Plans for 170 homes at former Vita Cortex site approved following appeals to An Coimisiún Pleanála
The old Vita Cortex site, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan
Plans for 170 homes in Cork City have been approved following more than a dozen appeals to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Cork City Council gave the green light in August for a new large-scale residential development adjacent to Musgrave Park, which the developers said would 'rejuvenate' the local community.
BML Duffy Property Group Limited sought planning permission in June to transform a long-vacant industrial site into a new housing scheme, with the plans including 170 new homes on the former Vita Cortex site, a 1.2-hectare brownfield plot located between the Kinsale Road and Pearse Road.
The plans comprised 158 apartments and 12 townhouse apartments. The homes would be distributed across four blocks, the tallest of which reaching nine storeys. The development also included 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.
Some 514 bicycle spaces were also included in the plans, as well as nine motorcycle spaces and 82 shared car parking spaces.
However, the plans were then appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála by several third-party residents and neighbouring sports clubs.
Among those was Philip Quinn of the Munster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), who said that while the union does not object in principle to much-needed housing, it wished to highlight a potential for conflict between existing operations at Virgin Media Park and the proposed site.
Concerns from multiple local residents included the height of the planned apartment blocks, daylight loss, the potential impact on traffic and environmental fears.
In its planning statement, BML Duffy said the scheme would "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.”
Despite the appeals, the planning commission approved the plans for the development, granting permission with revised conditions, with documents regarding the decision yet to be published by An Coimisiún Pleanála.
The Vita Cortex 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 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, and actor Cillian Murphy.
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