Final designs for Cork event centre raise hopes the project will be completed
In what is the single most significant development in this long-running saga in years, documents submitted to city planners show that detailed design work has been completed on the proposed 6,000-capacity Cork event centre, which saw its sod turned in February 2016.
The consortium behind the long-stalled Cork event centre has submitted a raft of new detailed final design documents to city planners, fuelling hopes that the project could still be delivered.
In what is the single most significant development in this long-running saga in years, the documents show that detailed design work has finally been completed on the proposed 6,000-capacity centre, which saw its sod turned in February 2016. They ask for confirmation that the designs are in compliance with a number of key planning conditions to allow them to begin pricing negotiations with subcontractors and suppliers “with confidence”, and that compliance with others can be agreed at a later stage.
They show how the design team is now completing project pricing and engaging with specialist subcontractors and suppliers in preparation for the construction contract works through to completion.
They say that the entire design team working on the project is committed to ensuring the development is completed and that the “latent potential of this iconic and historic site and venue becomes a reality for Cork City”.
Bam won the competitive tender process in April 2014 for some €20m of state aid for the development of the venue, which was estimated at the time to cost just over €50m.
However, following the 2016 sod turning and various delays caused by planning, redesigns, requests for further state funding, and the covid pandemic, overall costs have soared to some €85m. The state funding has been increased to €57m — more than the original entire cost estimate.
The new documents, which have been submitted to Cork City Council’s planning department, include technical reports running to hundreds of pages for assessment in relation to compliance with the 19 conditions which were attached to the Bord Pleanála grant of planning in March 2020.
Bam and Live Nation were then due to embark on detailed design work to ensure compliance with the planning conditions.
However, that work was delayed by a range of issues, including a threatened High Court legal challenge which was later withdrawn, funding talks linked to the complex state aid involvement in the project, and the covid pandemic.
Amid ongoing concern over the chronic delays, and more recently, fears about the impact of construction inflation, there have been repeated assurances from city and political leaders that the project is still on track.
The new documents submitted to the planning department set out how the developers intend to comply with the planning conditions.
They confirm while there is no increase in the venue capacity, the detailed design work has led to some alterations to the permitted building in order to comply with building and fire regulations as well as operational requirements, including the building’s ability to accommodate the requirements of touring shows.
This has resulted in minor variations to the external curve of its roof, a reduction in building mass on the eastern end of the auditorium which will now be narrower than permitted, and a slight increase in the building footprint at ground level at the western side of the main ground area, around the concourse, entrances, and fire escape stairs, to be in compliance with fire, safety, and disability access requirements.
However, the planning consultants say the net effect of the changes is negligible on the overall scale and form of the building.
They also argue that it is well established in Irish case law that planning permissions be interpreted flexibly, and “from a practical and commonsense perspective”, so as to “allow for a tolerance in respect of what has been described as immaterial deviations” such as those proposed to the already permitted event centre.
Scott Tallon Walker Architects, which has led the two planning application processes for this development, in 2010 and in 2018, worked closely with developer Bam, operator Live Nation, and specialist design team members, including HW Planning, Populous Architects, Charcoal Blu Murphy Facade Studios, Malachy Walsh and Partners, MSA Fire Safety and Accessibility Consultants, ME Engineers, and Vanguardia Acoustic Consultants, to develop the detailed designs and drawings, specifications, and pricing documents for the venue.
In one of its new reports submitted to the planning department, the firm says the developers and their design team are now completing project pricing and engaging with specialist subcontractors and suppliers, in preparation for the construction contract works through to completion.
“The design team are committed to ensuring the development is completed in substantial compliance with the planning permission to the satisfaction of the planning authority and that the latent potential of this iconic and historic site and venue becomes a reality for Cork City,” it says.
They go on to ask that the planning authority would confirm that a number of specific conditions are being complied with to facilitate “the timely lodgement of further statutory permission applications”, the completion of pricing negotiations with subcontractors and suppliers with confidence, and the subsequent timely notification of commencement of the works.
The assessment of the documents is expected to take a number of weeks.
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