€15m AIT STEM building moves to tender phase

Plans for a €15 million STEM building in Athlone IT have taken a giant leap forward after news emerged that the project will progress to the tender phase as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris confirmed yesterday (Tuesday) that the first of two bundles of projects, numbering six in total which includes AIT, will move to tender immediately.

Last year, Athlone IT said the new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) building would cater for an additional 800 students and 70 staff enabling the institute to cater for an increased demand for STEM programmes.

The project would also bolster AIT’s transition towards becoming a technological university, it stressed at that time just as plans for the new three-storey premises with a massive floor area of over 65,000 square feet of space were submitted to Westmeath County Council. AIT is part of a consortium with Limerick IT bidding to become a Technological Univerisity (TU) in the future.

The new STEM development will include science labs, lecture theatres, classrooms, and other facilities.

“It's going to add to the already huge offering in AIT. It's massive for the town. You'd be thinking this project will feed into industry in Athlone,” Cllr John Dolan said on Tuesday, welcoming the news.

Funding for the STEM project was first announced with ten others by the then Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, back in October of 2017. The contract type envisaged is a Design, Build, Finance, and Maintain (DBFM) contract. The successful tenderer for each of the bundles will construct the buildings using private finance, and will then operate and maintain the buildings over a period of 25 years.