Shimna Integrated College £16m plans get green light

14 April 2021

NEWCASTLE’S Shimna Integrated College has secured formal planning approval for its new £16m campus.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s Planning Committee rubber-stamped plans for the new 620-student campus last week.

It is hoped that work on the three-storey building will be completed in 2024, with the new school

constructed to the east of the current main building at its sprawling Lawnfield site at King Street. When construction work is completed, the existing building will be bulldozed as part of the exciting redevelopment proposal.

Included in the ambitious development plan are a range of new sports facilities which we will be shared with the Newcastle community.

The new school proposal is being supported by the Department for Education and Integrated Education Fund.

Shimna College currently shares its sports halls, grounds and main building with a number of local groups and in 2019 celebrated its 25th anniversary with its need for new accommodation one of a number of projects earmarked for financial support in the Fresh Start Agreement.

The hugely successful integrated college opened in September 1995 with just 60 pupils, but has since grown to become of Northern Ireland’s leading schools.

However, the current school does not meet its needs or the standards specified in the current Department of Education Secondary School handbook.

In February 2014, education officials approved a development proposal to redevelop the integrated college to deliver a modern, post-primary school capable of accommodating the increased demand for integrated education in the area.

The new school proposal includes new sports accommodation extending to the west of the current site encompassing part of the footprint of the existing school.

A new single storey sports suite will extend from the school’s northwestern elevation of the new buildings and includes a hall, gym, fitness area and ancillary accommodation with the main school building intentionally designed to allow Shimna College to continue operating during construction work on the new-build.

It is understood that phase one will focus on the construction of the main school building, excluding the proposed new sports provision. All of the existing school will be bulldozed when the new-build is complete, apart from the existing sports hall.

Mr Kevin Lambe, principal, said recently that the entire Shimna community was delighted that planning permission was to go ahead for “our wonderful new building”.

He said everyone is “extremely excited” that work on the new school will begin in the autumn term and that the new Year 8 students joining Shimna this September will be able to look forward to sitting their GCSEs and A levels in a purpose built, state-of-the art building, due to open in 2024.

Mr Lambe thanked the Department of Education and the technical team behind the new school for the energy and creativity they have brought to the project.

He also extended gratitude to Newry, Mourne and Down Council for addressing the school’s application for planning permission.

The principal added: “We are particularly excited that the sports facilities for the new school will be shared with our local community and all the community partners who already meet in Shimna.”

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