First €80m planning step to Cork's Tivoli transformation for future homes

Plans lodge this month for significant infrastructure work to open  up Port of Cork's long-held Tivoli docks for redevelopment

Bright future? Port of Cork's long-heralded move from Tivoli gets into first gear with planning sought for €80m in infrastructure and access upgrades to clear the way for thousands of homes in future decades.

A FORWARD thinking move to deliver a strategic riverside base for as many as 5,000 homes on Cork City’s Tivoli Docks kicks off this month, as an imminent planning application is expected for access infrastructure costing around €80m and involving many strategic partners.

Port of Cork Company's 153 acre  Tivoli site is 2.5kms long

The move by Port of Cork Company reflects the prime potential for the 153 acre site facing Blackrock and the Marina, identified for the past 20 years and now progressing to deliver key elements of a major site over the next several decades, on a size scale with the “island” centre of Cork City, along a 2.5km spine.

Tivoli/Glanmire roundabout proposed Port of Cork infrastructure access changes

Port of Cork is set to seek a 10-year planning permission to significantly upgrade access to and from its Tivoli Docks site, which has been in port-related activity since the 1960s.

Port of Cork first moved activity from the city centre quays in the ‘60s and since then has progressively relocated container and other goods activity to Ringaskiddy, with further decanting plans currently thwarted for the lower harbour’s Marino Point also envisaged for port-related uses under its masterplan 2050.

The Innisfallen turning at Tivoli, in the 1970s

As part of the long-term goals, and recognising Tivoli has been identified as a key future growth enabler and residential district for the Cork metropolitan area under the city’s development plan 2022-2028 (and beyond), Port of Cork initiated moves to open the 62 hectare/153 acre landbank for new uses and stakeholders.

Plans now going to City Hall include a new eastern “multi-modal road”, bus and cycleway interchange infrastructure at existing Tivoli/Glanmire Rd roundabout by the Jack Lynch Tunnel/Dunkettle, to link with plans for a northern ring road free-flowing connection.

Silversprings/North Ring Road connection upgrade CGI

Also proposed is a new Tivoli commuter rail station on the Midleton/Cobh line with Iarnród Éireann, while Cork City Council is designing an active travel cycleway and a walkway through the Tivoli site, which is 500m wide and 2.5km long, also prioritising bus connectivity and active travel (walking and cycling) to and from the site and on to Glanmire.

Former Cork City CEO Ann Doherty took over as Port of Cork CEO a year ago and is pursuing a “river to sea” shift for the semi-state company in this new role, as well as having delivered the city’s 2022-2028 development plan during her 10-year tenure at City Hall.

As Port of Cork moves to lodge now for this strategic shift enabler with impact both for the port, the lower harbour’s historic role, and for the city centre’s future growth, Ms Doherty says: “Early planning for enabling infrastructure is a cornerstone of good practice in sustainable planning and development.”

“We are readying Tivoli for future redevelopment, and seeking planning permission for improved access into and out of Tivoli is an important first step in its future redevelopment, acknowledging that this will likely take time.”

Already involved in the the Tivoli Docks plans are Cork City Council, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann (who have a multi-million euro service depot currently under construction at Tivoli), the National Transportation Authority, and the Land Development Agency (LDA).

Blackrock Village with Tivoli container terminal in the background. Picture: Larry Cummins

Port of Cork is also liaising with other local and national government departments and state bodies including the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage, and the LDA “to investigate various funding options for the investment in infrastructure which is necessary to realise the long-term potential of Tivoli Docks for the Cork region,” according a spokesperson, noting the plans are in line with the regional spatial economic strategy, and the national planning framework.

Henry Kingston, chief land development officer at Port of Cork asserts that: “Planning permission for improved access in and out of Tivoli is a critical step in preparing Tivoli for future regeneration.

“It is also a key step in its transition from a port, with port-related and industrial uses, into a housing and mixed use development in accordance with city council planning objectives in the city development plan.”

Cranes on the skyline? give it time.... Picture Larry Cummins

Local and national public representatives are being briefed on the port’s plan with a public consultation to be held at Silversprings Clayton Hotel on November 20, with a dedicated website — tivoliinfrastructure.ie — going live this week.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has also been briefed on the infrastructure plans in recent weeks as part of an official visit to Port of Cork as it also progresses investment on its €100m offshore renewable energy service supports at Ringaskiddy, due for completion in the next year, with further land reclamation of c 80 acres there also envisaged.

Ann Doherty, CEO, Port of Cork Company, pictured with Taoiseach Micheál Martin T.D. during a visit by the Taoiseach to the Port of Cork where he toured the €94 million Cork Container Terminal and reviewed progress on CORE1 - a €100 million multipurpose berth designed to support Ireland's offshore wind expansion. During the visit, Port of Cork CEO Ann Doherty and the Senior Management Team briefed him on the port's future strategic ambitions and development plans.

While costs of the Tivoli infrastructure’s investment are currently estimated at €80m, to be delivered over a 15 to 20-year period, a Port of Cork Company spokesperson said “significant consideration must be given to construction cost inflation and the project timeline, both of which will have a substantial impact on the final delivery cost.”

Size-wise, the 153 acre Tivoli Docks equate to Cork’s city centre ‘island’ from the gates of UCC downriver to where the Lee’s two channels meet by City Hall and Albert and Penrose quays.

Terminal decline? No, bright times ahead for Tivoli terminal

An even larger “future city” site is also currently coming under redevelopment activity on Cork’s South Docks, with up to 130 hectares available, with Glenveagh delivering several hundred apartments at present in conjunction with the LDA on the old Ford distribution site/Live at the Marquee venue.

Other large mixed use sites are also inching toward development on Kennedy Quay, while major office schemes have completed at Albert Quay under various developers (OCP and JCD Group), while on the north quays’ city end, mixed use developments have been completed and are in hand at Penrose Quay and Horgan’s Quay with the LDA delivering apartment for mixed tenure next to Kent Station, about 3km upriver from Port of Cork’s Tivoli landbank.

While this months planning application from the Port of Cork Company is significant in the longer term, obstacles to development still remain in terms of existing tenancies to main users at Tivoli; relocating those users most likely in the greater harbour area; the Seveso directive affecting contaminated sites (fuels etc), and delivery timelines at both Ringaskiddy and Marino Point for decanting port activities.

Details: tivoliinfrastructure.ie