Apple submits plan for 300 new parking spaces in Cork City hub

The tech firm says the additional spaces will address a shortfall in existing car parking provision on the Hollyhill site

Apple Operations International Ltd sets out its argument in a detailed planning application to Cork City Council for the need to expand available staff parking at its vast Hollyhill campus. File Picture: Dan Linehan

Global tech giant Apple, the largest private employer in Cork City, has applied for planning for almost 300 new parking spaces at its European HQ on the city’s northside, citing concerns about poor public transport and delays to major transport projects.

Apple Operations International Ltd sets out its argument in a detailed planning application to Cork City Council for the need to expand available staff parking at its vast Hollyhill campus.

In a parking justification report submitted with the application, it points to delays in the delivery of key transport infrastructure proposed by the 2020 Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, which included plans for:

• A network of 11 strategic transport corridors for buses and bikes, and a new high frequency bus service as part of BusConnects Cork;
• A northern distributor road running east-west across the northside of the city;
• And a network of six park-and-ride sites on the outskirts of the city.

However, five years on, planning has yet to be sought for the BusConnects corridors and the new bus network has yet to be introduced.

The preferred route for the northern distributor road has only just been published. It could be a decade before it is built.

There is no sign of any of the additional park-and-ride facilities, with plans only published recently for an expansion of the city’s existing park-and-ride site at Black Ash.

'Anticipated delay'

Apple says in the absence of frequent public transport provision to its Hollyhill campus, and to mitigate against “the anticipated delay to the delivery of key infrastructural projects” to the public transport and road network, it needs additional car parking now.

It has applied for planning to build an additional 285 spaces in two new carparks — one with 159 spaces and the other with 126 spaces — on landbanks it owns to the north of David McCarthy Rd.

It says a new building, HH5, is due to open later this year, leading to increase of around 1,300 employees at the campus — bringing the total number of employees to around 5,350 — with a longer-term projection of 6,000 employees by 2030 “subject to market conditions”.

It says the additional parking spaces will address a shortfall in existing car parking provision on the site and prevent overspill parking into adjoining residential areas once the new HH5 building opens.

It also says the proposed development will “future-proof the Hollyhill campus” to enable potential expansion in the event of favourable market conditions, adding that it will further consolidate the area as an attractive employment node in the city.

A planning decision is expected in mid May.

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