Changing cities: How Cork plans to rescue its city centre
Cork's main retail centre, Patrick's Street has lost a number of high-profile outlets due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Picture Dan Linehan
Cork City Council has begun work on an action plan to revitalise its city centre aiming to make it an attractive place to live and address the derelict and vacant premises which have increased due to Covid-19.
The city's retail centre on Patrick's Street has been significantly impacted by the pandemic with a number of high-profile departures this year including Debenhams, Monsoon and Accessorize.
đThank Cork It's Christmas!đ
— Cork City Council (@corkcitycouncil) December 2, 2020
đWhat makes Christmas in Cork so special? The twinkling lights, the decadent hot chocolates, spoiling the ones we love?
đïž Supporting local has never been more important. This Christmas please #ShopLocal to #SupportLocal#ThankCorkItsChristmas pic.twitter.com/6khec0bhea
The council has published tender documents seeking a multi-disciplinary team of consultants to prepare a five-year action plan to address the land use and economics of Cork's city centre.
The documents note that the city centre retail sector has been contracting in the past decade, and this trend has been accelerated due to Covid-19 with the recent loss of some major retailers.Â
"Significant improvements have been undertaken in the past seven years: city centre employment has increased, the level of dereliction and vacancy have decreased, and further significant investments have been made in the public realm and in private sector development," the tender documents state.
"However, dereliction and vacancy remain, and new challenges have been presented by Covid-19. Given this, Cork City Council wishes to develop a new five-year action plan to address land use and economics of the City Centre, to ensure it is developed as a vibrant and viable core of Metropolitan Cork."
Action plan elements may include the establishment of an annual city resident survey; actions for increasing biodiversity and nature within the city centre; addressing well-being and anti-social behaviour in relation to homelessness, addiction, and mental health; and actions for ensuring inclusivity and the feeling that the city centre belongs to every city resident.
The closure of most businesses during the first lockdown put particular pressure on the retail and hospitality sectors. In Cork, it led to a number of high profile retail closures. Debenhams shut all its stores across the country. Its outlet in the historic Roches building was viewed as a flagship retail outlet for Patrick's Street.Â
Other significant departures included Monsoon, Clarks shoes, Oasis, Accessorise and Warehouse. On top of this, the Arcadia Group, which includes well-known fashion sellers Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, as well as Burton is seeking court protection in Ireland and Britain and may not survive long into 2021.
On the positive side, the owners of high-profile retailers Penneys and Zara have clawed back part of the losses they suffered since March.
While Cork has lost a number of high-profile international retailers, the strategy documents note that the city centre is still characterised by a high prevalence of proprietor-managed businesses relative to cities of the same size. "There is a desire to capitalise on this as an asset if possible," the document notes.
A spokesperson for the Council told the Irish Examiner the study will address the vitality and viability of Cork City Centre in light of the evolving nature of retail.Â
"City Centres of the future will be successful if they can enhance the overall experience of âcoming to townâ whether it is for retail, cultural activities, hospitality of other outdoor and indoor activities and to work."
"While there is a number of vacant premises, in the city core it is important that this is addressed in a way that supports existing businesses," the spokesperson said.
"The study will consider this along with approaches to addressing dereliction and development of brownfield sites. The overall objective is to develop a longer-term plan that builds on the success of âReimagine Corkâ to ensure that the city centre is a distinctively vibrant Cork experience."
The study area will focus on the core of the historic city centre comprising the central island and historic neighbourhoods around Shandon, Barrack Street, Douglas Street and Anglesea
In 2016 there were approximately 20,000 people working in the study area. While there have been losses in retail the city centre has seen overall net gains in employment from other sectors, including high-value clusters such as financial technology, ICT and professional and internationally traded services.Â
"The impact of Covid-19 on office spaceâand potential knock-on impacts for the retail and service sector in terms of footfallâare not yet fully known and should be considered as part of the Action Plan."
In 2016 there was also more than 400 vacant commercial units as well as significant vacant upper floor space. A key element of the strategy will be to make use of these spaces. "Cork City Council has taken various actions to date (incentives/regulation/other programmes) but significant further actions are required. The consultants will be asked to identify the key actions for the next five years to continue bringing this floorspace back into use."
