Radioactiveman

Yes, from the very first image you posted I can see that any significant highrise would have an effect on the view of County Hall from the city. What with the amount being spent on its clean-up, do we really want to blot it out?

As regards the historical/architectural significance of Victoria Terrace, it may be limited but when conserving our architectural past we should really avoid preserving the spectacular only. It is important that we preserve even the more mundane, domestic examples of Cork’s architectural heritage.
This reminds me of reading a book of old photographs of Cork- the author noted that many pictures of the grand streetscapes contain many horses working away as one would expect. However, as far as he was aware- no pictures whatever exist of the vast stables which must have housed these horses.
I’m getting off the point here, but what i’m trying to say is that just because its small and its no Brown Thomas, doesnt mean it’s open for demolition. The Crows Nest building too is a fine commercial building.
Honestly, the local residents have been proved right if you look at the hideousness that is most of the Student high rises in the area.

Jungle with regard to Carmelite Terrace- same thing happening here. Planning is being sought for their demolition and apartments to be put in their place. Some people have no cop-on at all!!

Riga Limited have been given permission to build the new vehicular and pedestrian access bridge to their new Jury’s Doyle Hotel site on the Western Road. The company had to re-apply for the bridge elelment of the development because the original bridge was not single-span in design.

Since you asked lex, I like Seann Muilleann on the Mallow Road. Its big, its brass and it sits well along side Hewitts Mill. The one thing I have a problem with is the entrance area of the main building – the big one!
Whoever designed it was obviously sitting in a car at the time. It really doesnt cater for the pedestrain very well. the pedestrian access is wedged beteen two large carpark access routes! It just looks a bit ugly down there. Looking up though its a very likeable design- nothing groundbreaking but fits well. I believe the original design had a straight front rather than the curved almost coliseum like facade it has now. Wouldn’t have been half as good.

As we’re on the subject of the decline in pub numbers in Cork, here’s a piece from The Irish Independent of Friday 26th August last. I had meant to post it earlier, but now seems like an oppurtune time.

The capital gains as Leeside loses 50pc of its pubs
Ralph Riegel

THE long-running rivalry between Dublin and Cork took a new twist yesterday when it emerged that the capital is taking pubs from the southern city.
Dublin’s booming hotel, pub and off-licence sector has been achieved by a haemhorraging of drink licences out of other areas, particularly in Cork.
The law whereby one pub licence must be “extinguished” before another pub or hotel bar can be opened has led to a situation where the number of pubs in Cork city has dropped by over 50pc in the past 20 years.
Cork city currently has an estimated 250 pubs – down from around 400 in the mid-1980s. The decline in pub numbers is even more stark in Cork county, where an estimated 1,000 pubs now remain – down from between 1,800 and 2,000 pubs just 20 years ago.
Rural parts of Waterford, Tipperary and Limerick have also been affected as Dublin’s pub boom continues.
Con Dennehy, former chief of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland in Cork, said that while pub numbers have declined in all parts of Ireland, Leeside has been particularly badly hit.
“It really has been the end of an era here in Cork. Parts of the city that would historically have had a dozen or so pubs now have possibly one or two left. Some areas have none at all.”
The closure of pubs – and the transfer of their licences to hotels, off-licences and pubs in Dublin – has been particularly acute over the past decade.
“I suppose it was a simple question of economics – Dublin was offering great money for licences and it was increasingly difficult for small family pubs to maintain profitable operations in Cork city centre,” Mr Dennehy said.
The Dennehy family pub, established on Cork’s Coal Quay in 1956, once competed alongside 12 other premises, but by the mid-1990s, Coal Quay was left with just Dennehy’s, though two new premises have since opened.
Some parts of the city now have no pubs. The famous Lavitt’s Quay district, adjacent to Cork Opera House and various restaurants, once boasted five successful premises. Now it has just one.
Even on famous “drinking” streets, such as Shandon Street and Barrack Street, pressure on pub numbers has inexorably led to the closure of premises.
“I’d say that the number of pubs in the city has declined by between 30pc and 50pc over the past two decades, and the simple fact is that most of those licenses have gone to so-called “superpubs” in Dublin or off-licenses,” Mr Dennehy said.
Yet, while Cork’s pub numbers have plummeted, the total square footage of licensed premises has actually increased as the small, family-owned pubs have been replaced with large modern pubs.

As far as i’m aware, the Elisabeth Fort is spotlighted at night.

Passed Jury’s (the former) on Western Road today. The first signs of the new buildings are appearing with re-inforced concrete pillars in place at the western end of the site. Also I noticed that there are a number of large trees which have been felled at the same end of the site, on the river bank, close to where the railway bridge used to be. I thought there were conditions in planning that trees adjacent to the river were to be protected 🙁

News that will bring a smile to any true Cork Person:
The new terminal being built at Cork International Airport will be serviced by Lennox’s Fish and Chip Shop!!
Yes, according to this evening’s Echo, Lennox’s will be one of the restaurants taking up residence in the terminal’s Food Hall, along with Mahers Coffee, Arbutus Bread and Belvelly Smoked Salmon.
Also included will be Lir Cafe, Subway, a Hughes and Hughes Bookshop, a Londis Outlet and a new bar: The Red Bar.
Kylemore and other concession holders in the old terminal will loose out.

Sensibly, CCC have refused permission for the change of use of the ground floor of a listed building a 16 North Mall from living accomodation to office use. A sign was also to be erected on the exterior of the building.
With the exception of the Franciscan Well (Public House) and an office at the Sunday’s Well end, all this terrace of three-storeys are in residential use. However the City Council would do well to instruct the new student accomodation provider at the Sunday’s Well end of the street to remove the unsightly plastic signs attached to the doors. Afterall, the owner is pretty well known to them 🙂

New super prison planned for Spike Island site

by Ralph Riegel, Irish Independent 26th August 2005

SPIKE Island is to be the site for a huge multi-million euro prison.
Following the long-awaited wage agreement between the Irish Prison Officers Association and Justice Minister Michael McDowell, the Government is to consider proposals for a new prison in Cork Harbour.
This would cater for upwards of 600 inmates – more than four times the design capacity of the existing Cork prison on Rathmore Road.
Critically, the new super-prison would not only ease pressure on jails in Limerick and Dublin, but would also transform prison security and allow officers eliminate the flow of drugs and contraband into the jail.
The proposed new Spike Island prison is also likely to cater for both male and female prisoners, thereby resolving the crux of female Cork inmates having to be transferred to either Dublin or Limerick jails.
Last night, the Irish Prisons Service (IPS) confirmed that studies are already underway into how to develop the existing Fort Mitchell prison on Spike Island. A key element of the plan is the construction of a new bridge, which would be controlled by the IPS. A senior government source added funding is expected to be sought for 2006/2007.

Yeah, nice pics lexington and great to see what we’re being saved from by a bit of common sense. What we have to wonder about is the fact that Mr. Kenny actually paid people to come up with this totally innappropriate design for the area which they themselves must have known would never even get close to Navigation House. I’m all for pushing the boundries, working outside the box and all the rest of those catchphrases but people have to be realistic about it.

The design itself is let down by the timber cladding and the rear of the development (first image) towards Grand Parade, along the river looks boxy and badly thought out.
No, No, No.

@lexington wrote:

I’m not quite sure what you mean here – ‘the decision at Blackpool’, do you mean the decision by CCC/ABP to refuse the original part 9-storey plan??? :confused:

In the original frinailla post (#321 i think) you said ” should the appeall be favoured, it is my understanding the developers intend to begin work on City Square almost immediately”.

I took this to mean that the ABP reault to be announced in October had a bearing on when City Square was started.

Sorry if i’m getting the wrong end of the stick.

I’m happy to withdraw the two posts above as they were directed at one contributor to the thread rather than the thread in general.
As we’re in the mood for it, will you be removing post #330 A-ha, since it started this whole conversation?