A flagship project for city’s rejuvenation

That more than half of Cork city centre’s biggest ever office development — the hugely impressive €50m One Albert Quay project — has been reserved just a month after ground was broken, and 16 months before the project is scheduled for completion, suggests a vote of confidence in the region that will generate real momentum in the economic recovery.

The development will immediately create 300 construction jobs.

Tyco, the world’s largest fire safety and security company, will base its Global Business Services Centre over four floors of the complex and the company expects to employ 700 people in Ireland in the coming years. PricewaterhouseCooper will also be tenants. When completed One Albert Quay will be able to accommodate 1,700 workers. This is an impressive, tide-turning project by any standard.

It has been some years since a development of this ambition has been announced in Cork and it should contribute significantly to the rejuvenation of the city centre, an area that suffered in the past five or six years. Developer John Cleary said the joint BAM and John Cleary Developments (JCD) project would raise the city’s profile andenhance its international reputation as a place to do business.

Developments like this, especially in city centre locations, are not always easy to bring together so the courage of the developers, and the support given to them by local minister Simon Coveney must be acknowledged and commended.