Cork City flood defence scheme finally gets underway

Contractors deployed barriers in the South Mall and Morrison’s Island area over the weekend to be used in traffic management ahead of the start of construction on the project, which is expected to take about 20 months to complete.

As well as giving the area a major facelift, the scheme will deliver integrated flood defences which have been designed to provide protection against one-in-100 year tidal flooding events for some 400 city-centre properties.

The city council said Jons Civil Engineering Company Ltd has been appointed as main contractor to carry out the works, due to start within days, to deliver:

• High-quality upgraded and accessible streetscape with new footpaths, public seating, new plaza space and river viewing platform at Parnell Bridge, and public space at Trinity Bridge, as well as improved public realm at Holy Trinity Church;
• Integrated flood defences which will provide protection against one-in-100 year tidal flooding events for approximately 400 city-centre properties;
• A 3m-wide riverside promenade along the length of Morrison’s Quay and Father Mathew Quay;
• Rerouted traffic movement and reduced parking, to facilitate significant improvements for pedestrians, wheelchair users, and cyclists, including the provision of cycle parking;
• Refurbished and strength-ened quay walls;
• Public realm improvements at the entrances to Trinity Bridge (at Cork College of Further Education and Training), including new public seating;
• Refurbished and enhanced heritage features, including street lamps and bollards;
• Enhanced views of, and access to, the River Lee;
• Enhanced planting including trees and pollinator-friendly herbaceous plants.

The first phase will focus on the junction of Morrison’s Quay and South Mall to deliver an enhanced public plaza area and riverside viewing platform.

To facilitate the works, some local traffic diversions will be in place. Local access and pedestrian and cycling access will remain.

The project, which is being supported by the Office of Public Works (OPW), includes the area along Morrison’s Quay and Father Mathew Quay between Parnell Bridge and Parliament Bridge, as well as a small section on Union Quay at Trinity Bridge.

The low-lying and flood-prone areas experience flooding several times a year when a high tide coincides with certain meteorological conditions.

When these conditions coincide with heavy rainfall or storm surges, the city centre island, including South Mall and Oliver Plunkett St, and the various side streets between them, are all at risk of flooding.

Flood defences in this area were proposed almost a decade ago as part of the Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme. However, given the city’s major tidal flood risk comes from Morrison’s Island, it was decided to split the flood defence works here from the massive overall scheme, and to advance them as a standalone project in association with a public realm upgrade.

The Save Cork City campaign group, which is opposed to the OPW’s Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme, and which insists a tidal barrier should be built instead, ran a design competition to showcase the potential of the Morrison’s Island area.

However, councillors voted in May 2018 to approve the Part 8 planning for the council and OPW-designed scheme.

Save Cork City subsequently mounted a legal challenge which resulted in the council having to submit a new planning application for the scheme to An Bord Pleanála, which approved the scheme in 2020 but that decision was challenged by way of judicial review in the High Court.

Several architecture students in the city backed Save Cork City’s stance that the council and OPW approach was flawed, and that the Morrison’s Island design proposals could have been far more sensitive to an urban heritage quayside.

However, the High Court found no basis existed to stop the scheme from proceeding, and in a subsequent further judgement, the High Court refused leave to appeal the judgement, clearing the way for detailed design and tendering of the scheme to proceed.

Council chief executive Ann Doherty said the scheme will transform the Morrison’s Island area and provide much-needed flood protection to hundreds of residents and businesses.

“This south-facing riverside area has so much more to offer and Cork City Council, with the support of the OPW, is unlocking that potential, providing for the revitalisation and regeneration of this part of the city centre,” she said.

Cork Business Association (CBA) president Aaron Mansworth described the project as “transformative”.

“This scheme will significantly enhance visual amenity and unlock commercial potential, highlighted by the multi-million euro redevelopment of the Old Moore’s Hotel site which is now home to Premier Inn, Cork’s newest hotel offering,” he said.

“Crucially, it will provide essential flood protection long campaigned for by CBA, reassuring property owners and businesses by safeguarding their premises and livelihoods.

“The project includes a significant public realm upgrade and the refurbishment of historic quay walls, protecting the majority of the city centre against major flood events and greatly benefiting the business community.

“In these challenging times, the reassurance of flood protection is a highly positive and welcome development.”