First look at new Holy Angels centre
The proposed Holy Angels specialist pre-school designed by Wejchert Architects for the HSE.
ARCHITECTS for the HSE South-East submitted a planning application on 23 February, giving the public a first look at the long-awaited Holy Angels Day Care Centre on Carlow’s Athy Road.
The Holy Angels Day Care Centre Ltd is a special preschool for children aged 18 months to six years’ old, who have a complex disability requiring team-based intervention. The centre provides services for 35 children but is not currently adequate in terms of space and facilities. There is a waiting list to access this service.
It is hoped that the new building will be able to expand preschool services for children with complex disabilities, from 18 months to six years, provide training and education sessions for the children, their parents, carers and staff in the preschool and offer hydrotherapy services for children and adults with disabilities.
The new building will be built on the 3.5-hectare site of the 18th century Kelvin Grove house, which is a protected structure. The main house, despite being in poor condition, will be retained, alongside the glasshouse, but 20th century extensions to the rear of the old house will be demolished.
The development laid out in plans from 23 February consists of a single-storey centre with four activity rooms, therapy and multi-disciplinary rooms, a staff canteen, toilets and changing rooms, hydrotherapy pool with changing facilities and other ancillary accommodation.
The planning application states that the preschool will operate during the core hours of 8am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday, but access to the building will be required outside of these hours to allow children and young people with developmental/disability issues to access the hydrotherapy pool services.
The site will be developed to provide road and pedestrian access, 77 car parking spaces, a children’s outdoor play area, landscaping, substation and a bin store.
However, this application was considered incomplete by the Carlow planning authority and was returned to the applicants on 25 February. They will have to resubmit the application with the additional elements necessary in order to proceed.
