Limerick city. Image: © UTBP/Stock.adobe.com
The University of Limerick is preparing for a major upgrade with a new campus to be opened in 2022.
Limerick is set to receive a major boost in trade with news that students from the University of Limerick (UL) could soon be based in the heart of the city.
According to the Limerick Leader, the university confirmed that a new city centre campus will open by 2022 – likely at the €180m Project Opera development at Patrick Street – and will host 2,000 students and 100 staff.
The site will exist in addition to UL’s existing campus on the outskirts of the city in Castletroy, with the new site being described as a ‘UL city campus’.
The university’s president, Dr Des Fitzgerald, confirmed the news by saying: “It will aim to bring together law, business and entrepreneurship in technology, and create a hub for developing and supporting enterprises in the city.
“It will allow for the further development of existing collaborations with the practitioner base in business, law, education, health and the growing number of technology companies.”
‘I believe the university needs the city to grow’
Meanwhile, the head of the Limerick Twenty Thirty redevelopment project, David Conway, said the Project Opera site will be a great location for UL’s new campus.
“This is, in the first instance, a very positive development for Limerick and the region. A city centre with a third-level student [campus] is a familiar component of a modern and successful European city,” he said.
“I believe the university needs the city to grow and the city would benefit from the university’s presence.”
Elsewhere in UL research news, the university recently revealed that one of its teams will lead an €8m EU project to develop the latest batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).
The project will focus heavily on the sustainability aspect of EVs, in particular the removal of rare and expensive materials used in batteries such as cobalt, as well as performing life cycle analysis and assessing the suitability of the battery cells for secondhand use.
