Today marked the official launch of construction at 118 St Stephen’s Green, the next phase of RCSI’s campus development in Dublin city centre.

The €95 million expansion project, also known as Project Connect, will enrich the student experience at RCSI and provide vital infrastructure for pioneering health sciences research and innovation, as well as creating a space for local community engagement.

A key design element of 118 St Stephen’s Green is its physical link to RCSI’s presence at 26 York Street, significantly opening up RCSI’s education space for the estimated 3,000 students and staff who visit the campus daily for study, work and extracurricular activities.

The development will be home to the new RCSI School of Population Health, the RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management, and a 50-square metre virtual reality surgical training space for the National Surgical Training Centre.

It will allow for the introduction of new concepts such as learning communities and provide includes small group teaching spaces and flexible flat-floor teaching spaces.  
Another key purpose of the project is to enhance RCSI’s research and innovation activities, providing up to three floors of state-of-the-art laboratory, write-up and support facilities for existing and new research programmes and initiatives.

The development will renew RCSI’s historic connection St Stephen’s Green by becoming the new 'front door' of the campus. It will include a new civic engagement space for public events and exhibitions, aligning with RCSI’s goal of enabling people to live long and healthy lives.

The launch was attended by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Mr Simon Harris TD, who unveiled hoarding that will be the centrepiece for the project until its scheduled completion in 2025.

Minister Harris said: “This state-of-the-art facility, which will come to being in 2025, will be a centre of excellence, providing innovative teaching and learning methodologies and expanding research potential in the field of medicine and health sciences.

“As the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level, Ireland needs to be a location of choice for the best and the brightest in order to realise our ambition to become an Innovation Leader. Investments such as this will help us achieve our goals.”

RCSI President Professor P. Ronan O’Connell welcomed the launch, commenting: “Since 1810, RCSI has influenced the landscape of St Stephen’s Green. This new development at 118 demonstrates our dedication to unlocking opportunity for truly exceptional healthcare professionals who have the passion and commitment to make a lifelong difference to patient care.”

Professor Cathal Kelly, Vice Chancellor and CEO/Registrar of RCSI, said: “This project is enormously significant for the RCSI community and comes at a time of transformation in the way we deliver health sciences education. It also reflects positively on an ambitious and forward-looking higher education sector in Ireland, as we seek to enhance the country’s global reputation for excellence in education and research.”

118 St Stephen’s Green is supported by funding from the European Investment Bank and AIB. The project construction and design team includes Henry J Lyons Architects, Linesight Quantity Surveyors, OCSC Structural Engineers, Axis Mechanical & Electrical Consultants and Bennett Construction Ltd.