Re: Re: Developments in Cork

@who_me wrote:

The principal problem is the initial risk.

An apartment in the docklands might be very attractive, but would you want to buy (even a luxury) apartment on Centre Park Rd. as it currently stands? Driving through an industrial area to and from work. Heavy trucks rolling by day in, day out (I assume). No shops or any kind of residential facilities nearby. I’ve no idea what the air quality is like but I can’t imagine it’s the best.

If potential residents are thinking that, you can bet the developer who’s sitting on a site in the Docklands is going to keep sitting on it until they can maximise the return on their investment.

Given the current discussion on this thread is mentioning the Cork Docklands I decides to copy and paste this from the Cork Docklands thread;

That is the problem jungle, the draft report hints at hiding the contamination instead of dealing with the issue, a shortsighted answer that will as you mention, “come back to bite us”
The same problem albeit on a much smaller scale exists on the site of the former landfill site on the Carrigrohane Road. However if litigation were to raise its ugly head there it would not be much of a problem to move a few pitches and our traveler cousins to a safer site.
No easy solution if we turn a blind eye to the dangers in the Billion Euro Docklands redevelopment.

Anyway I think it may be a little academic to speak of Docklands redevelopment at this point as after 7 years of junkets, millions spent on report after report, Port of Cork holding the city to ransom, the latest Brady Shipman Martin draft / report states that;

“Some existing land-uses, e.g. the oil storage facilities and the electricity generating station, may be expected to remain in the area for a considerable time to come and this may place a constraint on the scale, form, location and type of future development”

This statement along with the fact that designation as a Seveso site, means that some restrictions apply to proposed land uses in the surrounding area, as identified by the HSA. While each site will incur differing restrictions, generally, the closer a proposed development is located to a Seveso site, the more land use occupation and density restrictions will apply. New developments will be referred to the HSA within the following distances from a Seveso site:
• Topaz Energy Ltd Site 400m referral boundary
• NORA Slte:300m referral boundary
• Gouldings Fertiliser Site:700m referral boundary and HSA land use zones
High-density residential development is normally not permitted in areas immediately adjoining Seveso sites.

As these sites themselves are considerable in size, particularly the Gouldings and ESB sites any development is likely to be piecemeal.
The only way around this problem again entails a long drawn out process of dealing with redevelopment on a “mini site” by “mini site” basis, where very limited amounts of contaminated soil can be removed from site without licence