*Griffith College Dublin has applied for planning permission from Dublin City Council to develop a multimillion-euro expansion to its campus which would involve four new campus buildings being built, according to newly filed planning documents.
The college is looking to adapt its existing campus “to allow for future student growth over the next decade” in order to allow for a doubling of its on-campus student numbers from about 3,500 students to up to 7,000 students.
These plans fit into a wider master plan for the future expansion of the college which could cost an estimated €200 million, Prof Diarmuid Hegarty, president of Griffith College Cork, told The Irish Times. The wider expansion will also see further student accommodation being built.
Prof Hegarty said the college “has got to a point where we need to expand out educational facilities in order to see further growth” but that would not be possible without investment into their campus.
READ MORE
A planning report submitted to the council as part of the application details that some students at the college are “having lectures in modular buildings” and that the college is hoping to remove all those buildings as part of the development in an aspiration to creation a “vibrant modern academic environment” for students.
Alongside the desire to update its facilities, the private college will be working to preserve the “historic character” of the former Griffith Barracks site.
The institution noted its current 3,500 students on campus daily are complemented by more than 400 staff members. It anticipates to grow to 11,000 students by 2030 with more than 600 staff, which it said “underscores the urgent need for additional teaching and learning facilities”.
In its most recent financial statements, Bellerophon Limited, trading as Griffith College, noted it had “ambitious plans to further develop the college’s teaching and learners space” and has been “building up funds to finance its endeavours”. As of mid-2023, the college had net assets of €41.3 million, up from €37.3 million the previous year.
Prof Hegarty said the plans would be funded through existing reserves and some borrowing.
Trump vs the Fed: What does it mean for global trade and Ireland?
As part of the planning application, the college held four pre-application consultation meetings with council staff on the suitability of the project.
The expansion would mean a four-storey, 5,205 sq m building between the existing Arthur Griffith and Daniel O’Connell buildings to house classrooms, lecture halls, offices, plant rooms and breakout spaces.
An existing building, known as the Photography Studio, would also be demolished as part of the works, with a new four- and five-storey teaching and learning building being built on the site. The 4,619 sq m building would include a gym and changing areas, as well as an exhibition and event space.
A “sensitive” three-storey extension to the college’s protected, redbrick Quarter Master’s House on the campus’s north side would also be built as part of the plans, and the Bunker building would see a single-storey extension to deliver an 805 sq m studio space.
The total floor space of the proposed works would mean 12,224 sq m of floor space added to the college’s footprint, the applications details.
The college said, in the application, that the application sets out a “balanced, ambitious and carefully reasoned” plan, which “minimises overshadowing and overlooking” over neighbouring properties.
*This article was edited on Saturday, January 24th, 2026
