'Viable long-term' uses planned for derelict buildings in Cork

Cork City Council wants a mix of residential and active daytime and night-time use for the four buildings on North Main St

'There is very exciting development potential at this location,' according to senior Cork City Council official David Joyce. The council has approved the compulsory acquisition of 62, 63, 64, and 65 North Main St. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Active and viable long-term uses are being considered for four high-profile derelict buildings in Cork City centre which have been approved for compulsory acquisition by the city council.

There will be a focus on ensuring that the ground floors of numbers 62 to 65 North Main St have active day and evening time uses, and on ensuring that the site is considered for residential development, the council’s director of services in its operations directorate, David Joyce, said last night.

'Exciting development potential'

Any development brief for the site will have to include that mix of residential combined with active day and night-time use, Mr Joyce said. How that will be delivered hasn’t been decided yet and it will take time given the various legal procedures that now have to be followed, he added.

Cork City Council is considering options to develop the four now derelict buildings on North Main St at the centre of the city's historic spine. In this picture from March 1938, we are looking north, with the four buildings visible on the left. File picture: Irish Examiner Archive

The council may embark on a development tender process — inviting applications from potential development partners — or it may opt to sell the properties on the open market, with specific conditions attached that would set time-limits by which development of the sites must occur.

Whatever option is chosen, Mr Joyce said he expects significant interest in the properties, given their location on the city’s historic spine: 

There is very exciting development potential at this location. The council’s aim is not just to end dereliction at this location, but to ensure that what is delivered here is viable in the long-term, and will animate the street.

He also insisted that any outstanding derelict sites levies on the buildings, and any costs incurred by the city to make the buildings safe in recent years, will be recouped during the next stage of the process, which will include vesting the properties in council ownership and a market valuation.

The valuation can also be contested, which could lead to an arbitration process.

His comments came after An Bord Pleanála granted consent for the council’s compulsory acquisition of the buildings at 62, 63, 64, and 65 North Main St, which had come to symbolise the blight of dereliction following the partial collapse of No 63 in 2019.

The move had been contested. However, the planning board said that, in each of the cases, it had regard to the neglected, unsightly, and objectionable condition of the buildings. 

It considered that each of the sites detracts to a material degree from the amenity character and appearance of the land in the neighbourhood, that it considered each of the structures to be in a ruinous and dangerous condition, and therefore that each comes within the definition of a derelict site as defined under Section 3 of the Derelict Sites Act 1990.

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The objections to the compulsory purchase order (CPO) on each of the buildings “cannot be sustained”, the board said.

Last December, the board approved the CPO of two derelict properties on Barrack St with links to the same owners of the North Main St properties.

There are currently 95 sites listed on the city’s Derelict Sites Register.