Expansion planned for Shimna College

Expansion planned for Shimna College

18 October 2017

SHIMNA Integrated College in Newcastle is on the brink of a major redevelopment.

Significant progress has been made towards new facilities for the secondary school with an announcement about replacement accommodation expected within months.

Although full details of the project are not yet available, the preferred option is understood to be redevelopment of the school on its current King Street site with the creation of additional sports facilities at nearby Donard Park.

These sports facilities could potentially be developed by the Department for Education in partnership with Newry Mourne and Down Council, which has previously identified Donard Park as a potential sports hub for the area.

Through such collaboration, the school would benefit from state-of-the-art sports pitches and pavilion, in return for sharing its facilities with the community, offering access to halls and classrooms.

Shimna Integrated College’s need for a new school was endorsed by the government in 2016 when it was included on a list of 15 projects earmarked for financial support in the Fresh Start Agreement.

Since then, there have been behind-the-scenes negotiations towards its redevelopment with a feasibility study recently completed.

News that major progress has now been made is a significant boost to the school, which has grown consistently since it was launched with just 60 pupils in September 1995.

School principal, Kevin Lambe, this week said he was hopeful an announcement about replacement accommodation will be made before the end of the academic year.

Now catering for 620 children, he confirmed that the school had outgrown its original accommodation, which he described as “semi permanent”.

However, he emphasised that the redevelopment may not mean a new building, but could instead involve the refurbishment of current facilities.

“We have been working away with the Department for Education on this for 18 months,” he said.

“We are at capacity and are not going to get any bigger. Our development proposal, that has been approved, has brought us from 500 to 620 pupils.

“We have outgrown our accommodation and would be very hopeful about progress towards redevelopment.

“It is not going to be next year but I would be hoping we would be able to announce something before the end of the academic year.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education confirmed that Shimna Integrated College had been selected to advance in planning in March 2016 under the first tranche of projects funded from the Fresh Start Agreement.   

“An integrated consultant team has been appointed and a technical feasibility study, which will inform the business case, has recently been completed,” she said. “To date good progress has been made.”