Irish cities ‘must brand themselves’ to thrive

Tommy Barker, Property Editor

Former president of the European Parliament Pat Cox, a keynote speaker at a Hamilton Osborne King-sponsored briefing which took place on Friday, in the Maryborough House Hotel, Cork, said Ireland was lagging behind as a knowledge-based society.

It was towards the bottom of the OECD table for broadband access along with countries such as Mexico, Poland, Turkey and Greece, and was failing to develop its cities equally, with Dublin congesting and the Dublin-Belfast corridor the new axis of development.

“Shifting 10,000 civil servants out of Dublin is a poor alternative and no substitute for a real regional balance and this is all the more so when the Government itself has chosen blatantly to ignore its own National Spatial Strategy in the process,” said Mr Cox.

He argued that Ireland’s physical and land use development strategy should reach beyond commercial imperatives to give a quality of life, aesthetic satisfaction and an individuality which would distinguish it from others. He gave examples of cities such as Graz, Lyons, Bilbao and Valencia which had created exceptional buildings or attractions which drew visitors and businesses and enabled them to thrive.

Hamilton Osborne King director Isobel O’Regan made the case for more pro-active uses of space in and around Cork City, and said planners should be more open to change and allow buildings of up to 10 storeys.

There are up to 100,000 acres of green belt around the city, said Ms O’Regan, “which represents a massive opportunity. Already some of this land is being speculatively acquired but we want to see this as active not passive green space. It should become parkland, sports pitches and golf courses with low-density development opportunities in places”, she said, instancing settings such as between Douglas and Carrigaline.

“In the Cork docklands there is potential for six million square feet of non-residential development space alone. Both of these are phenomenal opportunities for Cork, we must act now to capitalise on successful developments we have to date and start to develop these new areas in order to provide the residential and commercial space required for the coming decade.”

Cork, she argued, needs to brand itself around its centres of excellence which will give international recognition and help attract new businesses.