CUBS project scrapped: UCC pulls plug on €17m Cork city centre business school plan
A visualisation of UCC's proposed CUBS development on South Terrace in Cork. Read Mick Clifford's in-depth analysis of the saga in Saturday's 'Irish Examiner' in print or online. Image: Pedersen Focus
A major plan by University College Cork (UCC) to develop a world-class business school on a city centre site that cost €17m has been abandoned, the has learned.
The university has not yet officially announced that it will not go ahead with the landmark project, but multiple sources have confirmed that it is all but dead.
In addition to the €17m cost of the site, around €2m has been spent on architectural and associated services over the last three years.
The proposed development was earmarked for the old Brooks Haughton site on South Terrace in Cork City.
It was to be a building of 17,000sq m, incorporating teaching space, laboratories, meeting facilities, office space and catering facilities on site.
The university is currently finalising its long-term plan for capital projects, which includes the Cork University Business School (CUBS), in light of what the college calls “significant recent construction inflation and changes in the provision and delivery of higher education”.
Its governing body is expected to consider any new proposals in the coming months, despite the plans for the South Terrace site being in train for nearly four years.
“UCC is fully committed to developing a building for its business school and will provide an update on Cork University Business School in the New Year," the college said in a statement.
The site was purchased in 2019 and, in January 2022, UCC announced that it had appointed RKD Architects following a tender process for a contract worth €3.5m.
This was to include architectural services, electrical engineering services, supervision of the design process, and a masterplan for the entire site.
Much of that work has already been done now.
Planning permission was obtained in 2023 and construction was due to begin last January but nothing has happened.
At the time of the launch of the plans, it was suggested that the school would lead to the “regeneration” of the city centre with an expected student population of up to 5,000 along with 250 jobs.
The reference by UCC to the “changes in provision and delivery of higher education” is understood to relate to the reality of lower numbers attending lectures since the pandemic, and associated with the housing crisis, which means there is now greater existing space available to third level institutions than previously was the case.
Another factor is that one strand of funding earmarked for the school’s construction was income from foreign students, particularly those from China. Post-graduate courses for foreign students can yield up to €20,000 per student for the college.
While numbers attending increased in recent years, international conditions have affected the flow of Chinese students to this country in the current academic year.
In addition to that, UCC has a particular issue following complaints from a group of Chinese students about the outcome of their exams, as reported last year in the .
The students attributed their failure to pass exams to what they alleged was racism, although no evidence was produced to substantiate the allegation.
At the time it was suggested that the problem was to do with the students proficiency in English which the college is obliged to test prior to acceptance for a course.
The abandonment of the plans for the business school comes in the wake of a major controversy around property deals done by the University of Limerick (UL).
In September 2024, the comptroller and auditor general criticised UL for its handling of two deals in 2019 and 2023 which resulted in combined losses of €8.2m.
The comptroller found that no proper valuation was done on a site in Limerick city centre which was purchased by the college.
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