Demolition work in progress at the former Beamish & Crawford, the site of a new event centre in Cork. Video by Denis Minihane.
SIGNS of progress can finally be spotted at the event centre development in Cork city.
Design works are still ongoing for the €53 million project on South Main Street, but many welcomed signs that work was finally getting underway on the demolition.
Workers arrived at the former Beamish & Crawford brewery some nine months after An Taoiseach Enda Kenny turned the sod on the project, a move that was dismissed as a “political stunt” by opponents in the months afterwards.
Demolition work in progress at the former Beamish & Crawford, the site of a new event centre in Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane.
A number of structures near the famous Counting House have already been reduced to rubble, with work progressing at a rapid pace.
To date, demolition work has been confined to the south end of the site with a number of buildings along the riverside targeted. None of the structures knocked is of historical significance.
The proposals for the event centre intend to retain the iconic Tudor facade of the Counting House.
Members of Cork City Council were recently told that design works for the event centre are ongoing. The works have been described as “complex” by city officials, as the final structure will be a multi-purpose unit which will host live music concerts as well as conferences and multi-day conventions. It is expected that the finished designs will be available by mid-October.
Developers recently proposed changes to the initial plans which will see a greater focus on accommodation at the site. The original plans for the brewery development, which received permission in 2011, included apartments to accommodate 188 students. Under revised plans lodged by developers, some 417 students may be accommodated in 61 apartments, with a reduction in the volume of retail and office space offsetting these changes.
The apartment complex will be managed by UK-based Ziggurat Student Living, which manages property at Copley Court and Leeside apartments.
Demolition work in progress at the former Beamish & Crawford, the site of a new event centre in Cork.
Picture: Denis Minihane.
It is hoped that the additional apartments will ease the pressure on the student market in the city.
that is currently causing issues throughout the city.
The revised planning application proposes to commence construction on the student apartments in early 2017, with completion the aim of opening the development in time for the academic year beginning by autumn 2018.
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