who_me

@A-ha wrote:

[font=Arial:3vt84z77]Does this developent mean that Cork will have an additional bus station or will the present one simply fall in to a derelict site???[/font:3vt84z77] :confused:

Derelict? At its current location? Not bloody likely!! 😉 With the rejuvenated Clontarf St, and new developments on Parnell Place (new hotel) and across the river (proposed Revenue building), and a stream of foot traffic going right by from the new bus/train stations the existing Bus Station would be as prime a location as you could wish for!

I believe there have been quite a few stadiums with a similar horseshoe design. Twickenham is similar, although it does have a large multi-tier stand at the “open” end too. I believe a big problem is the presence of a rail line immediately behind Hill 16. Another would be that any increase in capacity would have the local residents even further up in arms.

I actually like the Mannix building as in that image. God knows, that part of South Main St. does like pretty decrepit as it is, with the Mannix building, the ex-Liberty site, the rear of the Queen’s Old Castle and a few small run-down shops on it. Fingers crossed that this gets the go-ahead. Washington St and South Main St. badly need it!

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Adding to your previous post about the ‘buzz’ in Cork, the Hugenot quarter (sounds soo much better than “Paul St”, doesn’t it?) is really buzzing these days. Between the excellent job done on resurfacing the area – had to believe the visual impact that alone has – and the new cafes in the area, it really has a lot of character. Funny how a smoking ban has given us a ‘cafe culture’ in one fell swoop!!

It’d be great to see a similar treatment given to the others streets (Bowling Green St is one?) between Patrick’s St. and Emmet Place. If nothing else – it would add a lot of new store frontage to the city centre!

I see what the fuss was about the Crosses Green hotel, it looks like a cheap 70s office block.

Hard to fathom how a lump like this could get the go-ahead bang-smack in the middle of such tasteful buildings as St. Finbarr’s Cathedral, the mock-Tudor buildings across the road, the Elizabethan fort, and the Counting House; while the attractive Jury’s re-development needed radical changes in spite of being much further from the cathedral.

I’d have thought having a tall building right on the tip with the lower PoC buildings behind would look a bit unbalanced, but perhaps it depends on the design. Another one I can’t wait to see.

As an alternative though, would it not be more appealing to build this tower as a vertical extension to the PoC buildings (similar to the proposal for the protected building on Lavitts Quay?), but at the Western side of the site next to the Custom House? The exterior of the PoC buildings – and the Eastern end – would be untouched.

Then the site would taper more naturally from the tower, to the lower PoC buildings, to the quayside and the water.

@satanta99 wrote:

Anyway when it does happen it would really give the area, to the east of the city a focus. It would also facilitate festival retailing in the city, which would contribute greatly to our tourism potential. Its a formula which has been followed all over the world, even the simpsons have the Redeveloped Squid Port! Actually it would propbably become some over-priced tourist trap, like the square in Prague, jesus dey saw me coming in that place!

As opposed to.. what part of this city ISN’T overpriced? 😉

I believe you’re right though, I think the two-channel geography of the city makes it more interesting than most, particularly for pedestrian traffic along the riverside, and the CHQ is an obvious hub for that. If only I had millions to invest…

(Long time thread reader de-lurking – would just like to say thanks to lexington and y’all for the photos and info, it’s fascinating to see what’s in the pipeline for Cork – and indeed what obstacles they face!)

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Re: the Kenny Group’s design on Patrick’s Quay, I think it’s a stunning design – easily my favourite of all the recent and upcoming developments in Cork. Even having said that though, if I had to choose between that building, and retaining the old stone facades, I’d opt for the stone facades every time – the RC building could be built elsewhere. As mickeydocs suggested, those old buildings still look great now, and will do in another 50 years, with a basic level of maintenance, while most new developments like the RC building are, for want of a better term, ‘disposable architecture’. It will likely need a complete makeover in 30-40 years (if you don’t believe me, how many new buildings from the mid 60’s in Ireland look good now?) Whereas the retained facades are far more timeless.

More developments like the new RC building please (but let’s not knock our few remaining ‘gems’ to make way for them!) IMO, of course. 😀

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Re: the Custom House quay, I was really hoping this might be used as a bar/bistro/restaurant complex making full use of the quay areas for outdoor seating. As the docks are (hopefully!) rejuvenated, it would make a great social hub, particularly with the pedestrian bridges (as per the dockland masterplan) to the North and South quays. It also could spur a lot of foot traffic through the rejuvenated city “East End”, and join up nicely with the Lavitt’s Quay boardwalk area.

Personally, I think it would be a tremendous pity to knock the existing buildings, when so close by (South Docks area) there’s an area ideally suited for truly high rise development: existing tall buildings of little aesthetic appeal, few residents to object, riverside & city centre location.

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Re: Clontarf St. It looks like a very interesting design, but are you sure you have the right picture? That building looks too big to fit in that site (even if that picture is real size! :D), that site is tiny! I’d love to see a picture from another elevation, as the building looks round in your picture, but presumably would be much more wedge shaped in reality. Still, great to see more imaginative designs surfacing recently – hopefully a sign of things to come for future developments.

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Has any interest been announced in purchasing the Beamish & Crawford brewery for redevelopment? Probably No. 1 on my wishlist would see the Counting House retained (obviously) but the rest of the property sympathetically redeveloped, with a ‘green’ public area winding from the South Gate bridge along the riverside onto Hanover St.

It’s quite a lot of fun watching tourists struggling to frame a picture of St. Finbarr’s Cathedral while cutting out the brewery. It could be a very attractive quarter of the city, with the Counting House, the Elizabethan fort and St. Finbarr’s in close proximity. Of course, if the proposed new hotel across the river (Cross’s Green?) is as bad as it sounds, perhaps not. Is there any news of that development lexington?