The South West College Erne Campus is full of life as students and staff settle in to their trailblazing new college after it opened its doors at the start of the month.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter this week during an exclusive tour of the campus, Eimear Grugan, Project Sponsor commented that it “feels fantastic” to be in the building as there were “a lot of challenges along the way, in terms of the build”.

“This type of building in itself is a complex building. It is the largest new build Passive House building in the world and it’s the largest new build educational building in the world,” said Eimear, continuing: “It’s a groundbreaking building and then to think it’s been built in the middle of a global pandemic, so that obviously had an impact on work force, on materials.”

She explained that Brexit also had an impact, with delays on the delivery of certain materials.

“That probably more affected our fit-out end of things in terms of furniture arriving so there were a lot of challenges along the way.

“To be in here now feels fantastic but we’re not out of the woods yet, now we have to learn to use the building,” she said with a smile.

New and current SWC students were welcomed into the Erne Campus building on September 1.

Over the last two weeks they have been getting used to the new facilities, which include state of the art computer suites, sophisticated hair and beauty salons and an ultramodern take on the Erne Restaurant, to name a few.

Carol Viney, Campus Manager says the feedback has been “very positive” and she is delighted to see students and staff alike making the most of the new building as they enjoy the various open social spaces across its four floors.

“I suppose in Fairview we didn’t have as many student social areas so they have a few places to sit and congregate and chat.

“It’s lovely seeing them spread out and have their coffee on the third floor or the second floor. The first week they were sitting in one area, in the second floor atrium but now we can see they are exploring the building,” said Carol.

Settling in to the new building, Eimear compared it to getting a new house.

“You have to live in it and decide how you’re going to use it and what tweaks you’ll make. I suppose we’re at that stage now, we’re living here and we’re trying to see how the spaces will evolve because they will evolve as you have different classes and different people coming in here.

“It’s really exciting, it’s actually really rewarding, particularly for those of us involved in the build, that for so long it was about getting the building finished and now it’s seeing what the purpose of the building was, and seeing the students and people in here,” she said, noting how they look forward to welcoming the local community in to the new building in due course.