Cork developments

Q4 2021: Post Covid Restrictions Update

Its good to be back :) Lots of activity to report on. As reported by Cork Crane Count, there are 16 cranes active in the city. Way higher than any number since I have done this report.

https://twitter.com/CorkCraneCount/status/1452310589758447621?s=20

Under Construction

Student Accommodation

Crows Nest

10 Storey 255 Bed Student Accomodation developed by UCC. 2 Cranes in Operation.

Estimated to be completed by December 2021

Square Deal

5 Storey 280 Bed Student Accommodation developed by Round Hill Capital. 2 Cranes in Operation.

Bandon Road

6 Storey 412 Bed Student Accommodation developed by Round Hill Capital. 2 Cranes in Operation.

Due to be completed in July 2022.

Coca Cola Plant

10 Storey 623 Bed Student Accommodation developed by Future Generation. Ground broke on Aug 11th, no cranes yet.

95 North Main St

7 Storey 279 Bed Student Accommodation developed by BMOR in the city centre. Demolition began in late September 2021. Technically this site is mixed use as it includes two retail units but is primarily student apartments. This development is of particular note as BMOR have signalled an interest in developing other properties in Cork, most notably the former Dunnes building, also on North Main Street which could be developed as a mixed use site centred around a hotel. They could possibly be the 4th major private developer (after JCD, BAM and OCP) to roll from one project to the next across multiple different types of developments in Cork. Tower Holdings have long singled that they will be the 5th but have yet to start any project. Clarendon, who are working in partnership with BAM on Horgans Quay may be the 6th...

Apartments

Lancaster Gate

7 Storey 88 Apartment Accommodation developed by OCP in partnership with Cluid Homes. 1 crane in operation.

Thomas Davis Street

6 Storey 112 Apartment Accommodation developed by Cluid Homes in Blackpool. Site clearance underway as of Oct 2021. 3 cranes in operation by early next year.

St Kevins

4 Storey 266 Apartment developed by the LDA in the city centre. Site clearance underway as of Oct 2021. The LDA have stated that they will step up as a major public sector developer for homes in Cork (and Dublin, Limerick and Galway) by activating construction on state owned land. It has to be noted that the LDA have been pretty slow to move on a lot of their sites in Dublin and on this site in Cork, which got planning in December 2020, we may not see heavy construction until early 2022. At the same time, compared to the private sector apartments in Cork, the time taken to progress to site clearance is not bad at all. More on possible sites for the LDA later in this post.

1A Watercourse Rd

4 Storey 37 Apartment Accommodation in Blackpool developed by Citidwell Construction Ltd. 1 crane in operation.

Bandon Rd Warehouse

5 storey 43 apartment social housing development in the City Centre. Broke ground in Oct 2021.

Nancy Spain

32 Apartment social housing development by MMD in the City Centre.

Coach Street

12 Apartment development in the City Centre by Cumnor. 1 Crane in Operation.

Office

Horgans Quay

7 Storey office development by BAM in the Docklands, completing the covid stalled office development which had its first phase open this year. 1 crane in operation. Luffing Crane which has never been on this update before. Work recommenced on the 27th of July.

City Grate Plaza

5 Storey office development by JCD in Mahon. Pre Let to Logitech. Started on July 1st

Boston Scientific

Private 3 storey development for Boston Scientific on their own site on Model Farm Road/City Centre. 1 crane on site

Mixed Use

Morrissons Quay

6 storey mixed use Hotel and Office development by Quakeside Ltd in the City Centre. Broke ground in late August 2021. Hotel is pre let to Premier Inn.

Public Service

MTU

Education development on the MTU Campus. 1 crane

Glanmire Nursing Home

Nursing home development in Glanmire. 1 crane

Lee Road Water

Water Works Development in the city centre. 1 crane

CUH Extension

Hospital extension in the city centre. 1 crane

Mercy Theatre

Hospital extension in the city centre. 1 Crane

Planning Approved: Start Date confirmed

Office

The Prism

15 Storey Office Development by Tower Holding in the City Centre. Hoarding went up just before covid hit. Tower Holdings confirmed that construction will finally commence in Q4 of this year. The conviction of Donal O'Sullivan, brother of the owner of Tower Holding and passive investor in the company, may put this and all Tower Holding projects under threat.

Navigation Square C

5 Storey Office development by OCP in the city centre. Navigation Square A (largest block on the top left of the photo) is complete, almost fully let and sold to a French Investment firm. Navigation Square B (top right) is complete and empty. Navigation Square C (highlighted) is set to recommence the development in Q4 after a two year stall due to covid, there is also a fourth block to be built to complete the development with no start date confirmed

Student Accommodation

Victoria Cross

10 Storey Student Accommodation Development by Bellmount Developments across from the Crows Nest. Set to start in Q4 but the developers seemed less bullish than Tower Holding and OCP in this declaration...

Hotel

Dean Street Hotel

7 Storey Hotel developed by Tetrarch Capital right next to the Bus Station and the Prism in the City Centre. The developers confirmed that they would start in the same article on the Examiner as Tower Holding but in Q1 2022. Posts on reddit have claimed this is not true and this development was linked to the Event Centre, the developers have run out of patience and will abandon it.

Planning Granted: No Start Date Confirmed

Hotel

Camden Place

7 Storey Hotel being developed by Santiago Capital on behalf of Marriott to be developed as their Moxy Hotel brand. Granted planning in August 2021. Signage has gone up and funding is confirmed.

Custom House Tower

34 Storey Hotel being developed by Tower Holdings. Its been in the news since 2017 but only got full planning permission in March of this year, at the height of the pandemic. As mentioned earlier, the conviction of a passive investor in US courts casts doubt over this project.

Coliseum

7 Storey Hotel proposed by Davy Real Estate. Approved in November 2020.

71 South Mall

4 Storey hotel proposed by Rezz who completed Corks newest hotel on MacCurtain Street under the same brand this year. This was granted permission in November 2019.

Apartments

To note here, due to the establishment of Croi Conaithe, a new fund announced in the Housing for All plan in September 2021, tasked with "helping to stimulate the activation of existing planning permissions for apartment developments with four floors or more that are above certain density thresholds" I have included all major apartment developments granted planning permission over the last few years in Cork City (if I have missed some please let me know). Some of these developments, such as the Nemo Rangers site in Douglas and Jacobs Island site in Mahon, I would have given a close to zero percent chance of starting in their current form but now seem to have a chance of additional funding and activation.

Interestingly and somewhat disappointingly, the CEO of the Cork Chamber Conor Healy mentioned he doesn't think that Croi Conaithe goes far enough to address the clear viability issues in Cork for high density apartment developments (by my count we have 3k apartments in major developments with planning permission in the city where no work has happened on site). Conor Healy said; "The establishment of a Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Fund contained within the Housing for All report will go some of the way to addressing the apartment viability challenge, but as the recent CIF/Cork Chamber report produced by KPMG highlights much more needs to be done to address this urgent issue which has not been addressed by this strategy. Over 50% of the 300,000 homes promised for delivery by 2030 are to come from private sector developers, and based on KPMG research findings this, based on current costs, is unviable. Housing For All is a start but it won’t achieve the desired effect without directly addressing challenges such as brownfield apartment viability. In light of the publication of this strategy, Cork Chamber is calling on the Government for wider departmental engagement to ensure all economic impacts are considered on the issue and direct interventions that will allow the scale of delivery that Housing For All promises"

There is another proposal in the Housing for all plan called Project Tosaigh which will be run by the LDA. The aim of this project is to "unlock land with full planning permission that is not being developed by private sector owners due to financing and other constraints and use it to accelerate the supply of affordable housing. the LDA will target the delivery of 5,000 new homes by 2026 through Project Tosaigh, with the agency to have full ownership of homes for affordable cost rental, with the balance being sold to eligible households under affordable purchase arrangements" So it seems that Croi Conaithe will help developers by covering up to 25% of costs with constraints such as no build to rent but developers will retain ownership while Project Tosaigh will outright buy the sites from the developers (before or after construction) and rent the homes themselves. The LDA will not be building anything in Cork outside of Project Tosaigh, besides the aforementioned St Kevins site, before 2027. More on the potential sites from 2027 on later but hopefully the relative lack of activity until the end of the decade means that a few of the below sites could be picked up by Project Tosaigh.

Hopefully we can see some action on these stalled developments over the next two years. In the mean time read on for the possibilities...

Waterfall Road

4 Storey 139 Apartment Development by Ardstone Homes Ltd in Bishopstown grated permission in August 2021.

Horgans Quay

11 Storey 325 Apartment Development by BAM in the Docklands adjacent to their completed Hotel and in construction Office development. The last update from BAM in September 2021 was: In relation to building a residential block of 325 apartments on Horgan’s Quay as part of the overall development, Mr Downing said they remain hopeful that they will be on site early next year. He said they were “engaged with a number of people” vis-à-vis getting a PRS (private rented sector) operator on board.

Marina Quarter

14 Storey, 1,002 Apartment Development in the Docklands proposed by Glenveagh. Planning Granted in April of 2021. When pressed by The Examiner, Glenveagh could not give a start date. I would guess we are still a few years off a start date. Infrastructure to the site is also an issue however there was a 354 million euro commitment to funding the Cork Docklands infrastructure in March 2021 including; transport and mobility, public realm, drainage and flooding, all of which will massively benefit this site which is much further East, away from the city centre, than all other major proposals in the area.

Cois Caislean

54 Apartments as part of a 4 storey development by Stonecrest Construction in Ballincollig. Granted planning in Jan 2021. No renders that I could find.

Mount Woods

145 Apartments in 5 stories, as part of a wider residential development by Glenveagh in Douglas. Granted planning in August 2020. Housing on this site has started construction. The apartments will be the last stage scheduled to be completed with 234 houses and 93 Duplex's to be completed first.

Bayly

160 apartments in a 5 storey development by Cairn Homes in Douglas. Granted planning permission in Oct 2019. Again part of a larger residential development which broke ground over the summer and again the apartments will be last to be completed.

Ursuline Convent

274 apartments in a 7 storey development by Glenveagh in Blackrock. Granted planning in July 2019. Again I couldn't find any renders.

The Good Shepard

182 Apartments in a 6 storey development by Modena Developments in Sundays Well. Granted planning in November 2018.

5 Victoria Road

19 apartments in a 10 storey development by Target Ark in the Docklands. Granted Permission in February 2019.

Nemo Rangers

153 apartments in a 6 storey development by Dildar Ltd in Douglas. Granted planning permission in November 2018. Nothing has happened since. Again no renders to be found on this one.

Jacobs Island

437 apartment in a 25 story development by Horizon Ltd in Mahon. Granted planing permission in October 2018. Site was put up for sale shortly after planning was granted with seemingly no success.

Entertainment

Events Centre

A 6,000 capacity indoor events development by BAM in the City Centre. Granted planning permission most recently in March 2020. Funding in place, legal challenges dropped and as of mid Sept 2021 it is awaiting (yet another) final approval, this time by Live Nation. This sod was turned for this development in 2016, it has been through 2 planning processes, you can read this article from Sept 2015 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/work-on-new-cork-events-centre-to-begin-before-end-of-year-1.2350086 and it looks remarkably similar to the most recent media round in Sept 2021: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40697558.html While there is deservedly an enormous amount of cynicism, a lot of the developments in this thread hinge on this being completed. Hopefully this can, finally, finally actually break ground in early 2023.

Student Accommodation

Kellehers Tyres

An 8 storey, 154 bed 23 apartment development by Belmount Developments in the city centre. Approved in June of 2020.

Orchard Road

5 storey 216 bed 30 apartment student development by Dennis O'Brien in the City Centre. Approved in October 2020. Brought to the high court by local residents in December 2020.

Education

UCC Dental School

5 storey 8500 sqm dental school in Curaheen. UCC claimed that it was due to break ground in August 2020. I can't find any update since.

In Planning

Apartments

East Douglas Street

10 Storey, 65 apartment development by Sirio Homes in Douglas. Applied for planning in Oct 2021.

Railway Gardens

17 Storey, 118 apartment development in the City Centre by Scally's. Originally got planning in December 2019 but applied for changes to the planning in September of 2021. It is not clear what the changes are. A decision is due on the 13th of January 2022. This site was put up for sale but then the original developers went back to Cork City Council to buy land to facilitate development. According to the council in June of 2021 "detailed design work is already underway on the project"

Redforge Road

9 storey, 114 apartment development by Belmont developments in Blackpool. Planning logged in Sept 2021 and a decision is due on the 17th of January. It seems another plan went to ABP by the same developers on this site in 2020 but it was either abandoned when further information was requested or rejected. The ABP website is not clear.

Blackpool Furniture Store

6 storey 31 apartment development in Blackpool by Eichsfield Ltd. Planning applied for in June 2021

Mahon Apartments

7 storey, 204 apartment development in Mahon by Clyde Real Estate. Applied for planning in May of 2021.

Alfred Street

10 storey, 78 apartment development by Cork Simon in the Docklands. Applied for permission in April of 2021. Cork City Council asked them to go back and cut one floor.

Mount Oval

4 Storey, 35 Apartment development in Rochestown by O'Flynn's. Planning applied for in May 2021.

Mixed Use

Ballycurreen

9 Storey mixed use hotel, retail and apartment development by Denis McBarron in Ballycurreen including a hotel (158 beds), apartments (134) and retail. Applied for permission in July 2021. Further information requested in September 2021.

Queens Old Castle

7 storey mixed use retail and office development by Clarendon in the City Centre. Applied in August of 2021. A decision was due in September but no word yet.

Office

Albert Quay

17 storey office development in the Docklands by JCD. Decision due in December 2021. Previously a 25 storey build to rent apartment scheme also by JCD was approved and then scrapped due to viability issues.

Education

UCC Tyndal

7 storey education development by UCC in the City Centre. Planners advised UCC not to demolish the former Cork Distillers Bottling Plant in July 2021. A revised application may take some time.

Planning Expected

Mixed Use

Origin Enterprises

Enormous South Docklands site purchased by OCP in September 2019, with the first planning permission due before the end of 2021. Apartments will be included but there hasn't been any confirmation of what the overall mix will be. The notable R&H Hall and Odlums Building are both on this site.

North Main Street Dunnes

A mixed use Hotel and Retail development expected from BMOR on North Main Street in the City Centre. One would expect they would look to move straight over from their student accommodation site under construction also on North Main Street. If that is the case planning should come sometime in the first half of 2022.

Tivoli

A mix use Apartment and Retail development by the Port of Cork on the soon to be shut Tivoli docks on the North West of the Cork Docklands, which will accommodate 10,000 people. Construction due to start in 2025 with a tentative completion date of 2029. Planning should be due sometime around late 2023.

Marina Quarter Phase 4

Mixed use office and retail on the site purchased on the South Docks by Glenveagh where they have approval for 1,000 apartments. Phase 4 is set to include a 20-30 storey tower. I'd be surprised to see a planning application this side of 2025.

Apartments

CMP Accommodation

A consultation with ABP for 706 apartments by CMP on the former CMP site in Ballyphehane was submitted in Aug 2021. We should see plans before the end of the year if it isn't outright rejected.

Cork Warehouse Co

A consultation with ABP for 191 apartments in the Docklands by the Comer Group was submitted in Sept 2021. We should see an application by the end of the year.

Blessborough North

A consultation with ABP by Estuary View Enterprises for 184 apartments on the Blessborough site in Blackrock submitted in Sept 2021. We should see an application by the end of the year.

Blessborough

A second consultation with ABP by Estuary View Enterprises for 283 apartments on the Blessborough site in Blackrock submitted in Sept 2021.It should be noted that both of these applications are separate from the rejected planning permission on another area of the same Blessborough site. We should see an application by the end of the year.

Kent Yard

A North Docks site owned by Irish Rail which has been identified as a key strategic area for apartment development. The urban regeneration fund has targeted to complete site enabling works by the end of 2022. We could see a planning permission by the end of next year.

Marina Power Station

Site identified by the IDA in the docklands for apartment development after 2026.

Suttons Coal

Site identified by the IDA in the docklands for apartment development after 2026.

Wilton ESB

Site identified by the IDA in Wilton for apartment development after 2026.

Kilbarry IDA

Site identified by the IDA in Blackpool for apartment development after 2026.

Public

UCC Business School

Site of the former CMP office proposal called Trinity Quarter. UCC aim to complete by Q1 2025. We should see planning in 2022.

Cork City Library

Funding announced in Summer 2021 for a new library and public realm works on the site of the current library in the City Centre.

The 8, 3 (3a and 3b), 42x, 7, 12 and 14 all pass through Douglas village, with the 8, 3A, 3B and 12 all following the Douglas Road. This area needs enormous investment in bus priority.

100% yes, however CPO's would be worse again and doing nothing will make public transport essentially unviable for the largest suburb and commuter town in Cork.

My only point of disagreement is making the bus unusable for people living on those roads. A huge number of people live in between the roads which would not be a huge inconvenience. The people it would really hurt would be those in Ballinlough who use the Douglas Road bus stops and to a lesser extent those in the housing estates in front of Nemo who use the South Douglas Road bus stops.