Planning sought for docklands ‘catalyst’ project

PLANNING permission has been sought for what is billed as “a catalyst site” for one of the first significant moves into Cork city’s south docks, in a multi-billion-euro development project.

It comes from Origin Enterprises, a subsidiary of the IAWS milling group, and the largest single landowner in Cork’s future docklands campus with 32 acres under its control. It has sought approval for 550,000sq ft of office and apartment development, with basement parking, shops and a creche on an initial two acres of land fronting Kennedy Quay and Victoria Road.

The first phase of the overall development, to be called Port Quarter, will have 165 large apartments, and 260,000sq ft of offices, in buildings ranging from 8 to 11 storeys tall. The likely value is close to €200 million for this phase.

No building will be taller than IAWS’s existing grain silos — for example at the R&H Hall site — all of which are set for demolition.

The only building to be retained along the quayscape is the red-brick Odlums building, dating back to the 1890s, which it is envisaged will be used for cultural purposes.

A design team, spearheaded by Reddy O’Riordan Staehli Architects, has been working on Origin’s masterplan for almost two years. It largely coincides with Cork City Council’s own detailed blueprint and local area plan for the city’s south docks regeneration. Models and display boards for the first phase of Port Quarter go on display in City Hall from today.

Origin’s head of business development and property John Butler described Port Quarter as an 18 to 20-year plan and said the first phase could be delivered in the latter half of 2010. By that time, the property market’s supply and demand imbalance “should have washed itself out, and should be in better balance. We want to be ready for the next upturn”.