Plans for 170 new homes at former Vita Cortex site on Kinsale Road 

Plans lodged for 158 apartments and 12 townhouse units

Developers BML Duffy Property Group Limited have sought planning permission to build 170 new homes on the former Vita Cortex site, a 1.2-hectare brownfield plot located between the Kinsale Road and Pearse Road.

Plans for a new large-scale residential development adjacent to Musgrave Park will 'rejuvenate' the local community as developers seek to transform a long-vacant industrial site into a new housing scheme.

BML Duffy Property Group Limited have sought planning permission from Cork City Council to build 170 new homes on the former Vita Cortex site, a 1.2-hectare brownfield plot located between the Kinsale Road and Pearse Road.

The proposed development will comprise 158 apartments and 12 townhouse apartments. This will consist of 51 one-bed units, 84 two-bed units and 35 three-bed units. The homes would be distributed across four blocks, the tallest of which reaching nine storeys.

The proposed development also includes plans for a crèche, a café and a management office on the ground floor level of the third block, as well as four new retail units on the bottom floor of the fourth apartment building.

It would also include more than 514 bicycle spaces, including 162 visitor spaces, as well as nine motorcycle spaces and 82 shared car parking spaces.

The old Vita Cortex site, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

In a planning statement, the developers said: “The proposed development will rejuvenate this part of the city and deliver a new residential neighbourhood of an appropriate scale and mix of uses that responds to these strategic objectives.” They added that it “will make a high-quality contribution to the evolving sustainable regeneration of this area of the city at an appropriate density and height, which will strengthen the character of the area and support the existing community.”

The site, which has been vacant since the foam company ceased operations in 2011, has remained unused for more than a decade and was placed by the city council on the Derelict Sites list in 2017. The disused building suffered fire damage in the summer of 2022, amid a wider string of vandalism targeting derelict properties across Cork City.

The brownfield plot was also the location of one of the longest-running industrial relations protests in the State’s history. In 2011, 23 workers occupied the plant for more than 160 days in a dispute over redundancy payments.

The old Vita Cortex site, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

The protest concluded after the workers secured an undisclosed settlement from company owner Jack Ronan, following high-profile support from figures such as Alex Ferguson, Paul McGrath, former President Mary Robinson, philosopher Noam Chomsky, and actor Cillian Murphy.

It marks the latest large-scale development sought for Cork City, coming just weeks after two major refusals from An Bord Pleanála. Last month saw plans for 800 apartments on Cork docklands rejected by the board, which just a few days earlier shot down plans for 120 new homes in Ballincollig by the O’Flynn Construction Group.