TEACHERS and professionals of the future will be able to enjoy a garden designed with the future in mind at Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College (MIC).
The college has enlisted an award-winning firm to draw up a sustainable landscape-led masterplan for its Limerick campus.
The masterplan — by multi award-winning landscape and architecture firm Levitt Bernstein — sets out to “highlight and celebrate existing landscape and historic assets whilst creating a clear “vision” for the campus future, supporting built teaching facilities”.
The masterplan process identifies a series of phased landscape works intended to enhance and complement existing amenities.
Key objectives include integrating sustainable design approaches and exploring opportunities to further ‘green’ the campus.
Michael Keane, vice-president of administration and finance at MIC, said that the plan has been carefully considered since its inception in 2023.
“While the college has been considering its external campus in an environmentally sustainable manner for a number of years, the motivation for commissioning the landscape masterplan was the feedback from Limerick City and County Council as the college was progressing through the planning process for our new library and learning resource centre,” he said.
“As well as looking at the built environment and our long-term objectives in that sphere … the campus’ ecology and biodiversity has to be respected and nurtured. Our shared spaces have to be functional, accessible, and also have to be resilient in the face of climate change and incorporate sustainability into every aspect.”
Mr Keane said that “Levitt Bernstein has assisted MIC to come up with an ambitious plan that will help to make the campus more cohesive and maximise its footprint”.
Kate Digney, landscape architect and associate director at Levitt Bernstein said that the firm has “enjoyed working with MIC stakeholders to provide a new landscape vision for the campus”, noting that “we were struck by the rich and mature landscape setting of the campus and the obvious fondness of the college community for their outdoor spaces”.
“The health and wellbeing benefits of an improved public realm ‘offer’ are substantive and the plan aims to provide functional space that can be activated by a diverse section of the college community.”
