BAM to lodge plans with Cork City Council to build student accommodation on Sullivan's Quay

Planning had been in place for a 193-bed hotel 

The former tax office site on Sullivan’s Quay, Cork, owned by BAM, has been wasteland since the nine-storey building was demolished in 2019. The ‘Irish Examiner’ understands that BAM has plans to build student accommodation, with a planning application due to be lodged shortly. Picture: Larry Cummins

THE former tax office site on Sullivan’s Quay, Cork, earmarked for a hotel and offices, appears set for redevelopment as student accommodation by construction giant BAM.

The Irish Examiner understands that the site of just under one acre will soon be the subject of a planning application to Cork City Council, following pre-planning discussions between BAM and council officials.

If BAM proceeds, the project would transform a long-idle riverside plot that has drawn criticism from both city councillors and the general public. Effectively wasteland, enclosed by hoarding, previous efforts to put it to productive use made no progress.

Now however, student accommodation is under active consideration by BAM, who have twice previously secured permission for a mixed-use development on Sullivan’s Quay. The first permission was granted in 2008, when the way was cleared for a 183-bedroom hotel, including a 10-storey cylindrical tower, as well as offices and retail.

The project was shelved due to the financial crash.

Ten years later, BAM won permission, on appeal, for a 193-bedroom hotel in a 12-storey cylindrical tower, alongside a six-storey, 8,000 sq m office block. Preparatory work started in 2019, when BAM demolished the nine-storey tax office.

Pre-covid, the site was branded an eyesore after a large mound of rubble was left on the quay for more than a year, in breach of the planning conditions.

However, work then ground to a halt on the site and it was branded an eyesore after a large mound of rubble was left on the quay for more than a year, in breach of the planning conditions.

Since the mixed-use planning permission expired in 2023, and a request for an extension was refused, BAM has repeatedly told the Irish Examiner that it was “continuing to review options… in light of changing market conditions.” It has now emerged that purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) is the likely option.

The number of third-level students in the city continues to grow — estimates put it at an additional 6,000 over the past decade. Further growth could have been expected with the addition by UCC of a world-class business school in the city centre, but that project is now on hold indefinitely.

The city has seen substantial growth in PBSA in recent years, including Lee Point, a 420-bed, award-winning scheme, completed by BAM in 2020 on the former Beamish & Crawford brewery site on South Main St. A separate section of the Beamish site, where BAM had hoped to build a 6,000-seat event centre — on which the sod was turned 10 years ago — remains undeveloped.

The city centre site is bounded by Meade Street, Cove Street, Drinan Street and Sullivan's Quay, beside the River Lee.  Picture Larry Cummins

Directly across the river from BAM’s Sullivan’s Quay site, it has operated as a builders’ compound in recent times.

Meanwhile the event centre proposal is now the subject of a preliminary business case (PBC) which was submitted to Government before Christmas. Approval of the PBC — expected this month — will enable the tendering process to commence, although it is not tied to the Beamish site. It is believed a number of parties submitted expressions of interest, prior to the PBC being submitted. BAM has previously told the Irish Examiner that its plans for Sullivan’s Quay “are not linked to the Cork Events Centre”. 

The city centre has seen considerable regeneration over the past two years. The council has invested over €25m in the Grand Parade and wider South Main St area, including installing two bridges linking the Beamish site to the opposite quays. The work has also created more pedestrian-friendly spaces and improved public realm.