A MULTI-million pound new primary school build for west Belfast has been given the go-ahead.
Belfast City Council approved the plan for a 21 classroom building to replace the existing Holy Evangelists' PS in Twinbrook.
The school was created through the coming together of St Luke's and St Mark's, which stood less than half a mile apart.
Those schools, which both opened in the early 1970s, were found to have more than 500 empty desks between them.
In June 2014, former education minister John O'Dowd said the Twinbrook merged school would be among 15 projects to be built as part of an investment in the order of £170m.
The merged school is housed at present in the former St Luke's building.
The present school building has 25 classrooms, three dedicated special needs rooms as well as a Little Seeds Nurture Room and community hub for adult courses.
the plan approved by the council is for the erection of new 21 class primary school and nursery unit to replace the existing building. There will also be associated car parking, landscaping, site works and new access arrangements.
The proposal will provide facilities for 590 pupils, 30 teachers, and 30 ancillary staff.
The old building will be removed and replaced by a two-storey primary school and a separate detached single storey nursery.
SDLP councillor Brian Heading welcomed the decision.
"The approval for the school is welcome news as it replaces buildings over 40 years of old," he said.
"The £7m investment in a state of the art education facility provides an important boost to children, parents and teaching staff in an area were high social deprivation."
The Department of Education said the new build project was progressing well with work commencing early in the first half of 2018.
