Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Previous editions
Friday, November 13, 2009
TWO new landmark shopping areas on Cork’s main street have won the top awards in a prestigious building competition.
The Opera Lane and Half Moon Street retail district, developed by O’Callaghan Properties, has taken first prize in the Better Building Awards New Development Category.
And the revamped Dunnes Store building a few yards north secured the Judges Choice Award for the design and scope of the new store which was developed on the site of the first Dunnes Store shop, established in 1945.
Both developments, which have opened in recent weeks, have contributed an additional 400,000sq ft of retail space to the city centre.
The awards were announced by the organisers, the Cork Marketing Partnership, at a ceremony in the Gresham Metropole hotel this morning.
"Opera Lane/Half Moon Street and Dunnes Stores, St Patrick’s Street, have contributed greatly to the revitalisation of Cork city centre as the number one retail shopping destination," said Michael Geary, the chairman of the Cork Marketing Partnership.
The Opera Lane project has created a shopping street and a precinct that will create a new shopping culture in the city, judges said.
And they praised Dunnes Stores for creating a modern retailing facility yet managing to retain a sympathetic approach to the streetscape and maintaining an important piece of shopping heritage on St Patrick’s Street.
Cork Opera House won the tourism category, Mathew House on Father Mathew Street won best commercial business frontage, Cork Coffee Roasters on Bridge Street won the best café/restaurant.
Full details of the award winners will be available soon on www.cometocork.com.
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