Objections lodged over €50m office block plan

Plans for a €50m, nine-storey office block in Cork City have been dealt a further blow with news of two further objections to its planning permission — including one from the owners of Ireland’s tallest building.

Cork City Council last month gave the green light to the 200,000sq ft riverside building on Albert Quay, proposed by John Cleary Developments.

The offices are expected to house up to 2,000 staff. Work had been expected to begin within days with completion forecast for late 2015.

However, last week it emerged an objection to the permission had been lodged with An Bord Pleanála by Monahan Road Development Ltd over the scale of the project and the likely impact on other office developments in the city.

A disappointed John Cleary warned the project might be delayed for up to four months as a result.

Two further objections have been lodged by An Taisce and by Elysian Management Ltd. EML is part of the O’Flynn Construction Group. It owns Ireland’s tallest building, the Elysian, which is adjacent to the proposed development site.

It said the planning application must be considered invalid as it incorrectly assumed that the applicants had a right to enter onto the Elysian property at Port Lane. It said planning regulations required the applicant to have the written consent of adjoining owners before making a planning application that involves entering their property.

EML has said it told Cork City Council of the encroachment at an early stage and that it had not given consent. Nonetheless, it said, the council’s permission allows people to enter the proposed offices through the Elysian site.

Furthermore, EML said the Environmental Impact Statement was reviewed by city planners and found to be inadequate in several areas, including a failure to address noise and dust which EML claimed would have a serious impact on the Elysian apartments.

It said legislation requires any inadequacies in an EIS to be addressed before a decision is granted. Therefore, it said, the city manager’s decision to grant permission, knowing that the EIS was inadequate, contravened Irish and European law.

EML also argued that when planning permission was granted for its building, the council said the height of apartments facing the proposed development site be kept relatively low to comply with the council’s development brief for the area. It said the decision to permit ignored the development brief and allowed the applicant to build two extra floors. It said that would have a negative impact on City Hall and would overshadow the Lapps Quay boardwalk in the winter.

EML has also appealed to An Bord Pleanála on the grounds that traffic issues have not been addressed.

For its part, An Taisce has appealed on the grounds of excessive height; scale and massing; adverse impact on surrounding buildings, some of which are protected structures; and impact on “significant protected viewpoints and landscapes in the city”.

An Bord Pleanála said the case is due to be decided by July 14.