Saucy Jack
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:confused: The pedestriansation of Oliver Plunkett Street should be great but those 5ft poles are a nuisance and look awful right now. The Light standards were meant to be installed months ago. Its like the portacabin for the bus drivers on Patricks St.semi-permanent fixtures.If you walk around the city regurlarly you can’t fail to notice all the surplus metal poles which impede movement on pavements etc. These defunct metal poles where the sign has been removed seem to have some protection status.There are literally hundreds of them.
@yorktown wrote:
Mary leland…..If I ever see her smiling face again on the paper……really recks my head….
:p Mary has consistantly been against any development in Cork in her column in the Irish Examiner & Sunday Independant.Basically everyone should have a view of St.Finnbars,Bring back the shawlies to Cornmarket Street and leave everything exactly as it is and if possible reverse development completely without any thought where an expanding young population shall live.i.e. sometime around 1950.Mary has a cosy home in Blackrock Cork city which was once open fields 150 years ago with orchards etc……..people have to live somewhere !!!
:rolleyes: He does seem quite unhappy with the Architecture & Town Planning in Ireland perhaps he may be happier in Poundbury or Switzerland ?
lexington wrote:🙁 It seems X-CES Projects will now have to face up to the deliberation of ABP concerning their €200m Golf Resort development – which will include golf resort residencies, a 185-bedroom Hyatt Hotel, 18-hole champion golf-course, equestrian event centre and other associated provisions – designed by Henry J. Lyons & Partners and scheduled to be constructed by Bowen Construction.😎 I heard from the horses mouth that X-CES are very confident of getting a positive result from ABP but have major concerns with the construction costs especially the infrastructural element.It is probably going to be reduced and phased to suit a smaller budget.
I think that there is a Mini English Market going in there also and Lennox’s will be hilarious different.
Hope they get the transatlantic flights next.Looks OK in the images and I wonder what the parking provisions are.
What happened to John Pauls site at the former Grand Parade / Sir Henrys site as nothing appears to have started there in a long time. ?@Radioactiveman wrote:
I brought up the same point ages ago in the old thread I think. I’ve got no knowledge of construction, etc. but was told that its all to do with the mortar that’s used and that its natural and will go away, etc.,etc.
That doesn’t detract from the fact that it looks crap and happens to every red-brick building in the city. Camden wharf is a particularly obvious example.Efflourescence – Deposits of soluble salts which appears on the surface as brickwork dries out out for the first time.The mortar used is only a minor contributor to the problem.
@lexington wrote:
lexington has been slacking off the past few days, but it’s been a hectic week. Things on the development front should pick up again in the not so distant future all going well…in the meantime..
🙂 Yesterday saw Fleming Construction make a joint announcement with the Sheraton Group regarding the operation of its 5-star resort hotel under construction at Fota Golf Resort. Indeed, Sheraton, who also operate the Westin in Dublin, will head up control at the Hogan & Associates designed 3-storey 133-bedroom hotel and spa. The hotel will be the first internationally operated 5-star hotel in the region and is set to open in Spring 2006.
Sheraton Hotel Fota Golf Resort Image
Frank MacDonald’s Irish Times articleLink here. (Thank you Radioactiveman ).
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to dissect the article, but I agree it was probably a case of sour milk over the cornflakes – to quote kite.
However, I just wish to take issue with 1 or 2 things very briefly –
I think undue aggro is afforded O’Callaghan Properties in the article. People are very quick to knock Merchant’s Quay (MQ) for example – in terms of its architecture. I agree, it is perhaps not the most attractive city centre structure – in fact, I believe (and I may be amended on this one), Mr. O’Callaghan himself noted that it’s design was a product of its time (and one which far preceeded the actual construction dates as well) and the economic climate associated with it. Some may not find this excusable, but I would ask them to consider the context in which it was built, and take note that on completion in 1989, MQ was Cork’s largest urban regeneration project, valued at approx. IR£30m. 3 years prior to it’s opening, Cork was trenched in economic duldrums following not only the closures of plants by Ford and Dunlop, but also the knock-on effects this had for many other businesses around Cork. When Mr. O’Callaghan and the Heron Property Company undertook the initiative at Merchant’s Quay, it was indeed a big risk considering the climate – however the centre and it’s construction provided a vital economic boost and source of employment to a region which needed a little light in some pretty dark days. The coup of attracting tenants like Marks & Spencer, Laura Ashley and so on, was icing on the cake and fair credit to Mr. O’Callaghan and his team. Significantly, OCP projects have over the years continued to pay more attention to design and adjusted with the perceptual and economic climates which accompany their projects, such as Jurys, such as 21 Lavitts Quay and so on. There is always the possibility that MQ will receive a makeover in the coming future, a vertical extension perhaps?, and this may amend external facades. But when people go to knock MQ and OCP, remember what an important and risky project it was to undertake and the lease of life it helped afford the city. The same can be said for Mahon Point (another Ambrose Kelly-school designed project). Without the prosperity we are so lucky to enjoy today, our increasingly prevalent appreciation for better and more imaginative design, may not be so – say, ‘forthright’.
As for Howard Holdings’ efforts at Lapps Quay, I think the product speaks enough on its own standing. 🙂
The decision has actually been made RM and I will do my best to let you know more as soon as I can.
Merchants Quay was another opportunity lost on a massive scale for Cork in such a prominent position and the problem with “build something instead of nothing at all” policy. Driving down the city’s quays all it offers is the massive neon backlight signage of “Dunnes Stores”.Remember Ambrose Kelly is’nt an architect.
Little to Show for Corks year as European Capital of Culture – The Irish Times 10 November 2005.
Scathing article by Frank McDonald ( who else?) after a positive article in the same esteemed journal earlier in the year. In a nutshell hates all the Howard Holdings / O’Callaghan Properties attempts around our City loves the Glucksman.The Cork City Council inertia and double standards baffle us all and its good to have an outside view on our beautiful city and its administrators.
I hate to say it but he’s right about everything.Anyone know when that Busmans portacabin is being removed from Patricks street.It was meant to go months ago and it really spoils the look of the street in that area.
Zig-zag building at Victoria cross ??? The design which can only be appreciated from a height of 500ft maximises the land use as a 3-d money diagram for its owners.Appalling Peckam style blocks with materials which wont even weather the monstrosity.This type of development gives high-rise a bad name.Inconsistant mysterious planning policies as usual.
Well if you compare Howards City Quarter and O’Flynns Lapps Quay development there is a massive difference in design and quality of finish in both schemes.City Quarter is OK .City Quarter is poor at the riverfront corners with a glass block drum rising full height in the one area where you would get great views down river. Lapps Quay could be on the beachfront in Miami with the awful colours and curtain walling.Plus the boardwalk should have been extended to City Hall bridge as we still have cars parked head on to the river in 2005.The planners should have got with O’Flynns and the other users there to upgrade this area as a condition of planning etc.
Martin Cullen has been handed a “hospital” pass.
He won’t be able to deliver any of his aspirational plan on time or budget.
Bertie is the cleverest and most cunning of them all.Great photo of that area which always had potential for riverside development. If only the custom house buildings could be restored and opened up for bar/cafe/art gallery/restaurant/tourism type retail where the 2 branches of the Lee meet.These buildings are excellent and neglected for so long.Imagine if these were in a prominent location in Dublin ?
Is there or will there be enough demand for all the new office space in this area considering that O’Flynns AnPost site scheme is also due to start next year.Berlin had its U-Bahn,S-Bahn & Trams destroyed 60 years ago. Here we ripped out Corks & Irelands infrastructure with very little foresight for the future.Even if we had the tram system that we had in 1931 it would be a massive tourist attraction if nothing else similar to San Francisco’s.Cork City Council and County council is full of transport plans,area action plans,development plans,special area plans etc gathering dust in there.Martin Cullens plan is a hospital pass for him – it wont happen,on time or on budget.Remember the voting machine fiasco.You can travel within a few blocks of most destinations in Berlin as a high density city even out to the suburbs.We now are going to have a 3-storey low density city in Cork apart from 2 or 3 areas.
Our elected TD’s,councillors and planners have a lot to answer for.
