Curves in all the right places

IT is a case of ‘out with the old, in with the new’ on Cork city’s Georges Quay.

Inshore fisherman Paddy O’Flynn, who maintained a fleet of ancient wood boats on the quayside here and at Frenches Quay for decades, died earlier this year aged 80. His three remaining boats have slid into a state of collapse along the quay wall since his demise.

Across the road from where he pottered about, there’s a new addition to the city’s skyline: Trinity Court has roofs that curve, bend, intersect, soar and plummet. In other words, the city planners’ insistence on a building with visual interest was a builders’ nightmare. The scheme of 61 apartments on Georges Quay is, after well over a year on site, in the final flurry of construction, with over 120 workers tidying up as the last 16 units are released for sale.