Marina Park project advances towards the Atlantic Pond

Design works have also commenced on a new link road that will carry traffic to a new bridge linking the Marina with Lower Glanmire

Wed, 11 Nov, 2020 - 16:30

Catherine Shanahan

CORK City Council expects to go to tender later this month for the second phase of its ambitious Marina Park project which will ultimately see the creation of a contemporary city park, about five times the size of the iconic FitzGerald’s Park.

Computer-generated image- An artist's impression of the planned Marina Park.

Phase 2, which focuses on development to the east of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, takes in the Atlantic Pond and continues down as far as Blackrock Village.

It will include upgrades to the footpaths and the landscape of the pond and to the vegetation along its edges in an effort to improve water quality and also to make it more attractive to waterfowl and other wildlife, said Liam Casey, senior parks and landscape officer with the Council.

It will also expose some of the old quay walls which are currently buried beneath overgrowth on a steep escarpment adjoining what’s known as The Line, the greenway linking Blackrock/Lough Mahon/Passage West.

Those quay walls were made redundant when the current marina was built in the 1840s and the river dredged to facilitate navigation, with the infill used to create the area lying between the old and current walls.

The Phase 2 works will expose an old slipway and an old boathouse from the 1800s, which are largely obscured by vegetation in the corner of a field down towards the Blackrock end of the Marina.

The work will also expose the remains of an old castle. Mr Casey said the hope is to have consultants appointed vis-a-vis Phase 2 in the first quarter of next year, with work commencing in Q3.

New cycle lane and bollards at Centre Park road leading into The Marina. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Phase 2 is expected to cost in the region of €2.5-€3m, considerably less than the circa €10m spent on Phase 1, which is on track for completion by its May 2021 target date, despite the lockdown which stopped work for seven weeks.

Mr Casey said the €10m includes consultants’ fees, demolition of the old showgrounds (for more than a century200 years, it was the venue for the Cork Summer Show, organised by the Munster Agricultural Show), the current works that are under way, and the pontoon installed in front of the Lee Rowing Club in 2015.

The current works include the creation of a new public car park at the Shandon Boat Club end of the Marina, as well as a new cycle lane and pedestrian walkway (all completed), and the installation of perhaps the most eye-catching piece of the project, a striking red steel pavilion on the site of, and replicating, the central hall of the former Munster Showgrounds.

The striking red steel pavilion replicating, the central hall of the former Munster Showgrounds. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

This structure will be roofed, Mr Casey said, but the sides will not be enclosed, and there will be opportunities for coffee pods and outdoor seating and arts and crafts.

Another feature will include water jets for children to play in, of the kind famous in Bordeaux where tourists flock daily to the Miroir d'eau on the quay of the Garonne.

Phase 1 — which covers the area from the Marquee Link Road (linking Monahan and Centre Park roads) to Páirc Uí Chaoimh — also includes the installation of sunken lawn areas and the diversion of a watercourse, as well as new pathways.

Separate to the Marina project, but a key element of the redevelopment of the city docklands area, is the plan for a new bridge, the Eastern Gateway Bridge, which will span the river from the Marina across to the Lower Glanmire Road.

While this is further down the line, work on designing a new link road to bring traffic to the bridge is under way. The link road will follow the route used as a shortcut by many over the years to reach Páirc Uí Chaoimh from the city end, running down the side of the marquee site. Consultants are already working on this design. The bridge is seen not just as an essential cog in Cork’’s future transport infrastructure, but also as integral to the plans for redeveloping the docklands.

A 3D architectural visualization of what the Eastern Gate Bridge could look like, as prepared in 2008 by Pederson Focus, on behalf of designers WilkinsonEyre Architects

Just this week, the council and the Land Development Agency announced plans to partner and to establish a new Delivery Office for Cork City Docklands. The office will “lead the development of thousands of homes and the creation of a new urban centre for international investment into Cork City”.

And the partnership will seek to promote a regeneration project “of international scale and significance” in Cork City, involving the development of c146ha of land over a period of 20 years. It’s estimated it will accommodate a population of c25,000 and a workforce of c29,000 along with a student population of c3,700.