Minister of State Seán Kyne officially opened Galway’s newest major student accommodation development today.
The €35 million Goldcrest Village will provide 429 sorely needed beds for students as a shortage of purpose built student accommodation puts strain on the private rental sector.
Located on NUI Galway grounds at North Campus next to Corrib Village, Goldcrest represents the first of two new purpose built students residences to serve Galway students.
Named after the smallest bird in Ireland which can often be seen flitting around the campus at NUI Galway, Goldcrest started accepting students last September.
Minister Kyne performed the official opening on Friday, saying the benefits of bringing in so much student accommodation would be felt far and wide.
“It provides students with quality, modern accommodation that will enable them to experience life on campus. It helps to ensure more accommodation for other households in Galway and it adds to the vibrancy of our city and county.”
“I’m certain Goldcrest Village will provide comfortable and secure accommodation for students of NUI Galway for many years to come,” Seán Kyne finished.
Funded by NUI Galway with a loan from the European Investment Bank, Goldcrest village has 429 beds spread across 76 apartments.
The €35 million complex covers 12,500sq metres, with each group of apartments grouped around landscaped courtyards.
Goldcrest Village has also just been shortlisted for the Irish Construction Excellence Awards 2019 in the Commercial €10m + category.
It’s hoped the second phase of this project constructing two purpose built student accommodation residences will be ready to start accepting students in 2021.
It will add an additional 680 bed spaces for students, bring the total number of NUI Galway students living on campus to almost 2,000.
NUI Galway President, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said, “The quality of our student experience is at the very core of our mission as a university.”
“This new home for our students represents a strategic response by NUI Galway to demand for housing in Galway and the need to provide on-campus student accommodation for our students, while also taking pressure off the Galway housing market.”
“We also join with our students in calling on our Government to continue to ensure equity and fairness in the housing market.”
