City docklands may get 19-storey ‘gateway from east’

THE future of Cork city’s docklands regeneration is looking up — up to 19 storeys tall.

Planning permission is about to be sought for an €80 million project consisting of 400 apartments, a water dock, plaza, cafes, boardwalk, crèche and IT business centre at the eastern edge of Cork city, on the north quays.

Its most significant feature is a single 19-storey tower as part of the three-block plan. It would be one of the country's tallest building at 66 metres, climbing higher than Cork's County Hall by two metres.

"The apartment tower acts as a gateway to Cork city from the east, in the same way that Cork County Hall is a gateway from the west," says architect Sean Kearns of Murray O'Laoire.

However, at least two other development plans in Dublin, at a U2-owned site on the quays and another at Heuston Station, would be taller than the Cork project.

Murray O'Laoire was involved in Limerick's Steamboat Quay Shannonside scheme, including the 11-storey Clarion Hotel, as well as Cork's Opera House redesign and the new School of Music building.

At a time of soaring urban housing demand, plans are being made around the country for buildings up to 30 storeys high.

A similar 20-plus storey scale has being mooted for Cork's stalled Horgan's Quay rail station re-development, which could accommodate several thousand residential units.

A huge planning application incorporating an Environmental Impact Statement is to be lodged this week for the River Lee-side site at Water Street, next to CIÉ's Horgan's Quay Kent Station rail site.

Cork City manager Joe Gavin last night said the application would be closely looked at, and judged in terms of quality of design, impact on the environment, sustainability and the mix of housing.

He expressed regret at the lack of development action on the CIÉ-owned Horgan's Quay site between Water Street and the city centre, which he said could accommodate a 5,000-seat conference and entertainment complex.

The developers for the Water Street site are Werdna, controlled by the McMahon business family from Limerick a major building materials suppliers and timber importers.

The four-acre site along the Lower Glanmire Road was a shipyard in the 19th century. Part of it is now a timber yard, and includes a dock which will become a development feature along with a riverside boardwalk and amenity areas.