Radioactiveman

The manager of Fingal County Council, John Tierney, has been selected to succeed John Fitzgerald as Dublin City manager, according to the Irish Times. Current Cork City Manager Joe Gavin had also been in the running for the position. It is unsure how this decision will affect Mr. gavin’s current position in Cork.

Just posting this image of Lapp’s Quay because it looks so damn good! It was taken during the recent ceremony to bestow the Freedom of the City of Cork on The President, Mary McAleese.

I’d rather see the viaduct carrying trains to west cork again but nonetheless, i’m intrigued by this idea. It certainly deserves to be cleaned and floodlit to act as a real gateway.

On a totally unrelated topic…. the man who brought us the Glucksman Gallery, Prof. Gerry Wrixon has announced he is standing down as President of UCC from next January. Now, whatever your views on academic restructuring (yawn) you’ve got to hand it to the guy… he pushed the Glucksman idea against some fairly tough criticism and he deserves serious credit for that!
In fact, under his tenure the architecture of d’ college has changed significantly. Think of the BioSciences building, the Pharmacy building, the extension to the Student Centre and the Boole complex, the new Mardyke Bridge, the plans for the new IT building and the impressive brookfield medical centre.

Any images available of Dunnes revised plans?

Since it’s a Friday afternoon and i’m attempting to stay in a positive frame of mind, I won’t go on and on about this, but I have to echo most of the points raised by lexington. Simply put, a huge amount of property owners and users in this city down give a s**t what people think of them and their property. Even if you’re living/working in a dump, you should try to make the outside look respectable..it shows respect for your neighbours and yourself. I’ve often avoided/boycotted shops/bars/restaurants , etc. which dont look after their exterior and erect crappy signage without permission– i know, its hardly likely to make a big difference, but it makes me feel a teeny bit better of a friday afternoon.

Below is the article from todays Irish Times which gives a good summary of CCC response to the Academy Street proposals. I think it would be fair to say, that all of the points raised have been raised in this forum and certainly deserve to be answered before any decision is made. In particular, treatment of Academy Street and Bowling Green Street, along with the proposed demolition of the Examiner building on St. Patrick Street.

Images originally posted by jdivision

Cork City Council has requested further information on plans by O’Callaghan Properties for a major retail and residential development in the heart of the city, saying it “is not acceptable in its current form”.

The council’s planners are “concerned with the building heights proposed for the overall scheme”, which would step up to nine storeys, and say these heights “will have to be modified to mitigate its impact” on the surrounding area.

They say the maximum building heights should be reduced by approximately 8m (26 ft) – equivalent to the omission of two floors – and that the “shoulder height” of buildings fronting streets should also be reduced.

The proposed development covers two city blocks bounded by Patrick Street, Academy Street, Emmet Place and Bowling Green Street. It would provide 19 large retail units on four levels as well as 91 apartments and two gyms overhead.

In their request for further information, the planners are seeking a revised visual impact statement, including a further series of photomontages showing how the scheme would look from various points.

They want the developers to provide a scale model of the proposed development as well as details of its impact on the vistas of such landmark buildings as Holy Trinity Church, SS Peter and Paul’s Church.

The planners have queried the proposed demolition of the former Cork Examiner building on Patrick Street.

“Whilst not a protected structure, its attractive appearance contributes significantly in a positive fashion to the existing streetscape,” they say.

While supporting the traditional block structure of the scheme, they are concerned that its treatment at ground-floor level would give pre-eminence to a widened Faulkener’s Lane at the expense of both Academy Street and Bowling Green Street.

“The number of secondary staircases/lift cores proposed . . . and what appear to be rear doors as well as the narrowness of the shopfronts . . . is not acceptable and requires to be modified so as to ensure the continued vitality of Academy Street.”

Owen O’Callaghan, who previously developed the Merchant’s Quay and Mahon Point shopping centres in Cork as well as Liffey Valley in Dublin, said he did not believe the further information request would affect the proposed development.

His planning consultants, Cunnane Stratton Reynolds, maintain that the proposed apartments “will add a new dynamic to city centre living” while the shops would transform “dark and uninviting” Faulkener’s Lane into a “vibrant retail thoroughfare”.

Project Architects, who designed the scheme in conjunction with Gehl Consultants of Copenhagen, have been told to “reduce the palette of materials” along Faulkener’s Lane and to submit detailed shopfront design guidelines for the shops fronting on to it.

The further information request also makes clear that the scale, form and architectural treatment of one of the main buildings proposed for the Emmet Place frontage are not acceptable and its height and “unduly horizontal nature” will have to be reconsidered.

Altogether, the council has received 20 objections to the proposed development. These have come mainly from retailers and property owners in the area who are concerned about the adverse impact of demolition and construction works.

Given that O’Callaghan Properties is seeking to demolish buildings with a total floor space of over 11,000sq m (118,400 sq ft), the planners want to know how the potential adverse effects on nearby commercial properties would be mitigated.

Only two of those who have made submissions – the Cork branch of An Taisce and Mary O’Keeffe, with an address in Dundrum, Dublin 16 – have dealt with the wider impact of the scheme, saying its height would alter the character of Cork city centre.

IRISH TIMES

I’d agree, the Boole Library complex is a good building for its position opposite the Quad and also, I think, is neccesarily blocky due to its purpose as a library.
The O’Rahilly building, is pretty poor. the exterior is quite garrish, but the interior is a disaster area- rooms are poorly designed and the place is a maze!

This is a fantastic museum of a museum which does what it says on the tin!! no lazers, no animatronic dinosaurs, just classic displays and a vast collection. You cant argue with the need for extra staff and a general clean-up, but any extension should be distinct from the ‘old’ museum and should not alter the character of this scientific gem, And best of all its free to get in!!

@supperflash wrote:

Thank s for your massage!

They’re giving out massages in here???? I want one too 😀

wow big picture!!!

Webworks and UCC pharmacy, along with UCC bioscievces institute all remind me of the utter horror that is most of Waterford Institute of Technology’s Cork Road campus. has the look of something that was built from a box, with cheap plastic material.