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Five of six shared campus school builds yet to begin

The campus in Omagh will involve six schools and is due to be complete by 2021
The campus in Omagh will involve six schools and is due to be complete by 2021 The campus in Omagh will involve six schools and is due to be complete by 2021

BUILDING work has still not begun on five of the six schools that will make up a massive shared education campus.

A public exhibition in Omagh gave people an update on progress and a chance to view the latest designs of the Strule project.

The campus in Omagh will involve six schools and is due to be complete by 2021, a year later than first promised.

The co-location of schools in the town is intended to increase opportunities for collaboration and sharing of facilities. A mix of grammar, non-grammar, Catholic, state and special schools will occupy the site. So far, just one has opened - Arvalee School and Resource Centre - which was built for £8.2 million.

Initial projections, provided at the very early stages of planning, estimated that the project to convert the barracks at Lisanelly would be about £100m. Responding to questions at the assembly education committee in June last year, Department of Education officials said it would be closer to £140m.

The department later said that the estimated cost, including expenditure incurred before 2016/17, was £159m.

Construction of the five other schools, which include three separate non-selective Catholic post-primaries, was due to begin this year. However, it is understood that issues regarding procurement caused delays.

The department said a significant amount of work had been carried out on two major procurements this year, adding that it was faced with "a number of important, emergent issues and they have taken some time to resolve".

The Executive's commitment to delivering Strule will have a major impact on the amount of money available for other new building projects.

It is understood that one third of all capital money every year will be tied up in Strule, with all other schools competing for limited remaining funds.

Money for the project had come from the Executive's Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) strategy. Now, money for Strule must come from the Department of Education. Department officials confirmed that there will be a significant impact in both 2018/19 and 2019/20.