Work begins on €20m Prism project in Cork City

More than 18 months since the planning application was lodged with Cork City Council, contractors moved on site this week

Hot on the heels of major announcements around the future development of Cork City’s South Docks, work has begun in real-time on the Prism project, a glitzy €20m commercial development, touted as a “gateway” between the city centre and a new docklands district.

More than 18 months since the planning application was lodged with Cork City Council by Clontarf Street Developments Ltd, contractors CField Construction finally moved on site this week for preparatory works ahead of starting construction of the 15-storey tower.

A CGI artist's impression of the Prism Building in Cork.

The development — earmarked for a narrow triangular-shaped, 280sq m (3,000sq ft) site next to the city’s bus station at the confluence of Clontarf Street/Deane Street/Oliver Plunkett Street Lower — is described by the developers as a “Grade A” commercial development consisting of “6,000sq m of light-filled, fourth-generation office space”.

Modelled on the iconic 22-storey Flatiron building on New York’s Fifth Avenue, it’s the first of two ambitious projects planned for Cork by New York-based, Kerry-born Kevin O’Sullivan, president and chief executive of New York-based Tower Holdings Group.

The group is also behind the proposed mixed-use/hotel development at the old Port of Cork site on Custom House Quay, which was given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála in March, with work yet to start there.

That proposal is for a 34-storey hotel and heritage project, including the rejuvenation of bonded warehouses. No date has been given for work to begin.

Work on the Prism building started just as O’Callaghan Properties (OCP) unveiled major plans for the rejuvenation of the nearby South Docks this week at a cost of €350m. The plans include reworking and restoring the iconic Odlams building; demolition of the R&H Hall grain silo, replacing it with a building that mirrors its current form, and the construction of a 130-bed rehabilitation hospital and residential and office blocks.

The proposals outlined by OCP relate to just over four acres of its 31 acres of dockland, and represent the first phase in a long-term development plan.