Construction of new UCC business school to begin in 2024

The plans will see the current buildings demolished, the site cleared and a new six-storey building take its place

A computer-generated image of how the completed UCC CUBS building will look. The new building will include lecture theatres, academic offices, study and teaching areas, a restaurant, coffee dock and bike storage areas. Picture: G-Net 3D

University College Cork (UCC) plans to begin the construction next year of its €106m business school in the heart of Cork city.

In April, planners in Cork City Council granted permission for the development of 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 the 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.

A spokesperson for UCC confirmed to the Irish Examiner that construction on the project will commence in 2024. The new building will include lecture theatres, academic offices, study and teaching areas, a restaurant, coffee dock and bike storage areas.

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.

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