Third-level Limerick college submit revised plans for centre

A FRESH application for a new €30m library at Mary Immaculate College is to be lodged with council planners.

Management at the third-level teacher training college, located in South Circular Road, have for a number of years been planning a new library and resource centre.

It will substantially replace its existing library first constructed in 1976.

Although council planners initially gave the project the green light back in 2017, a fresh application is now going in to reflect the changed circumstances in terms of sustainability and building between then and now.

A notice placed in last weekend’s Limerick Leader gives details of the college’s intention to seek planning permission.

According to this notice, the existing library will be largely demolished, with a small lecture theatre on site retained and integrated into the new complex.

The new library will rise up four storeys, while there will also be a learning and resource centre.

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Outside to the south-west of the new building, there will be a refurbished public plaza, with the removal of some trees, plus new soft and hard landscaping.

The original library plan, approved in 2017, had a budget of just over €21m.

However, in May this year, the government agreed to jointly fund the project under the Ireland 2040 plan to a maximum of €30m.

Previously, the college has described its existing library as “outdated”.

“The new building will deliver a future-proofed library/learning resource centre, centrally located within the Mary Immaculate College campus and addressing the recently constructed Tara building as well as the protected Foundation Building and residence block,” the college said in a statement released in May.

The library will have more than 550 study spaces, and will accommodate more than 170,000 books.

On top of this, there will be a 288-seat lecture theatre, media editing suites, a media studio, seminar rooms and staff offices.

The original 1970s-era library was designed for a time when Mary Immaculate College had just 750 students.

Since then, the number of people studying in the college has grown to 5,000.

Depending on the progress of the new planning application through the system, college bosses hope the library will open by 2026.