Review of security at derelict Vita Cortex site to be carried out after blaze

The blaze at the former Vita Cortex factory on the Kinsale Road, in the early hours of Friday morning, is the latest in a series of deliberate fires at the site. Photo: Cork City Fire Brigade

The owners of a derelict factory in Cork city are expected to be asked to conduct a full review of security at the site after it was targeted in another suspected arson attack.

The fire at the former Vita Cortex factory on the Kinsale Road, in the early hours of Friday morning, is the latest in a series of deliberate fires at the site, and the latest in a series of suspected arson incidents on derelict buildings in the city and county.

The former foam factory, which has been monitored by a security firm for several months, was last patrolled at 3am on Friday but the alarm was raised at 4.45am when part of the factory building was spotted ablaze.

Several units of Cork City Fire Brigade rushed to the scene and found an office section of the building, a wooden structure, well ablaze.

It was not safe to commit firefighters to the building and so an aerial platform was used to fight the fire from above, with fire-fighting crews also deployed on the ground outside.

Up to five units of the fire service dealt with the blaze, which was brought under control by 8am. Dampening down operations continued for some time afterwards.

Third officer Victor Shine said the buildings are empty and free of any potentially hazardous materials and there was no serious risk to the public, apart from the smoke generated by the blaze.

But he said it was the latest in a string of suspicious fires at that site, with some areas readily accessible, despite the efforts of security monitoring.

There have also been a number of suspected arson incidents at other vacant or derelict buildings in Cork in recent days, with investigations ongoing into a fire that broke out at the former Loretto Convent building on Lighthouse Hill in Youghal last weekend, and just over a week on from another suspected arson incident at the former Sunset Ridge hotel in Killeens on bonfire night.

The Sunset Ridge site and the Vita Cortex site are both formally declared derelict sites. The Sunset Ridge site was the subject of a planning application for a mixed use development the morning after the latest arson incident.

The Vita Cortex site is also being considered for redevelopment, with documents on the planning file showing that pre-planning talks took place last year between the site owners, Lidl and Alber Homes, and city council, about the possibility of developing apartments and a discount retail store.

Planning was then granted to a Galway-based company, Faithbrook Ltd, last February for the demolition of the various structures on the site, and for the erection of hoarding around the site for no more than five years.

Planning agents for the applicant told the local authority that they shared the planning authority's aspiration to ensure that the site is secured in such a way so as to present a high-quality temporary boundary treatment for the duration of the demolition process and while development proposals to facilitate the future redevelopment of the site are progressing through planning and construction.

They said it is envisaged that following the conclusion of the pre-planning discussion process, a planning application or applications will be brought forward “in an expedient matter” and they said it was their client’s intention to implement any permission(s) as soon as possible.

The Vita Cortex factory closed in late 2011 prompting a staff sit-in over the terms of their redundancy. The sit-in lasted a marathon 139-days, finally ending in May 2012 when the workers emerged victorious.

The dispute gained national and international headlines, and was, at the time, one of the longest-running industrial relations disputes in modern Irish history. The site was declared derelict in 2017 and it has lain idle since.