‘Events centre key to reviving Cork city centre’
Will Brady, a lecturer based at UCC’s Centre for Planning Education and Research, makes his comments in an article in today’s Irish Examiner as news emerged that the site selection process, which will asses rival events centre projects vying for a €16m kick-start fund, is set to begin shortly.
“We know that the city council are concerned about the performance of the city centre, with some worrying pockets of vacancy and dereliction emerging in key locations,” Mr Brady said.
“Their appointment earlier this year of Colliers International to prepare a City Centre Strategy signals a clear commitment to directing economic activity back into the city centre area.
“One would imagine that an event/convention centre project would constitute a major part of any strategy to revive the city centre.”
News that the site selection process is due to start soon follows confirmation from the Government about how its €10m budget announced kick-start fund will be administered.
There was a slight delay in determining which government department would handle it.
But the Irish Examiner has learned that arrangements have been finalised to determine how the money will be channelled into securing the development.
City officials were waiting for clarity on this issue before finalising the site and project selection criteria.
They are expected to advertise the criteria before the end of January, inviting interested development parties to pitch for the funding.
Three multi-million events centre proposals have planning permission.
Property developer Owen O’Callaghan was given the green light by An Bord Pleanála last July for a proposed €50m stand-alone multi-purpose events and conference centre on Albert Quay.
BAM, with site owners Heineken Ireland, has planning permission for its €150m Brewery Quarter regeneration of the former Beamish and Crawford site on South Main St, which has as its focal point a 6,000-capacity events centre.
Planning permission granted to Howard Holdings in 2009 for a €33m conference centre on a docklands site off Centre Park Rd, is still valid.
However, the O’Callaghan Properties project and the Brewery Quarter project are considered the front runners.
Up to 200 businesses in Cork have signed up to the ‘Support the Brewery Quarter’ campaign which is pushing for the former brewery site to get the nod.
Mr O’Callaghan has criticised the lobby group, accusing them of undermining the site selection process.
It is expected that it will take consultants at least eight weeks to complete the site selection work, before they report back to the city council.
It is still not clear if city councillors will have the ultimate vote on who should get the public money.
Both BAM/Heineken Ireland and O’Callaghan Properties say they are ready to start construction work in the first half of the year.
O’Callaghan Properties say if they get the green light they hope to have their events centre open by Christmas 2015.
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