Service Announcements 

There will, regrettably, be a loss of power across most of the University’s city centre campus for several hours on the morning of Saturday 21 June 2025 as the ESB has notified us that it intends to undertake essential maintenance on its 110KV supply to our site. This impacts our Main Voltage (MV) Switch Room that is located to the rear of 188 Pearse Street (adjacent to the Trinity Business School). Failure to examine and fix this risk now could result in an unplanned and prolonged outage for the University in the future and so it is essential to facilitate this.  

The impact on the University is that all buildings served by this MV Switch Room will lose power - that is the entire ‘Island Campus’, including the Dublin Dental Hospital, and with the exception of 189-194 Pearse Street and 206 Pearse Street. 

Access to the Campus between 06.00hrs to 11.00hrs will be restricted to residential guests and key staff and all other buildings will be closed during this period.

It is important to note that the moment power is restored after an outage can be a vulnerable time for electrical equipment, especially in a large institution like ours. A further update will be provided on Saturday following these essential maintenance works.

In the meantime, here are some key measures you should implement to prevent damage and minimise disruption when power returns. We acknowledge that some of these precautions may already be in place:

• Turn off non-critical equipment first.
• Surge protection and soft starters help absorb shock.
• Bring circuits back online in a staggered, controlled manner.
• Perform checks afterwards to spot problems quickly; and
• Staff should be trained, and responsibilities defined in advance.

 General Staff Check:

• Prior to the shutdown (Friday evening 20 June 2025) please unplug all desk appliances such as laptops, phone chargers, desktop computers, printers, scanners, shredders etc;
• Please unplug all office/kitchenette appliances, such as kettles, coffee makers, toasters, microwaves, etc;
• Double check appliances are unplugged; and
• Turn off lights if you are last to leave

If you have any queries, please contact the Estates & Facilities Help Desk estatesandfacilities@tcd.ie who will pass your query on to the relevant colleague and we will respond as soon as possible.

Whilst this is far from ideal, these works happening on a Saturday should limit the inconvenience to the University’s day-to-day operations.

Thank you for your understanding.

Works are now underway on the Zoology Refurbishment project and as a result, there will be no parking in the spaces as indicated on the map below.

This area will be used as a Contractors Site Compound for both the Zoology Refurbishment project and separate roof repairs/plant upgrade works at SNIAM both running over the coming months.

We thank you for your understanding as we continue to improve the College’s built environment.

Recent changes in and around New Square have focussed high volumes of pedestrian traffic to its South and West sides in particular. Traffic studies of the area have been undertaken which recommend necessary adjustments to ensure our best use of the area going forward. The adjustments are driven from a health and safety perspective in the context of College providing appropriate arrangements for reasonable prevention of vehicle transport associated accidents, and in doing so, ensuring that we are providing suitable layouts appropriate for both vehicle and pedestrian activities.

Alterations to the roadway at New Square will take place in December which will introduce pedestrianisation to its South and West sides, consequently altering existing traffic routes and reducing a small amount of parking spaces. Each element of this is set out in greater detail as follows:

Pedestrianisation:

• Flexible bollards will be installed at necessary junctures to prevent cars from using both the South and West sides of New Square. Consequently, only pedestrians will be able to access these sides of New Square. However, as the bollards will be flexible, they would allow access by emergency services vehicles should the need ever arise.

Alteration to Traffic Routes:

• Whereas currently traffic can drive around all four sides of New Square, the installation of the bollards will impact traffic routes in two ways:
  1. The East side of New Square will now be a cul-de-sac and
  2. Vehicular access to both Library Square and Front Square, West of the Rubrics, will only be possible via the road to the North of New Square, past Printing House

Car Parking Reduction:

• Consequent to the alterations outlined, parking spaces formerly between the Museum Building and New Square will be removed. In doing so, we will provide a safer environment for all staff, students and visitors who use this route
• In parallel, it should not be forgotten that in creating this pedestrianisation and reducing car parking spaces, it brings a positive incremental step towards achieving a strategic objective within our Sustainability Action Plan (https://www.tcd.ie/sustainability/initiatives/sustainable-transport/)

Whilst acknowledging the impact any change has upon us all, we trust that the benefits of the alterations is self-evident, and that the College community will support them.