The CERC development is a partnership project between UL Hospitals and the University of Limerick (UL) and is co-funded by both the HSE and UL with an overall project cost of circa €12.75m. The development, which comprises a 3,442m sq four-storey building, will accommodate and support the comprehensive educational, training and research needs of both the UL Graduate Entry Medical School and the UL Hospitals medical community across all disciplines.
The new CERC building will accommodate a 150 seat lecture theatre and tutorial rooms on the ground floor, library accommodation and associated facilities on the first floor, academic and administrative and technical support staff offices on the second floor along with education and research facilities on part of the third floor. The remainder of the top floor will be a dedicated research area for the UL Health Research Institute (HRI). The new CERC building will be a modern facility and will incorporate the latest design standards for education and research facilities, sustainability and quality of the environment for students and staff. The CERC development will also provide the facilities required at the hospital for Medical Council accreditation of the UL Graduate Entry Medical School.
The building has been specifically designed to allow for the future expansion of a further two floors. Access to the proposed development will be either via a direct building entrance or alternatively from the main UHL Hospital building via a new circulation link integrated with the hospital which will allow direct access for users from the various hospital areas.
The building has been strategically located at the centre of the campus to make it as accessible as possible for all healthcare professionals and to encourage its use. The new CERC development will also include associated external landscaping and excavation works adjacent to the building.
The design of the proposed development is sympathetic to the challenges posed by working in an acute hospital campus including, infection control, design standards and sustainability. In advance of the commencement of these main building works, there was an enabling works contract completed during 2014 to provide for car parking spaces displaced by the building.
Dlight were commissioned by J.V Tierney Consultant Engineers to work on a re-design in July 2015 as part of a value engineering exercise, currently, the project is on-site where Dlight are working with SNC Lavalin (formerly of KENTZ) where we will deliver a LEED project using LED as light source.