High-tech training centre plans en route
Plans for an almost €3 million Training Centre of Excellence for Supply Chain, Logistics and Procurement at Cavan Institute’s Dublin Road campus are moving ahead at pace, with a manager now appointed to oversee progress.
To be overseen and managed by Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB), the new centre will be a driving force behind developing skills in the region around robotics, 3D Printing, Internet of Things and Blockchain Technology, Big Data Analytics, as well as Drone Technology.
Once construction is completed, the new 20,000 sq ft centre will incorporate eight Industry 4.0 Training Labs and Workshops; four classrooms; an administration office; a boardroom and conference facility; three meeting rooms; a utilities room; and a reception area.
The allocation is the first time targeted funding has been ringfenced to a specific region.
Dr Linda Pinkster, director of Further Education (FE), informed ETB members at their recent meeting in Monaghan that the €3 million announced under the Enterprise Ireland-supported, new Border Enterprise Development Fund in June 2020, was to effectively get the campus investment project off the ground.
The centre of excellence is to be developed in line with project partners that include Louth Meath ETB, the University of Ulster, Siemens, Accenture, McVitty Transport, Cavan Digital Hub, the Irish Manufacturing Research Centre and more.
Newly appointed manger Noel Mooney is “excited” about the potential the new Training Centre of Excellence has, not just for Cavan and the college, but for local businesses and the wider border area as well.
He said part of the focus of the Training Centre of Excellence will be in delivering a trained and high-skilled workforce capable of providing support in mitigating the impact of seismic economic changes such as Brexit.
Mr Mooney, a native Cavan Town, previously worked for over 12 years with Liberty Insurance before last working with Abbott Ireland’s Nutrition Division in Cootehill.
“The project is still very much in its infancy, but a lot of work has taken place and my job now is move things even further,” Mr Mooney told The Anglo-Celt.
With the lifting of Covid restrictions, work began on developing the Dublin Road site for the installation of the new modular accommodation.
“We’ve broken ground here and that’s progressing now with workmen on site. There is potential here, and we’re looking at other office space as well in the coming months. My remit, other than seeing this through to fruition and the management of that, will be to begin reaching out to local businesses across the region and speak to them about their specific needs in supply chain, logistics and procurement, to see where the skill gaps are and the figure out how best we can meet them, as well as serve to up-skill current employees as well.
“Particularly in the Cavan-Monaghan region, there is such a concentrated mass of manufacturing business here locally. There are a lot of companies too offering support to these bigger businesses, so we see this very much as a prime opportunity to facilitate the enhancement of that.”
Chief Executive for CMETB John Kearney said the investment going into the Dublin Road site is very much “just the start” of what’s hoped will be a much grander capital investment project for the campus.
“Ideally we see [the site] as being ideal for dual activity because of the industrial activity in the area, access to the Digital Hub. We have far more work to do, it’s very much still at a fledgling stage, but what we envisage for that location, I feel, is very exciting in terms of further educational provision locally.”
Hampton Court lease
Meanwhile, members of the CMETB last week also approved a proposal from the executive to retain a lease on four large rooms at Hampton Court in Cavan Town to facilitate the influx of learners, while a new suite of modular accommodation is erected at the former Dun Ui Neill barracks site.
Dr Pinkster explained that, to extend the lease on the Unit 2 Hampton Court premises, which is owned by Davy Target Investments ICAV, avoided the prospect of having to run the process of procurement and tender for a new site.
The two-year lease for the Cootehill Road, four classroom property was signed in 2020 at €18,450 per annum, and is due to expire in September of this year.
Dr Pinkster told board members that the proximity of the classrooms to the Institute’s Cathedral Road site gave potential for “greater integration” of learners.