Last spring, John Brown University purchased the Lakeside Manor, a long-time leased property outside of Belfast, Northern Ireland. After an entire summer of renovations, the nearly 100-year-old house is not ready to welcome students yet.
Melissa Stevenson, Coordinator of International Education at JBU, commented that this was due to new fire codes that had been put in place. The Belfast manor had previously been shielded from these codes because it was built before the laws were put into place. However, because they started breaking down walls, they were required to bring everything up to code.
These additional requirements have led to extra time and money at the expense of the institution. Stevenson declined to detail how much it has cost.
Stevenson did, however, remark on the vast replacements and upgrades they are making to the Lakeside Manor. They entirely replaced the old pipes, radiators, doors, a few of the sinks and even some of the walls. The preliminary reason for most of these repairs was to bring the building fully up to code, but some of the benefits include the building is now warmer, cheaper to maintain and safer.
The university has also replaced the Victorian furniture that previously resided there; the new oakwood furniture more accurately reflects the craftsmanship of the house’s original builders.
The projected completion date for the renovations is Nov. 30. On this timetable, they will be perfectly set up to launch their new Irish studies program in spring 2022.
According to Stevenson, the theme of the semester will be “peace and conflict.” The overarching goal of this semesters’ study will be to look at how the church can bring healing to Ireland.
Unlike the fall program, there will be significantly less core classes offered. To mitigate this, students will be able to attend classes at a local college. A few students from other universities, namely George Fox University, will be joining JBU in the Lakeside Manor. “The Irish studies program will remain a wonderful first step in exploring other cultures,” Stevenson said.