staff and graduates, and the communities we will continue to serve," said Professor Cunnane.

Josephine Feehily, chair of the TUS Governing Body, said the plan "looks with confidence to what we can achieve together" over the next 14 years.

"Visionary developments are being advanced which have the potential to have transformative impacts on TUS, namely the proposals for Athlone to be a sustainable Green City by 2040, with a much-enlarged technological university at its heart, and the plans by Limerick Twenty Thirty for Cleeves Riverside Quarter," said Ms Feehily.