Revamp of city park to get under way within months

A Victorian exhibition garden, a sensory garden, and Diarmuid Gavin’s controversial Sky Garden will be installed in Fitzgerald Park in Cork as part of upgrade works starting in October.

The Avatar-inspired sky garden won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011 and attracted headlines due to its cost and a row between Gavin and Cork City Council.

Council plans for the Mardyke Gardens include “an iconic contemporary garden”, the restoration of the Fr Mathew Memorial Fountain, a sensory garden, and a fruit and vegetable garden housed in a Victorian-style glasshouse, with no mention of Mr Gavin’s Sky Garden.