Fresh plans lodged for homes on former Nemo Rangers GAA site

Site has remained vacant since the club moved to new premises in 2007

The former Nemo Rangers GAA lands on Douglas Road/South Douglas Road, Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins

A fresh planning application has been lodged to build new homes on the former Nemo Rangers GAA grounds in Cork, which have lain idle for almost two decades.

Dildar Ltd, care of Kenny Property Group, has lodged plans for 191 homes on the site between the Douglas and South Douglas roads. 

The development, called Orchard Gardens, will consist of 49 two- and three-bed homes and 142 two- and three-bed apartments in three six-storey blocks. A three-storey mixed-use building including a commercial unit and a two-storey creche will be built on the site's northwest corner.

It is the latest application for homes to be lodged for the site, which has been vacant since Nemo Rangers moved to its Trabeg complex in Douglas in 2007. An Bord Pleanála upheld permission for a 102-home mixed scheme there in 2009. Dildar was granted permission for 204 homes by the board in May 2018, after local residents appealed the council's 2017 decision over the height and density of the scheme and its potential traffic impact. A further application for 203 homes, including 49 houses and 153 apartments, was lodged in 2023.

The current application has been lodged under the Large Residential Developments planning scheme. Cork City Council issued an opinion on the proposal last April, raising issues around residential amenities. Since then, the apartment buildings have been cut from five to three, and the public open space has increased.

According to the plans, the development would be built in five phases, starting with the houses nearest the Douglas Road entrance. The apartments would come in the fourth phase, and the crèche and commercial building in the last. 

The site will be accessed by vehicles from Douglas Road, and there will be a pedestrian/cycle entrance from the South Douglas Road. A planning decision on this latest case is expected at the end of November.

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