HMK lead ambitious project to replace Shimna Integrated College

Hood McGowan Kirk LLP (HMK) will head up an ambitious project for the design and construction of a new build to replace the existing Shimna Integrated College.

Starting with the issue of PQQ documents and continuing with the provision of both Project Management and Quantity Surveying, HMK is now looking forward to progressing the scheme through to completion. Situated in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains, Shimna Integrated College was founded on September 1, 1994 but has outgrown its current building which accommodates 531 pupils.

The new build will total approximately 10,000sq metres arranged across three storeys. The BIM Level 2 project requires a controlled, phased approach incorporating demolition of the existing facilities, new build, hard and soft play areas, roads, car- parking and all ancillary works. Shimna Integrated College is one of many education sector projects currently benefitting from HMK’s progressive thinking.

HMK began the procurement process for another school project the same week as Shimna Integrated College and in contrast to the County Down build, the construction of Gaelscoil Ui Dhochartaigh primary and nursey school in Strabane offered something of a blank canvas on a greenfield site. The progression of these projects is further confirmation that, despite working from home and the many lockdown restrictions, Hood McGowan Kirk LLP has never been busier.

The Belfast firm continues to fly in the face of furloughing and redundancies. Battening down the hatches may have been many other company’s modus operandi – not HMK. Further staff recruitment is on-going as partners Andrew Maxwell and Ciara Maitland map out the future for HMK.

While the Covid-19 crisis has forced many companies to go back to the drawing board, HMK has been focussing on blackboards (schools still use those, don’t they?). Both Shimna Integrated College and Gaelscoil Ui Dhochartaigh projects are proof of the company’s intention to provide unrivalled quantity surveying and project management services.