Sky Garden row ‘won’t hit’ Fitzgerald Park numbers
The controversy associated with Diarmuid Gavin’s Chelsea Flower Show gold-medal winning Sky Garden — which will be incorporated into the park — will not affect Fáilte Ireland’s ability to market the scheme overseas.
The predictions were made yesterday as Cork City Council unveiled its vision for the Mardyke Gardens scheme — the single largest investment in the historic park in over a century.
The Sky Garden’s signature flying pod will be elevated on stilts to provide a spectacular viewing platform over the River Lee.
The pod will be the centrepiece of a gallery garden incorporating a cafe terrace, planting arrangements, and a new glazed canopy for smaller scale performances and a temporary exhibition space.
A central feature of this garden space will be a series of stainless steel spheres and domes set among paths and planting arrangements from the original Chelsea garden.
Other features of the park revamp will include:
*The development of a Victorian walled garden;
*A new performance pavilion with a sunken lawn;
*An upgrade of the main entrance and a new plaza space associated with an upgrade to the museum entrance area;
*The park’s ornamental pond and Fr Matthew Fountain, dating from the Cork Exhibition of 1902, have already been restored as part of the project.
The scheme is 80% funded by Fáilte Ireland under its Tourism Product Development Scheme.
It is hoped the revamped park will become part of a world-class horticultural tourist trail linking the Mardyke Gardens with gardens at UCC, Fota, Blarney Castle Gardens, and a number of private gardens.
City manager Tim Lucey said he stands over every decision the council made in relation to the Sky Garden project.
It has been subjected to severe criticism over the amount of public money being spent on it, and the €100,000 storage costs for the Sky Garden’s plants and shrubs. However, Mr Lucey said Mr Gavin’s focus was on winning Chelsea and his decision to disassociate himself from the project was a matter for him.
“Clearly our focus is on getting that [the Sky Garden] built in to a public park, which is a very different focus,” said Mr Lucey. “We’re absolutely convinced that we made the right decisions.”
The experience of working with Mr Gavin would not discourage the council from getting involved in similar projects again, Mr Lucey added.
“Parks and tourism investment is what we’re really chasing,” he said.
“Any project of this nature, we’ll look at it, and say what’s the benefit to the city, what’s the cost to the city.
“If the value we’re getting out of it — in this case it represents 80% funding for 20% of our own funding — we’ll grasp it and we’ll make sure that we maximise it for the city.
“I have no qualms whatsoever in investing in the city tourism product which will stand the test of time for the citizens of the city.”
Fáilte Ireland’s Fiona Buckley dismissed concerns that the controversy associated with the Sky Garden will damage it’s ability to market the garden abroad.
“You have to bear in mind that we will position this in the shop window overseas,” she said.
“That message [the controversy] didn’t really hit overseas audiences to the same degree that it might have locally. The coverage will heighten awareness of it.
“But in Britain, they will see it as being an award winner out of Chelsea, or that the design came from there, and they will recognise the legacy of it, the value of it, and the quality of it, and put that with the other things Cork can put in the shop window. I have no doubt it will become a must-see attraction.”
Cumnor Construction will begin work on the park immediately and is due finish in late autumn.
Access to the park will be maintained throughout the works, with some localised restrictions in place at various times.
Aoife Mahony, a project engineer with the council, is managing the project, working closely with the design team, led by landscape architects Cunnane Stratton Reynolds in conjunction with Punch Consulting Engineers, Michael Barrett Partnership Quantity Surveyors, Carrig Conservation, and Darmody Architects.
