Green light for 124 homes on former Cork Dell EMC site 

O'Callaghan Properties-linked firm will see a range of apartments and duplexes

View of the former Dell/EMC site to be redeveloped for housing by O'Callaghan Properties in Ballincollig, Cork.

Planning permission has been granted to O'Callaghan Properties for the development of more than 120 homes on a site in Cork formerly occupied by global tech company Dell EMC.

The application for the homes on a site at Innishmore in Ballincollig was submitted to Cork City Council by Castle Peak Properties Ltd in February, seeking to construct a large-scale residential development consisting of 130 homes at the one-hectare site. Castle Peak is linked to O'Callaghan Properties.

However, due to plan alterations requested by the local authority, a reduced version of the development will be constructed, with 124 homes built.

Other changes made to the plans include an additional eight car parking spaces, bringing the total spaces to 76, of which four will be allocated as accessible bays.

The approved development will see the demolition of the existing former two-storey Dell EMC building, and ancillary plant area for the construction of 102 apartments and 22 duplex units.

They will be spread across two blocks ranging in height from two to five storeys, following the omission of the sixth storey at the request of the council.

It will comprise a unit mix of one- and two-bed apartment units, as well as one-, two-, and three-bed duplex units.

Vehicular, cyclist and pedestrian access to the development will further be provided via two entrances from Innishmore Lawn, to the north east of the development, and Mechterstadt Road, to the south west.

Two submissions, highlighting “serious flaws”, were lodged with respect to the development by Sinn Féin councillor Joe Lynch, calling for the upgrading of the uncontrolled crossing on Mechterstadt Road to a Toucan crossing; as well as the installation of a pelican crossing at the junction of L-2240.

The plans were approved by Cork City Council subject to 50 conditions.

One condition stipulates, in the interest of ensuring the safe operation of the road network, that the existing uncontrolled crossing on Mechterstadt Road shall be “standardised” and “tactile pavings shall be provided on either side of the crossing and the existing road markings shall be removed”.

In an architectural design statement accompanying the planning application, Meitheal Architects said the development is on a site “that started out as the Topps confectionery factory in 1976, producing popular sweets like Bazooka gum”.

After Topps ceased operations in 1998, the facility was acquired by EMC, which later became part of Dell Technologies. Dell operated there until 2021.