The Institution of Civil Engineers Northern Ireland (ICE NI) were in Omagh today to hear the fascinating detail of a visionary project that could soon become a reality for the people of the area. The Lisanelly Shared Educational Campus (LSEC) is a Department of Education led project that has the potential to change the culture and provision of post primary education in the Tyrone town.
Guest of ICE NI at the Annual Omagh lunch, Hazel Jones, LSEC Programme Director, invited representatives of ICE NI to tour the Lisanelly barracks, the currently derelict site, which will see a radical transformation from a former military base to a state-of-the-art education facility. The £100m+ project is currently awaiting the outcome of its planning application in which the exemplar design for the project has been submitted.
Hazel then presented the proposed development and outlined the extensive community consultation process to an audience of 100 members of ICE NI at the Silver Birches hotel.
Wendy Blundell, Regional Director, ICE NI said:
“We are delighted that Hazel attended our lunch today and presented this innovative project to our members in the west of the region. The project certainly is a visionary one that will have a profound impact on this community. ICE NI is greatly enthused by this project and we certainly share its vision for providing a world class education campus for the young people of Omagh.
“ICE NI during its engagement with young people, places great emphasises on the importance and value of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. We believe that the dedicated schools of Making, Performance and Activity within this shared campus will be a fantastic foundation for young people to develop specific skills needed in this area.
“The government backed project will provide a critical injection of investment into the local economy and will present much needed employment opportunities for the engineering profession in Northern Ireland.
“The Lisanelly project is a massive opportunity and hugely exciting for Omagh, ICE NI will certainly observe and monitor its development with optimism. This is the first of its kind anywhere in Northern Ireland and we greatly support the proposal that a sharing educational model will only contribute to the future development of a more shared and sustainable community for Northern Ireland”.