Investigation launched after demolition for Cork city sleeper hotel

An investigation is underway following the demolition of a building on Cork’s MacCurtain Street to pave the way for a €7m ‘city-sleeper’ hotel.

Officials from Cork City Council’s planning department visited the construction site at 54/55 MacCurtain St today to inspect and assess the extent of work in recent days which has included the demolition of the former Windsor Inn building, a 19th-century four-storey masonry building which had traded as a bar, venue and guest accommodation over many decades.

The site is to be redeveloped as a mini-hotel which will feature 73 pod-style bedrooms with 93 bedspaces. Aimed at tourists who are travelling light on short-stays and who want to stay somewhere central, it will be Cork’s first city-sleeper hotel.

A council spokesperson said its planning office was made aware of the matter today and officials visited the site to assess the situation.

“The matter is now being investigated,” she said.

It is understood that a report will be requested of the developers and their contractors and that it could take a number of days before a decision on the next stage of the planning probe is determined. The project team did not respond to a request for comment.

Green Party Cllr Oliver Moran said while a partial demolition was granted as part of planning decision, planners must determine whether what's taken place goes beyond what was authorised.

Green Party Cllr Oliver Moran

"The MacCurtain Street area is a part of the city that's undergoing a renaissance. The buildings of the street are central to that. The Windsor Hotel development was broadly welcomed as enhancing that environment. It would be a sour note if the contractors have gone beyond what they were allowed to do. But we should wait for confirmation one way or another, while City Hall investigates," he said.

Following a lengthy planning process, permission was granted almost two years ago to MacCurtain Street Hoteliers Ltd to redevelop the former Windsor Inn building and an adjoining building as a micro-sleeper hotel.

The site, which is close to the city’s train and bus stations, was sold recently to the team which secured planning late last year for a 58-bed hotel in the former National Irish Bank premises on the city’s South Mall. That team is now delivering the project on MacCurtain St.

A design statement submitted as part of the planning application said neither of the two buildings at the development site is on the register of protected structures, or on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

The report said there is little to nothing left of any conservation value internally except for timber staircases and balustrades “which are neither unusual nor of significant value” and it said all the interior plaster features are gone and the original timber windows have been replaced on the front of the building with a mix of 30 to 40-year-old new and PVC windows.

It also said the buildings were in a poor condition generally with a number of leaks and internal ceiling collapses, with the timber floor structure requiring replacement in many areas.

The report also said the design team hope the new building will present a strong and confident presence that consolidates the architectural character of the area.

“In doing so we are striving to show how a well-considered infill development cannot only bring new life to the eastern end of MacCurtain Street but also enhance the existing character of the area,” it said.

Fáilte Ireland has backed the new hotel project which it says meets the demands of a new type of city tourist. It has also pointed to a 2017 Irish Hotels Federation study which identified a lack of hotel capacity in Cork city.