It was precisely a year ago that An Bord Pleanála gave the National Children’s Hospital permission to go ahead with the new planned hospital. The hospital is for some something they have been looking forward to for a long time, but some it caused much anxiety.
The good news is that it will go ahead and with it a lot of new job opportunities. Families, young students, architects, quantity surveyors, engineers and people in the building trade can look forward to future employment in construction and engineering.
Last week an interactive careers day was hosted by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and students at secondary school were given a tour of the new hospital with the use of Virtual Reality 3D glasses. They were also introduced to the design team that are responsible for constructing the hospital and future engineers working on the project.
“The new children’s hospital is one of the most exiting projects to come to the Dublin 8 area in a long time. It will bring a boost to the local economy and will provide opportunities for local employment. The NPHDB have been very clear from the outset that it is committed to being a good neighbour and to ensuring that there is local benefit from the development and this careers day is a wonderful showcase of some of the types of opportunities that local students can take inspiration from,” Minister of State for Communities and National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne TD. said who was attending the careers day.
The hospital will open in 2021. BAM Contractors will start on the first phase of the construction in the coming weeks. Construction equipment has already arrived on site, so it looks like there will be no turning back from here onwards. For the moment there is four years of employment available in the construction and engineering of the hospital and employment for doctors and nurses.
Ingrid McElroy the Community Benefit Manager with the NPHDB said that the event was about demonstrating to young people the breadth of career avenues open to them in engineering and construction.
“Some of the young people attending today may not be aware of what engineering is about, so we want to show this in such a way that is exciting interactive and above all show that all these opportunities are attainable; within their reach.”
