Developments spell the end of Cork's grotty student bedsits
Looking towards Ashlin House student accommodation, Bandon Road, Cork, above the Lough. Picture Denis Minihane.
The disappearance of grotty student bedsits and unsanitary flats continues apace with the latest and so far, biggest, of Cork city’s student accommodation developments, the €53m Ashlin House complex, on target for its first intake in the next academic year.
Fit-out has already started at one of the five independent blocks that make up the 77-apartment, 554-bed, 16,430 sq m Bandon Road complex from where students will have sweeping views of The Lough to the south, and a wider city panorama from other vantage points.
Des Riordan, associate director at Clancy Construction, the main contractors for the scheme on behalf of asset management firm Round Hill Capital who secured nearly €100 million in a joint venture with NBK Capital to fund the development, said Ashlin house, designed by O’Mahony Pike architects, was a standard-setting development, “on budget, on time and to a Class A quality finish”.
“I think we’ve set the bar for student accommodation in the city,” he said.
The accommodation blocks range in height from four to six storeys and the internal layout includes 6-bed to eight-bed modular clusters, with uniform ensuite bedrooms and a shared “LKD” ie Living/Kitchen/ Dining area, where floor-to-ceiling windows at each end take in views of the Lough, the city and internal courtyards.
Bedrooms, all doubles, also have floor-to-ceiling windows, a study desk and storage space.
Floor space in the eight-bed modules includes an LKD measuring 45 sq m, with bedrooms averaging 14 sq m.
Ensuites were assembled off-site by Walker Modular, UK specialists in single one-piece bathroom pods, originally developed for racing yachts and military aircraft.
Mr Riordan said the challenge was to make sure the pods were delivered on time as the remainder of the apartment was essentially built out around them.
“It was a logistical challenge with Brexit and Covid, but it was great to have it done off site,” he said.
Similarly, the light gauge steel - manufactured by Tipperary firm Horizon Offsite - used in building the apartment blocks was delivered ready for installation, reducing the work at the Bandon Road site, where small teams of six were used to erect the steel, which helped with social distancing. Mr Riordan said they’d had just 14 cases of Covid at the site, where work began in May 2020, starting with the demolition of a large warehouse, previously by O’Riordan’s Joinery. Three terraced houses were also demolished to make way for the development on a site of 1.037 hectares, which includes some land adjoining the nearby Church of the Immaculate Conception, sold to the developer, Lyonshall, by the Church.
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Fact File Ashlin House |
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|---|---|
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Cost: €53m |
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Total gross floor area |
16,430 sq m |
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Beds |
554 across 77 apartments |
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Site |
1.037 hectares |
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Bricks used |
346,000 |
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Steel |
570 tonnes |
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Light gauge steel |
162,790 linear metres |
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Insulation |
10,500 sq m of insulation |
Mr Riordan said at peak construction time, before Christmas, they had about 200 workers on site, but it was down to about 140 now. He said the timeframe for Clancy Construction to exit the site was August 18, exactly two years and three months since they started work on the Strategic Housing Development (SHD), which was held up by a three-month Covid lockdown.
An Bord Pleanála first gave permission for the SHD to applicant Lyonshall in 2018, with permission given since to increase its size, from 324-bed spaces to 554, and to add an additional accommodation block (from four to five). This final block, No 5, fronts onto Bandon Road, and will include the main reception area to the complex at ground floor level. Clancy Construction contracts manager Garrett Nestor said there will also be a gym, a yoga room, laundry facilities, a games room and lounge area at this level.
A generous archway adjacent to block 5, fronting onto Bandon Road, will be the only pedestrian and vehicular entry point to the complex, where car parking will be very limited, but with more than 200 bike parking spaces. A duplex on the other side of the archway will have a café at ground floor level. Mr Riordan said the complex will have 24-hour security.
The development will be managed by Nido, a UK-based student accommodation provider who are already in situ at 145-bed Curraheen Point, formerly Gillan House on Farranlea Road, and who will also take charge of €12m Broga House, a 280-bed student accommodation complex currently being built by John Paul Construction at the site of the former Square Deal Furniture store on Washington Street.
Ashlin House’s status as the city’s largest student accommodation complex will be shortlived - a 629-bed development is underway at the former Coca Cola bottling plant site on Carrigrohane Road. Further student accommodation is also near to completion at Victoria Cross where Sisk are building 255 beds at the former Crow’s Nest site, while permission has also been granted for 380 beds at the former Kelleher’s Tyres site (Bellmount Developments) in Victoria Cross. On North Main St, Bmor developers are working on a 279 bed complex.
Mr Riordan said Clancy Construction will exit the Bandon Road site on August 18, exactly two years and three months since they started work there, with a three month delay due to Covid. The development will also include works to the junction of Glasheen/Magazine/Bandon Roads, with a raised table and new paving.
Mr Riordan also said they had worked with stakeholders, including local residents, to assuage their concerns about the development. Submissions to An Bord Pleanála by residents raised concerns about the scale, height, massing and bulk of the development, its potential damage to the skyline and the character of the area, as well as injuring the setting of The Lough and views from it, while overshadowing and overlooking neighbouring properties. Mr Riordan said they had carried out a "Consideration survey" assessing before/after effects of certain site works on nearby houses such as Lough Villas, rectifying any damage, as well as conducting a "sunlight" survey to ensure the apartment blocks weren't interfering with nearby residents' sunlight levels. He said they had reduced the height of one block to ensure this did not happen.
Round Hill Capital said the new development will "help meet the needs of Cork's student population, with just 20% of the 26,000 full-time students in the city currently having access to quality purpose-built accommodation".
John Vaudin, Managing Director at Round Hill Capital (Ireland), said there was "a critical need for more purpose-built student accommodation in the Irish market and this development in Cork will help to meet that need".
"We are delivering an attractive and modern building with high-quality services and amenities that will regenerate a disused site into a vibrant home for students. Round Hill Capital continues to deploy significant capital into Ireland to help improve the supply of quality rental accommodation,” Mr Vaudin said.
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