The new €60 million Cork School of Music will be completed within two years and in time for the academic year starting in September 2007, the managing director of the company contracted to build the new facility pledged yesterday.
Hochtief PPP Solutions managing director Martin Lommatzsch said how pleased he was to sign the contract for the music school, the company's first public-private partnership project in Ireland.
He was confident the school would be finished on time.
Hochtief PPP Solutions took over the contract when preferred bidder, British firm Jarvis, ran into financial difficulties.
Under the public-private partnership arrangement with the firm, the German-founded company will design, build, finance and operate the school for 25 years. The Government will pay €7.6 million for each year of the contract.
The contract for the new music school, a constituent college of Cork Institute of Technology, was signed on behalf of the Government by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin and on behalf of CIT by director Dr Brendan Murphy.
Mr Martin paid tribute to staff and students of the college for their patience over the last six years. "The direct influence of the Cork School of Music on the culture of Cork is immeasurable," said Mr Martin as he pointed out that the music industry provides full-time employment for 8,000 people in Ireland.
