Eglinton Street Tower, Cork

Took a picture of the tower part today, hard to know close to completion it is. The other parts of the block are still only being built.

The website hasn’t been updated since last Nov as far as I can see & even then it was just some spin about interior designers.

@cubix wrote:

lookin good,.

on this side but view it from the other side and 😮

So looks like the first and last high rise to be built in cork,whats the general consensus down there?personally I think its ok,,maybe a bit stumpy.The pic above makes it look very gaunt,hopefully when its completely finished with the spire and all it will be a improvement.

@cubix wrote:

So looks like the first and last high rise to be built in cork,whats the general consensus down there?personally I think its ok,,maybe a bit stumpy.The pic above makes it look very gaunt,hopefully when its completely finished with the spire and all it will be a improvement.

I tend to agree with the stumpy comment. It could either do with being 5 storeys lower so that it isn’t so out of scale to surrounding buildings or it could be 5 storeys higher so that it would appear more slender. As is, it looks like a compromise height that neither suits the buildings or the surroundings.

@cubix wrote:

So looks like the first and last high rise to be built in cork,whats the general consensus down there?personally I think its ok,,maybe a bit stumpy.The pic above makes it look very gaunt,hopefully when its completely finished with the spire and all it will be a improvement.

Well you also have the 17 storey Co.Hall.

OCP re planning 32 stories down at Mahon Point.

There is another proposal at Blackpool for 35 stories AFAIK.

There are a few more high rise planned for the docklands + 2 more at least on the North side of the river on the drawing board !

IMO the cladding on the Elysian is a missed opportunity – awful.

@who_me wrote:

The appearance does seem to have changes slightly from the original mock-ups – and for the worst. The gray cladding is pretty horrible; the tower looks good from the South and West, horrible to the North and (especially) East.

I think the expectation was for 4 towers of around 20 stories in the South Docklands, plus myriad others of slightly lesser heights, in which case it’s probably around the right height. Of course, if the Docklands development does stall (er… never start?) then the Elysian will continue to stick out a bit.

:rolleyes:The way our “lets play at being Councillors” local reps have messed up the only towers in the Docklands next year will be attached to Dolly Parton.

Wow, how many different facade treatments can you fit on a single tower? A LOT by the looks of it… They have ruined what could have been a reasonably elegant building. Same thing happened to the “stump” in Athlone – a couple of different glazing systems and acres of cheap white cladding… It’s a total eyesore. Then they put a “spire” on top that is basically a stump on top of a stump! Really, the only way these medium to high rise buildings work is by keeping them really simple and elemental in terms of shape and proportions – Just like county hall in Cork. Of course it’s beauty is in the details when you get up close but from a distance its just a really elegant prism.

@lexington wrote:

😀 One of the most exciting developments put before Cork city in many years is to be greenlit come Thursday 7th July 2005. Though the notion has been somewhat of an open secret these past few weeks, a source with Cork City Council has declared that the proposal by O’Flynn Construction will be granted subject to approx. 20 conditions [?] after Senior Planner Ronnie McDowell signs his name this Thursday. Details of these conditions will be made clear here either tomorrow evening or Thursday evening latest.

The project was originally lodged for the 3 acre, former An Post Sorting Office site, last October 8th 2004. Further Information was requested on the development on November 1st 2004, following a questionable planning authority handling of the application. The first request was responded to on December 23rd 2005 and a due date was set for Feburary 23rd 2005 – however, trouble was encountered with the application in the hands of planner Evelyn Mitchell when it seemed as though CCC were only willing to grant permission for the project subject to a near 50% reduction of the 550 basement parking spaces proposed. Other issues that proved a sticking point included light reflection of the tower and the height surrounding block parapets. Additional Further Information was requested and Senior Planner Ronnie McDowell took over handling of the application.

Where the original Wilson Architecture designed project comprised of 217 apartments over blocks ranging in height from 6 to 8 storeys, w/ a 17-storey landmark tower (70m) in the southwest corner of the site (facing the South City Link Road), 550 basement parking spaces over 2 decks, 7 own-door office units and 5 large bulk-goods retail units – the revised application submitted in response to the Additional Further Information, received on the 13th of May 2005 – altered the plans so that block heights of the parameter buildings reduced to 6-storeys with a set-back level, rearranged building layouts (providing a new ‘pod’ building in Northern end of the site) and new glazing features for the landmark tower (which otherwise remained untouched). CCC concluded that for such residential developments as Eglinton Street, parking spaces as proposed would be generally acceptable given that apartment sizes were generally designed to accommodate long-term residencies (some 3-bedroom apartments extending to 1,900sq ft) and that reductions in space provision would clutter surrounding, heavily trafficked streets with unwelcome additions using the retail, office and residential facilities of the development. The revised application in fact, actually allowed for an increase in apartment unit numbers from 217 to 226.

Only 1 objection was lodged in response to revised plans – that of a nearby resident Cait Ui Connail, who cites that the development will affect her light and bring unwelcome traffic from persons utilising the retail facilities. The developers have noted in response that among the reasons for such a large basement parking provision was to address such traffic concerns and that the tower overshadowing had been well studied and assessed, concluding that it did not affect nearby residency light given its design, shape and location in the site.

Should this prove to be the final planning step for OFC with regards Eglinton Street. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2006.

Note: Apologises for the colouration in the bottom 3 images – but its consequent of light penetration during the image scans.

[Fingers crossed the conditions aren’t a repeat of that other highrise project that was conditioned to oblivion.]

:oI think the time may be apt to remind ourselves how we were all looking forward to what was to be the first true “high-rise” development in Cork in 30 years!! (Lex circa 2005)
Where and when did it all go wrong??

It went wrong when they decided to build it on the cheap. The cladding is crap that’s why.

The bulk of the surrounding buildings also means the tower barely manages to poke its head out in many of the images shown