The making of a new National Film School on the site of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) is confirmed and will begin this summer after the Minster for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe TD, sent the project out to tender for building construction.

Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan said it was a major capital project for the suburb of Dun Laoghaire. The new 1,315sq/m film school building will accommodate 385 students and will provide courses in film, television and radio brought together in one building. It will also allow for new courses to be introduced in specific areas of film and television production.

The project will see the building of Ireland’s first HD television studio. It is expected to take a year to complete the project.

Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe said it will produce the next generation of renowned Irish filmmakers.

He said the existing National Film School has produced a consistently high level of achievement for its student films nationally and internationally.

“Ireland has shown creativity and flair in film-making in the past and many of IADT’s students have showcased their work at prestigious festivals here and abroad.”

“I want IADT to build on that record and the new facilities I have approved for tender today will produce the next generation of Irish film-makers of domestic and international renown”, O’Keeffe said.

IADT’s existing television studio was adapted from an assembly hall and the 20-year-old equipment is no longer appropriate.

“The new film school will have a dedicated industry-standard television and film studio,” the Minister said.

Student numbers in IADT have risen from 1,600 in the 2007/08 academic year to almost 2,200 this year and Mr O’Keeffe said the new facility will cater for the large numbers.

Meanwhile building construction is expected to start at the end of this year on a 4,200sq/m digital media teaching building for 500 IADT students.

The NFS Building will contain two HD television studios one of which will have croma key (green-screen) capabilities, two radio studios along with classrooms, offices and ancillary production spaces. It will be the most up to date facility for education in film and television production in Ireland.

The Head of Department of Film and Media and Creative Director of the National Film School, Donald Taylor Black said the new building, “. . . will act as the headquarters of the B.A. in Film and Television course and the M.A. in Broadcast Production.”

The building will have new radio studios to replace the current one which are to be demolished however the existing TV studios will be kept alongside the new ones. As mentioned the new studios will be the only HD facility in Ireland and will be used for both multi and camera.

The new NFS building was designed following visits to other studios in both RTÉ and TV3 and discussions with a number of highly rated international film schools, which are, like IADT, members of CILECT, the International Association of Film and Television Schools. The new facility will allow for the future introduction of more postgraduate programmes, Donald tells us, amongst them will be an MA in Documentary making, and then soon afterwards a suite of others probably including, Fiction Directing, Cinematography, Animation, and Film Production & Finance.

The new National Film School project was subjected to a severe assessment under the Government’s capital appraisal guidelines.

‘The new film school will offer modern facilities for the greater numbers of students enrolling in IADT,’ said Minister O’Keeffe.

Separately, work is expected to start at the end of this year on a 4,200sq/m digital media teaching building for 500 IADT students.

The project is in the first bundle of the Government’s public private partnership plan for third-level institutions.