Early 2026 build start for Cork city's second Premier Inn following design changes

Developers Whtibread Plc, owners of the Premier Inn brand, made substantial design changes to get the project over the line

The revised design of the Premier Inn includes changes to building materials to make it a better fit for the historic part of the city that it's located in.  

SIGNIFICANT design changes to the proposed Premier Inn on the site of the former Coliseum cinema in Cork City have cleared the way for construction to begin on the 174-bedroom hotel in early 2026.

Images published here today show a scaling back of the upper floors to reduce the visual impact above the former redbrick sorting office, known as Bridge House.

The original Premier Inn design had an overbearing affect on redbrick Bridge House, formerly a postal sorting office

The scaled back design featured here makes it less dominant in the skyline

The changes follow criticism by planners that the original proposal — which will replace the Leisureplex entertainment complex on MacCurtain St/ Brian Boru St — resembled “an amorphous block”.

The Whitbread group, owners of the Premier Inn brand, was given final grant approval for the revised design this week and is hoping to get construction underway on the city’s second Premier Inn early next year.

The group, which spent €5.5m acquiring the former Coliseum cinema 0.5-acre site in February 2024, have taken significant steps to reduce the massing, which planners said would have created “an awkward composition” above the roof of Bridge House, and would interrupt a “key view” northwards towards the landmark Trinity Presbyterian Church.

Original design proposal

Revised Premier Inn

 To address these concerns, the building has been lengthened along Brian Boru St, reduced in depth above the height of Bridge House, and stepped down below the ridge line of neighbouring buildings.

Computer generated images show how the scale-back will reduce the visual impact of the new build when viewed from south of the River Lee.

Changes have also been made to the materials originally proposed for the new build, which planners had said would result in “a plain and repetitive singular development that would fail to appropriately respond to or enhance the character of the ACA”. (Architectural Conservation Area). 

The redbrick section on MacCurtain St will sit better with the redbrick buildings of the adjoining Victorian Quarter.

The section of the hotel on MacCurtain Street will be clad in redbrick to tie in with other Victorian buildings in the vicinity, while the use of white/cream stone cladding and brickwork for principal parts of the design will reference the materials used for Trinity Presbyterian Church. Changes in brick colour will prevent it looking “too monolithic when viewed from a distance” and the building has been broken up in several areas to address massing. The loss of bedrooms at upper floor level in the revised design has been mitigated by the introduction of seven ground floor bedrooms.

The changes have led to a 462 sq m gain in the gross floor area, and added an additional bedroom.

The original building materials were at odds with surrounding architecture

The revised design of the Premier Inn includes changes to building materials to make it a better fit for the historic part of the city that it's located in.  

Matt Gent, development manager for Ireland, said: “Securing a grant for a second hotel is wonderful news for us and our customers, and I’m grateful to everyone who has been involved in getting us to this stage”.

He said more positive news is in the pipeline.

Two years ago, the city’s first Premier Inn, a €30m 187-bedroom hotel, opened on Morrison’s Quay.

Cork city's first Premier Inn on Morrison's Quay