Bishop Fitzgerald students transform parking space into dog station and community hub

Students from Bishop Fitzgerald School have reimagined a traditional car parking space into a community area at Morrisons Car Park.

The project is part of Park 2 Park an initiative from the Department of the Environment, in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Ministry of Transport and support from the private sector, to get pupils to re-design and eventually re-build a parking space in the vicinity of their schools as a “vibrant, biodiverse space that has a positive impact on the community.”

With permission from Morrisons, the students of Bishops Fitzgerald transformed one of the parking spots into a multifunctional area that includes a dog park, a book exchange corner, and a recycling point.

“This is the culmination of several months of work. The children identified the problem of dogs being tied up outside the Morrisons and proposed creating a secure space for dogs, so they can tie them up and go shopping and leave them securely in a place,” said Charles Linares, the year 6 coordinator.

“They then expanded this idea to include a place for people to come as we have a book exchange, a place to recycle, a green area and somewhere to sit.”

“This has all come from their thinking, their ideas.”