Owner of derelict building in Cork lodges another planning application for apartments
Near Building, City Been September Register Broad Has Sites The 2003 On Blackpool, Derelict The Since Cork, Council’s Lane,
The owner of a long-term derelict building in Cork City has lodged yet another planning application for apartments on the site with a suggestion that if the scheme doesn’t go ahead now, the site could continue to languish in dereliction.
Businessman Kieran O’Shea is again seeking permission for the demolition of the existing derelict warehouse at Broad Lane, off Blackpool’s Great William O’Brien St, and the construction of four apartments in a four-storey block.
The mid-19th century building which was formally a tenement known locally as The Castle, and which locals say could have been home to up to 16 families at the time, is just a few minutes’ walk to the city centre.
It has been on the city council’s derelict sites register since September 2003.
Following several attempts, planning was finally granted in 2022 for four apartments in four storeys, on condition that the top floor be omitted, which meant that only three apartments could be accommodated - a condition which Mr O’Shea said rendered the project economically unviable.
In a report submitted with the latest planning application, it is argued that in the current economic climate, with construction costs rising, even a four-unit development is “on the cusp of economic sustainability” and a failure to develop the current proposal now could see the site continue to languish in dereliction.
In the various planning applications in 2008, 2010, 2016 and 2020, planners have raised concerns about the height and massing of the proposed new building, and its potential impact on neighbouring properties.
In previous reports, they have described the site as “awkward” with an existing building that has “an unusual relationship with adjoining residences” but they have stressed that refurbishment of the site "is important to achieve".
A planning statement submitted with this latest application says following consultation with building cost and estate management consultants arising out of the conditional grant of planning in 2022, it has proven impossible to “render the proposal economically viable at the permitted, reduced density” — just three apartments.
The statement says the various applications over the years highlight how Mr O’Shea has attempted to develop the site in a manner which “squares the circle of feasible, economic development, satisfying local concerns and appropriate scale and type of development”.
It says a recurring reason given for planning refusal here is "the alleged inappropriateness" of the "massing and scale" of the proposed new building but it says referencing the scale of any urban development to “unrepresentative two storey sections of the existing urban grain is not a particularly accurate or sustainable planning approach to any city site”.
"Moreover, it only exacerbates and highlights the problem in the greater Blackpool area of significant urban decay and the need for development in the area,” it says.
A planning decision is due next month.
There are almost 180 entries on the city's derelict sites register.