Plans lodged for 420 apartments on Bessborough site in Cork

It includes proposals for 140 build-to-sell apartments, a 25-space creche, and communal open spaces

The site of the proposed apartments at Bessborough, Cork. Picture: Denis Scannell

Plans have been lodged for 420 apartments, some in buildings up to 10-storeys high, on part of the former Bessborough mother and baby home estate in Cork.

Estuary View Enterprises 2020 Ltd, which owns most of the former Bessborough lands, has submitted plans to An Bórd Pleanála through the strategic housing development process (SHD) in an application which includes two distinct submissions relating to two landbanks.

One relates to an area the developers have called The Farm, on land in the northeast of the estate close to the former mother and baby home.

It includes proposals for 140 build-to-sell apartments, a 25-space creche and communal open space areas.

The residential element includes 70 one-bed, 67 two-bed and one three-bed units in buildings ranging from one to five storeys.

Some of the original Bessborough buildings and structures will be renovated, reused and integrated into the new design, and a five-acre amenity park is proposed.

The second submission relates to an area the developers have called The Meadows, on land east of Bessborough House.

Next to Blackrock Greenway

This site, flanked on the east by the Blackrock greenway, is north of land identified on historic OSi trace maps as a ‘children’s burial ground’.

It is proposed to build 280 build-to-sell apartments - six studio apartments, 112 one-bed, 150-bed and 12-three bed apartments in buildings ranging in height from one to 10 storeys - as well as a 35-space creche.
In a statement, the developers said all buildings are designed to the latest NZEB (Near Zero Energy Building) standards with extensive green roofs and large arrays of photovoltaic panels at roof level.

Larger than standard bike storage provision is made given how close the sites are to the Blackrock greenway and the city centre.

The developer, which owns most of the rest of the former mother and baby home estate, has also prepared a masterplan for its wider landholding 

Glen Barry, the design principal of Shipsey Barry Architects, said it was developed through “meaningful stakeholder engagement from a very early stage”.

“The aim is to create new parkland communities with nearly 25 acres of parkland made available to the public,” he said.

The concept is for an ‘opening up’ of the estate for the community's use in this highly accessible location.

The masterplan includes a proposal for a 13.6-acre neighbourhood and remembrance park which the developers have committed to eventually ceding to public ownership.

A new pedestrian street accessed from the pedestrian bridge to the west of the estate to a greenway on the east is also proposed and there are plans to use this space to provide amenities such as a public café, gym and communal lounges.

The SHD application has been submitted to Bórd Pleanála following a lengthy process involving the developers, the board and Cork City Council.

The developers acknowledged the “meaningful engagement” of various stakeholders with an interest in the history of the Bessborough estate in reaching decisions that have led to the detailed application being submitted.