UCC granted planning permission for €106m Cork Business School

Almost 4,000 students and 180 staff will relocate from the current campus on College Road to the new business school

The proposed new building will be home to Cork University Business School (CUBS) occupying the former Brooks Haughton site facing South Terrace, Copley Street, and Union Quay. Credit: G-Net 3D

University College Cork (UCC) has been given planning permission for its €106m business school to be located in the centre of Cork City.

Planners in Cork City Council have given the go-ahead for the development on the former Brooks Haughton site on a block facing South Terrace, Copley Street, and Union Quay.

The plans will see the current buildings demolished, the site cleared and a new six-storey building takes its place that will be home to UCC's Cork University Business School (CUBS). Once complete, the project would result in almost 4,000 students and 180 staff relocating from the current campus on College Road to the new business school.

Under the proposals lodged with the council in December, the new building will include lecture theatres, academic offices, study and teaching areas, a restaurant, coffee dock, and bike storage areas.

Renovation

The sites at 18 and 19 South Terrace would also be renovated to provide for a further café and study space. Works to the public realm would include the widening of a footpath on Copley St, a pedestrian crossing at the western end of the street, and a courtyard garden accessed via the South Terrace, including a rooftop terrace and rooftop garden.

Plans for the new development were first mooted as far back as 2019. The Trinity Quarter site had been bought in 2008 for €15m by a Dairygold-related company, Alchemy Properties. UCC paid an undisclosed sum for the 1.46-acre site, but it is thought likely to have been in the region of €16m. The Covid-19 pandemic had delayed progress on the project, but work resumed with a view to finalising a planning application by the end of 2022.

When the planning application was lodged, the head of CUBS, Professor Thia Hennessey said significant benefits for the city, regionally and nationally could be realised through the development. "Much time has been spent ensuring we develop a sustainable building that enhances the local area and the urban fabric of the city," she said.

“By the time it is ready, we would be bringing almost 4,500 people into the city.” Alongside traditional lecture halls and theatres, Prof Hennessy said the design incorporates flexibility for the various spaces and be informed by learnings gathered during the pandemic.

Upon development, the CUBS school will complement the existing Centre for Executive Education which opened in 2018 in the refurbished Savings Bank on Lapp’s Quay.