All of us in St. Stephen’s were absolutely delighted to witness the official opening of Lasallian House on Friday, October 14th, 2022.
We were thrilled to be joined by former staff members Mrs. Quinn, Mrs. Stafford, Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. Carey, Mr. Colfer, Mr. Greene, Mrs. Fewer, Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Grant from the Pre-School, as well as Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan and Fr. Harris, and former principal of St. Stephen’s Br. Martin Curran, as well as Chairperson of our school’s Board of Management Br. Frank McCallig and former principal Mr. Morris, both of whose efforts were instrumental in the construction of Lasallian House. Many others with a connection to St. Stephen’s joined us to celebrate this historic day.
Principal of St. Stephen’s Miss Lowe spoke of the efforts of so many people to make Lasallian House a reality, paying tribute to Mr. Morris and Br. Frank and the school’s Board of Management, as Bishop Cullinan took the microphone to speak about the work and teachings of Saint John Baptist de La Salle. The Bishop then blessed the building, before Br. Frank and Mr. Morris cut the ribbon to officially open our stunning new extension. Our many guests then took the opportunity to look around the new building. There’s plenty of photos of the official opening to view in the gallery below!
The construction of what would become Lasallian House began in May 2021, with the knocking of the boundary wall at the end of the yard and the excavating of the site behind the wall. This necessitated the erection of fences and restriction of yard space in the playground for the duration of the construction. Once the clearing of the site was completed, the laying of the concrete foundations was next, along with the reinforcing of the side nearest the yard.
The summer of 2021 saw the ardán area dug up for the extension and installation of pipes for the heating and water. At the same time, the ground floor was laid and later in the summer, the ardán area was resurfaced. A large crane arrived on site towards the end of the summer as the construction of the walls began just before school returned for the 2021/2022 academic year. The building process seemed to speed up at this time, as the walls and upper floor took shape very quickly.
By the end of November, the frame of the roof was taking shape on one side and the build was taking on a clearly defined shape. The windows were added to the building in early December 2021 as the panelling on the roof was completed.
Work moved inside in January 2022 with the laying out of the rooms and smoothing of the floors and interior walls. The finishing touches were put to the roof in February 2022, while the outside of the building was plastered. March 2022 saw the plastering, insulating and painting of the interior walls of the four classrooms, as well as the installation of the tiles in the ceilings and the hand railings on the stairs leading to the upper floor.
The beginning of April 2022 saw the painting of the outside of the building in the colours that can be seen on the finished build. Electricians worked on the wiring for the classrooms while the toilets and wash basins were installed and plumbed at this time too, as well as the installation of an elevator for access to the upper floor. Clearing of the building site area that occupied a quarter of the yard took place throughout May 2022 and in early June 2022, with the installation of solar panels on the roof, the fencing came down, restoring the yard to full size for classes to use for break times and PE lessons and the building was nearly complete. Presses, shelves, coat hangers, notice boards and storage areas were installed in the rooms in early July 2022, WiFi and interactive whiteboards were added to the four classrooms in August 2022, at which time the building was officially handed over to the school. A long journey – but a worthwhile one that has seen a state of the art building added to the historic site of St. Stephen’s! You can see photos of the build from the first stage to the completed building in our gallery below !
