ewankennedy
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I dont know about anyone else but do you ever look forward to hearing about the next big project for the c ity? You know those ones that get you really excited???? For me I think the last one was Paul kenny’s plan for St. patricks qy or the other plan for Clontarf street.
I’m looking forward to hearing what is proposed for Horgans quay and also that site that sold recently for what I read at least was 8 million on Alberts quay. Maybe because with a development planned there it will given the area both sides of the river a full developed frontage. Also the Reliance building plans will be interesting. Hope they include the sports shop there and the surrounding properties. it will be really interesting to see if they do something with the Simon community centre next door as well. It should be a really good design to mark the beginning of Clontarf st too. Anyone else got anything theyre looking forward too??
Hope the Gluckman gallery does well. When it was being built i kept thinking it was the biggest waste of money considering the college was already short of funds and staff had to be messed about with to sort out funding. The college was short something like 9 million and the gallery cost 11m. I dont know how utilised it is by students, I only ever took a look around to see what all the talk was about twice. But now that its there its a nice addition to the college and the city I think. Maybe the gallery will recoup its value in the future and maybe contribute to the college.
Hello!!!
I see McCarthy developments have had the appeal against their office building for the south docklands (Monahan road/Centre park road???) withdrawn. Thats good news right? Does anyone know whether it will begin construction anytime soon?? 🙂
I was driving by Blackpool today and saw that PJ Hegartys are after putting up another tower-crane at Blackpool park – its the second one at a development that seems to be flying up. Does anyone know which this tower crane is working on? Is it the hotel? Or offices? The section with the first really tall tower crane seems to be constructing a building of 9 storeys high.
(Enjoy lex! :))
@lexington wrote:
You will remember earlier (back in the LADSOCL thread) a post was issued noting Frinailla had entered planning for a 25-unit residential development over commercial facility and basement car-parking. The development, planned for the former Plumbing Utilities Store bordering Ashbrook apartment complex and Top Car Motor Dealership, was designed by Geraldine McNamara of Richard Rainey & Associates and ranges in height between 6 and 7-storeys. Apartments will range in size between 55m sq for one-bedroom units, 90m sq for 2-bedroom units and a 190m sq duplex penthouse with 4-bedrooms (these scale apartments have been actively encouraged by CCC and its nice to see more of these units come in to circulation). Each apartment will have 2 basement parking spaces and basement storage facilities.
In my opinion, a generally quality project – its seems a difficult site to work with, but I do think that this project will compliment the area in the long-run given prospective and current proposals shaping up nearby. The Utilities Store is currently being used by Heberger Construction/Aras Developments as their ‘Site Office’ for the Victoria Station student residence development directly across the road. This project will rise to 5 storeys.
I agree lexington that it isnt a bad project and the site is a difficult one but i think it should be stated that it is difficult for more than one reason. For a start, its size means that any development on it would have to have some height to be viable. Other than that the nature of surrounding buildings like Farranlea hall and Victoria station across the Wilton road are residential and have been designed with the usual residential features like balconies, roof gardens etc. Frinillas other project at Dennehys cross up the road is gonna be residential too and any redevelopment of the Cork farm centre will be of a similar height as this project in question. The design has to consider all these elements – it has to be befitting of the area, allow viablity, provide for residential aspects and be relatively ‘pretty’ while its at it. While i dont think its an offence or ugly design (I like the glass commercial unit (is a commercial unit???) to the front of the site), I dont think its anything particularly spectacular either. Its colouration use of finishings seems varied, neutral colors that smile at, rather than attack the senses, so its not offending anyone. I especially like the penthouse element. The one problem i see staring me in the face however is that 4 storeys wall to the north of the site. It seems unnecessarily bland despite the color. I’m sure the architects had their reasons, but, even a window or 2 to break the repetitiveness up a little? Maybe Top car are looking to redevelop their site that we dont know about. As far as I know windows in the Frinilla projects wall wouldnt be overlooking anything other than a workshop. The L shape of the development gives a bit of variety to the design which otherwise I could just envision walking up along the road and being greet by nothing other than a 4 storey wall! If the penthouse can have windows at this side of the building, can the rest of the north elevation not have them either???
In all that rucus about the other ‘issue’ – we forgot the really good news……..
…Eglinton street is after getting the go ahead! A really decent architectural statement is set to be made and should act as a novel gateway into the revived docklands and city. Well done OFlynns! I think a newspaper report said it would get started straight away but my buddy in City hall said that there might be a festival there (at the Eglinton st site) for the end of the year of culture??? So i’d say lex’s report of 2006 start date could well be true. Either way its great news. The standard of building design should be encouraged by this movement.
@AndrewP wrote:
Am curious what problem people have with that article.
If the site wasn’t asked for its side of the story, then the article is unbalanced.
But Age Action Ireland might take the view that what’s on the website is already a publication, so the article is their own right to reply. I can’t see how anyone would be surprised that OAPs would be offended at ‘take their pensions off them’ jibes.
That said, I doubt they called the paper with this story – I think the Examiner is basically shit-stirring and is probably delighted at the response here.Are the quotes attributed to the site accurate? If not, then the site has been misrepresented, and that’s a different matter and should be followed up.
@AndrewP wrote:
Am curious what problem people have with that article.
If the site wasn’t asked for its side of the story, then the article is unbalanced.
But Age Action Ireland might take the view that what’s on the website is already a publication, so the article is their own right to reply. I can’t see how anyone would be surprised that OAPs would be offended at ‘take their pensions off them’ jibes.
That said, I doubt they called the paper with this story – I think the Examiner is basically shit-stirring and is probably delighted at the response here.Are the quotes attributed to the site accurate? If not, then the site has been misrepresented, and that’s a different matter and should be followed up.
Just saw that article there Radioactiveman.
AndrewP – indeed 2 of the comments were genuine and that is unfortunate. More regretable however is that many of the other comments were misrepresented, including one which was taken by the Examiner from a quote by Mick murphy of CSD who was himself quoting a phrase on the Age action ireland website that basically said ‘they (the elderly) shouldn’t have a voice regarding the future because they will disappear’. This was not posted on archiseek – see an earlier post outlining the inaccuracies.
Id really like to see this get no more coverage and get back to work on the cork thread (whichever one) and get back to what this place is suppose to be all about. Not this phooey. Why should such a good thing suffer because of about 2 people and a newspaper thingy.??
Ive no more to say on this subject lets get back to work!
Radioactiveman have you a scan of that article? I’m out of the country at the moment. They are riding it now – thats most unfair and harassment.
What do the webmaster(s) think of the articles???
If the CSD are the source shouldnt we be directing ay rebuttal efforts toward them also???? :confused:
Speaking of excavation works. A few weeks back i was walking by the Grand parade plaza site on South main street and I though I saw activity on the site. When I peeped in it was though the basement foundations (???) were completely flooded. i read a media report there about a month ago that said a crane would be erected and all by now but nothing seems to be happening. The activity i saw I thought was John paul construction finally demolioshing the hotel but alas i was wrong. ??? This site has been idle for well over a year – except for excavation works.
I hope Rockfell are right about Cornmarket street and they dont end up like the above site. As far as I know, I read somewhere, that they had a lot of surveyance already out of the way and investigations shouldnt take more than a month.
@Radioactiveman wrote:
I notice (with a little bit of sadness) that Fota Island is slowly but surely being eaten up by private development. The island should have been kept as a public amenity, incorporating Fota House and Gardens, Fota Arboretum, Fota Wildlife Park and open recreational spaces for the City and East Cork.
However, this is not the case and Fleming are on site building a 125 rooom luxury Hotel with Penthouse suites, a raft of ‘lodges’ (aka houses for the obscenely wealthy), an extensive marina and a second – yes, a second 18-hole Golf Course. Why an island that small requires a second course we’ll never know.
Couldn’t an alternative use been found for this space? Scenic walkways, picnic spots? isn’t one Golf course enough to fill the hotel?Below is an arial view of the proposed work on the island, which actually serves (I think) to minimise the deleterious effect it will have on this gem in the harbour. (Remember the Old Head anyone?)
Did a Count in a Rolls-royce drive over and crush your tricycle as a child??? 😀
@jungle wrote:
What benefit Horgan’s Quay has in terms of location would be lessened if/when a bridge is built at Water St. It would be a 5-10 minute walk from the train station to the event centre then.
Yeah I figure once the council get on with the job for the Water st bridge (by the way thanks for the post with pics lex on that!) the event centre at the showgrounds will only be a hop across the bridge and be just as easily accessible as Horgans quay.
@lisam wrote:
Obviously they charge more because the stuff has to be transported over here
So much for economies of scale.
@daniel_7 wrote:Does anyone think that if an event centre is to be built it should be based along the lines of the odessy arena in Belfast as a multi purpose centre for sports and entertainment as this would be an ideal and exciting centre point to the commercial aspect of the north docklands(if this is where it will be built). This would also be a far bigger benifit to the city than the bland centre being propsed?I also think building a 5000 seater is unambitious and embarrissing for the countrys second city as there is plans for an 8000 seater in Athlone? :confused:
I think that would be good too daniel. Ive heard all the jazz about Horgans quay too and though it would be a nice location I think its still too small. Anything Manor park propose will be too small and I fear Cork will get a halfassed affair rather than the decent sort it should get. Thing is the council will probably go with it anyway just cos its at Horgans quay. Manor park should really just concentrate on developing the lands for the uses like commercial lesiure and residential and such. I hear the Showgrounds will be a better location in terms of size. Pity its not on the river. What about the Tedcastles site or Ford sites nearby???
I’d like to see any event centre a week-round, day-round facility like daniel7 said with more than onne use. It should be a continual hub of activity.
@Freddie wrote:
I have just had the unbridled pleasure of perusing Cork City Council’s Draft North Docks Local Area Plan – June 2005
As a datum point I referred to a letter on the corksouthwest.com website entitled ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and find one can only agree with the last sentence.
Which puts me in mind that the more things ‘change’ the more they remain the same.
Congratulations lads ye have us all fooled.Freddie what area you involved/interested in? Developer, architect, engineer? You dont seem to like the council much. :p
What does any one think of the new 1billion euro blueprint for the northern docklands the council are proposing? Think there was something of it in the Echo today.
@Radioactiveman wrote:
So do i like it or not??? :confused:
Cos ya see I’m thinking that it just looks funny cos its a different style of design, so is it unique or just plain bad? Help me decide! :p
When I first saw the revisals I gasped in horror. It was as though ORiordin staheli took an awful project and just made in pink. What is it with all the pink buildings in Cork lately??? Anyway the more I looked at it the more I wonder. It is an improvement on the first proposal but I now cant make up my mind. Notice how the Lavitts quay elevation now seems to break up the bulk and massing by a division of layers. That is clever. And the stand-out box windows are a hark back to the first proposal but still is this really the best they can do? Wheres the imagination? Or am I wrong, could it be that its actually a clever design??? What do ye think? I grows on you I think but it still seems so bland. Ooh Im confused!!!
@kite wrote:
I almost missed Lex’s brief comments in posting 1704 where he advises that
‘OCP have plans on Custom House Quay’s PoC warehousing which they
successfully purchased 2 months ago for over 6.75m euros’
Surprising that if all that happened 2 months ago on this site we haven’t
heard a word or seen OCP’s plans, thought the media circus would be in full
swing by now.
Are there any more details or proposed plans available?Thing Ive noticed about this website is that the topics mentioned are sometimes very much in advance or just before an announcement or right in line with an annoucement. Ive followed reports in the local media after something goes up on the site and they often but not always seem to run along the lines that have been posted on this website page. I supose thats a recognition to the accuracy of the site. Often I find if a project isnt mentioned straight away it is mentioned later on. I was trying to write a little article for the UCC student newspaper last year based on something I read on this thread and when I contacted the relevant sources they denied denied denied and one guy even laugh at me saying where did you hear that??? Then 2 months later it turned out to be true! I think some timelines may get mixed up but generally the info is pretty good. But i think Corks media do a pretty good job themselves as well even if some figures are overinflated. (One girl in the Examiner wrote that City quarter was 300 million euro and then another reprot said it was 100 million but sure evryone makes mistakes and I still think its pretty good).
By the way I see demolition is beginning on the old front of the Grand parade hotel on the Frinailla site there, progress finally??? :confused:
Also what does anyone else think of the EPR building in London posted up this page? I think its looks pretty cool!
@Freddie wrote:
Hope Mark Kelleher has more luck with his planning application at “Caterham”
than he did at “Westend” see TP 05/29464.
CAHRA should not have a problem with this application (2 storeys), but with
that crowd you would never know?
However the “blue rinse” brigade will proberly be lamenting the loss of
another quality house in their beloved Bishopstown, sad,sad,sad.
Maybe it is time to take the advice of another contributor to this website
and take the pensions off the OAPs that stand in the way of progress.Think you’re referring to something lexington said Freddie but it wasnt about the elderly, he said that if objectors are using their childrens allowance to finance appeals – such as with jurys – that they should probably have their childrens allowance taken off them and given to those who genuinely depend on it and cant afford to waste it on sumthing so inappropriate. the childrens allowance is suppose to be money for food, clothes, education and the group involved were flaunting it publically about using it to fund objections!!!
I have seen the revised plans for Cornmarket street and I think it will look well too when its done.
Lex I agree with your point on Brideviews Midelton plan. It would be nice to keep as many of these estates as possible. Hopefully the council will wise up.
Also…just out of pure curiosity Lex are der any Uk architecture firms youd like to see design buildings in Cork? I only ask cos I’ve been compiling info on international firms who have operated in Ireland and now I’m doing the Uk so I was wondering what firms if you had a choice would you like to see in Corks redevelopment??? 🙂
lexington wrote:*UPDATES*🙂 Work is beginning, as previously reported it would be, a few weeks back, on Rockfell Investments (Michael O’Donoghue) 58m euro Cornmarket Street development. The project designed by Niall Coffey of Frank Ennis & Associates will house 9 retail units over 170,000sq ft, 65 apartments and 66 basement car-parking spaces. The plan will revitalise this area of the city and heed the way for CCC’s 5m euro redevelopment of the long-neglected street. This development is an important steeping stone in the extension of Cork’s Core Retail Area – wingining north from Daunt Square/Patrick’s Street. Primary construction is set to begin after a number of site assessments (as part of the grant conditions) – I am informed that this is not expected to take a considerable length of time. Demolition work is well advanced with large majorities of the site to the rear of the Musgrave Building now removed and scaffolding now being erected on the facades of adjoining buildings scheduled for demolition as part of the development. The site had once been earmarked by Michael O’Donoghue for a 9-storey, 400-bedroom hotel – however this was refused on appeal, despite a CCC grant. Construction is set to take 18 months. The retail mall has received extensive interest with Habitat set to occupy a prime unit. More info and new images soon.
Was walking passed Cornmarket street tonight and saw the scaffolding, delighted to see this project get a move on. Highly anticipated and from what I hear it’ll be a great city centre addition.Also just regarding the CAHRA/CSD crowd and their website – I suspect Frinilla are gonna get a tough time from these beauties when they lodge their plans for Dennehys cross.
@kite wrote:
Great to finally have some movement on the Horgan Quay site, any info on the Port of Cork/Bonded warehouse site opp Jurys Inn? Surely there must be some plans in the pipeline for such a prime site?
Think lexington already outlined plans for Custom house quay – you’ll have to look back a few pages but he did I’m sure.
Good news bout Horgans quay alright.
