Tesco for Ballincollig

PLANNING has just been granted this week for a €15m further investment and extension to the Ballincollig Shopping Centre in Cork, to be anchored by Tesco.

Work is due to start on the construction in September, is scheduled to take one year, and will provide up to 150 jobs during construction, and 200 full and part-time jobs once completed.

An Bord Pleanála has given the green light to the plan for a 70,000 sq ft store, to be built on the western end of the old barracks site, with parking for 330 cars below deck level. Tesco will join Dunnes Stores, which is the 2005-built centre’s original anchor tenant. Ballincollig is also served by two Aldis, a Lidl, and two SuperValus.

Developer Michael O’Flynn MD of O’Flynn Construction, described the planning grant as a positive decision which would enhance Ballincollig as a retail destination.

“This is a flagship development for Ballincollig and establishes a centralised critical mass in the town centre making it an important retail centre in the Cork area. This development will bring significant employment and economic benefits to the area while supporting the existing local economy,” he stated.

News of the Tesco store’s arrival was welcomed last night by Micheal Ó Crualaoí, chair of the Ballincollig Business Association and a second generation trader on the town’s Main Street.

“It’s great news for Ballincollig, it will further consolidate it as a place to come to do shopping and gives even greater choice to the consumer.

“It means extra jobs, both in the construction and afterwards, and that’s got to be welcomed too,” said Mr Ó Crualaoí.

He praised the impact already of the O’FC company’s €500 million investment in Ballincollig and its positive impact on the town with a core population of about 24,000, and which serves a far wider catchment of c 65,000.

“It’s right in the town centre and integrates fully onto Main Street. They could have left the barracks wall up, and put the shopping centre on the other side of the site but they didn’t. It’s an example of very good planning, and has brought thousands of jobs into the town centre, which is a boost for everyone.”

Mr Ó Crualaoí gave the example of EMC subsidiary VMware which has 800 employees in the square, who shop locally, and support all the services, and many of them now live locally too.

“The centre has been great for Ballincollig since it opened in 2005, and you’d have to welcome its further expansion” he stated.