Building to get underway 'shortly' on Kennedy Quay as part of €350m development

O'Callaghan Properties are in talks with third parties in an effort to get moving on their proposed €350m transformation plan for the south docks

Thu, 09 Jan, 2025 - 14:00

Catherine Shanahan

APARTMENT building on Cork city’s Kennedy Quay is due to get underway “shortly” as part of a game-changing €350m docklands transformation plan by O’Callaghan Properties (OCP).

While the developer had hoped to begin construction work on the 4.1 acre site in the middle of last year, the timeline has been pushed out as OCP continues negotiations with “third parties”.

A spokesperson for OCP declined to name the third parties saying “discussions are private”.

Collaborations between private sector developers, approved housing bodies (AHBs), local authorities and the State’s Land Development Agency (LDA) are increasingly becoming a feature of apartment-building schemes due to viability issues around the cost of delivery. OCP previously partnered with Clúid Housing to deliver 88 apartments at Cork city’s first cost-rental scheme at Lancaster Gate on Lancaster Quay, while directly across the river from Kennedy Quay, the LDA is partnering with BAM/Clarendon Properties at Horgan’s Quay in the construction of a 302-unit apartment scheme.

The LDA has partnered with BAM/Clarendon on Horgan's Quay where work on a 302-unit apartment scheme is well underway Picture: Larry Cummins

OCP said there was a “range of third parties involved in ongoing and constructive discussions with OCP regarding the residential element as part of the normal project development process”.

Building c 160 apartments on Kennedy Quay is just one strand of OCP’s €350m south docks plan: a 122,000sq ft 130-bed private rehabilitation hospital is proposed for the corner of Kennedy Quay/Victoria Road and 42,000 sq ft of office space is also in the pipeline. The project will involve the restoration and redevelopment of the iconic redbrick Odlums’ Mills building.

The most visible activity on the site to date has been the demolition by O’Kelly Brothers of the 33m high landmark R&H grain silos which were knocked over a number of months, in a process that started in February last year. Large mounds of rubble remain on site.

Kennedy Quay as it is currently, with mounds of rubble due to be removed Picture: Larry Cummins

The OCP spokesperson said the demolition rubble “will be moved in the coming weeks” and will be recycled for use in other construction activities “once we have finalised plans for a suitable location”. While there has been some speculation that activity shut down on the site some months ago, the spokesperson said this was not the case, and that the last site activity was in December.

OCP had also planned a major residential development at the current Gouldings’ fertiliser site, behind the quays, on Centre Park Road, but it was shot down in November by An Bord Pleanála.

Conceptual image showing the development of the Goulding's site, to the rear of Kennedy Quay. Plans for 1.325 apartments were shot down by An Bord Pleanála

The €300m apartment plan for the 32-acre Gouldings site was contingent on the agri-fertiliser company being able to relocate to Marino Point in Cobh. However, the board ruled the move out on the basis that the road infrastructure into Cobh was insufficient to deal with the traffic that the relocated plant might generate.

The board’s decision is regarded as a major setback for the development of Cork’s docklands, which is seen as of national strategic importance. The Government has already committed €353m to the docklands regeneration.