The Friday View 16/12
Christmas is coming, so too is Chanukah. UCC has filed its plans to develop a city centre site that's long been vacant. Plus, our round-up of arts and culture for the week ahead.
Welcome to the Friday View on Tripe + Drisheen. The weather has, as they say round these parts, been Baltic. Thanks for subscribing to T+D, and do please spread the word.
After years of grand plans and little to show for them, the former builder’s providers yard on Copley Street at the city end of South Terrace looks set to finally be transformed. And in this decade. This past week University College Cork submitted a planning application to Cork City Council for its new business school (budget €106m). The good news for UCC is the planning application has been validated and a decision date is expected in early February from the City Council. This would finally set in motion a new chapter for a site that has as much to say about speculation and land hoarding as it does about our planning laws.
A quick recap: In 2019, UCC paid €17.25 to Dairygold for the 0.66 hectacre site (around 1.5 acres). This came ten years after Alchemy Property lodged an application in 2009 to turn the site into office and retail space. The Council gave its blessings, but Alchemy did not act on its grand plans. In 2015, the property passed to Watfore Ltd. who lodged an application to modify the original planning application. Again the Council acquiesced. And then in 2019, Watfore, a subsidiary of Dairygold sold the site to UCC. I wrote a long piece for the first ever print issue of Tripe+Drisheen about the saga which you can read here. I spent a lot of time reading through planning application files and financial reports. I asked Dairygold for an interview on multiple occasions. No interviews were forthcoming. The Irish Examiner this week reported that Alchemy paid around €15 million, but went on to say Dairygold sold it to UCC for an “undisclosed sum”. UCC published a press release with the top line figure of €17.25m back in 2019. That’s a profit of give or take €2m on the initial investment.
So, what do the plans for the college’s 4,000 student campus look like? The former yard will be demolished and in its place there will be a business school ranging in height from three-six storeys. Fom first impressions, based on renderings submitted in the planning applications, there’s lots of glass, but thankfully it’s not all glass. The site contains two Georgian houses, which are the property of UCC, and have a preservation order (UCC commissioned a bat survey in September, but found no evidence that the site was a bat habitat). The plan is to turn one of the Georgian houses into a cafe. There’s also a plan for a courtyard garden, two roof top gardens and a “temporary pocket park” in the eastern section of the site. The planning application says all the usual right things: lots of public realm additions, green spaces etc. This line, in particular, stands out (for its jargon power). “Moreover, the spatial arrangement of the site provides for tension and release, for density in balance with greenspace, the latter providing a respect zone between the historic buildings on South Terrace and the new building…”
Assuming the new business school gets built, and given the history of this site, we shouldn’t presume too much, it will result in an influx of people to an area that is residential, but also home to the School of Music, St. John's Central College, Cork College of Commerce and a nearby secondary school. Given the recent penchant for christening certain parts of the city with the word Quarter, it might well become Education Quarter, or the EQ for short!
The area around South Terrace is well served by buses, with many coming in from the suburbs, but you would expect a lot of the students to be living in the city or out towards the university, and therefore coming on foot or by bike. It’s about 2km as the crow flies from the gates of UCC to South Terrace.
According to the planning application, CUBS has a target student population of 4,500 and around 260 staff, but the college estimates that there will be around 1,350 students in the building at any one time. UCC’s figures show that only around 10% of students use bikes to get to college, a figure they expect to increase to 15% in the next 10 years. That doesn’t seem all that ambitious, but based on those figures there will be covered bike parking for 217 bikes, including five cargo bikes at the new business school.
As for Watfore, the Dairygold subsidiary? They haven’t gone away. In fact, they received conditional planning permission for a massive development at the old CMP Dairies site on the Kinsale Road which would see hundreds of homes built on the site. More grand plans, or will we see Watfore build this time round? It will be interesting to see what Watfore and Dairygold do this time round, especially in a housing crisis. Time is ticking.
News in brief
Chanukah: This month the Cork Jewish Community and Cork City Council will celebrate Chanukah. While the city hasn’t had a synagogue since 2016, there has been a Jewish community in Cork city since the late 1800s musician Ruti Lachs told T+D. At its height the Jewish community numbered around 450 people.
“Thankfully, this community is celebrated in perpetuity in the Cork Public Museum where there is a permanent exhibition of artefacts and stories of the old community,” Ruti said.
While the synagogue is gone, there is still a community and rituals to celebrate, especially in the month of December.
“As we are back holding services and events, we meet many people who are interested in learning more about their heritage, or who may have grown up in a Jewish community but lost interest as adults, or who may not even have had much to do with Judaism growing up, but want to teach their children about their ancestors,” Ruti added.
Full details of Chanukah celebrations listed below in Out+About.
Bike this way: The Parents Association of Beaumont Boys and Girls School were this week recognised by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) for their efforts in starting and maintaining a cycle school bus when they won a Leading Lights award. The PA have been running a cycle bus since September of 2021 and they’ve kept it going on a regular basis. Eighty kids turned out at the Christmas cycle on December 7.
Frank Fitzgerald, from the City Council’s sports and sustainability department has coordinated with the school, told T+D that Beaumount has “shown how parents, teachers, pupils, residents and Cork City Council can all work together to improve road safety.”
“They set about introducing measures that not only help keep people safer but also promote the use of healthier travel modes for students,” he added.
Park. Ride: The temporary Park&Ride serving the western suburbs of the city continues for this weekend and will end on December 24. Running between County Hall and Sheares Street, buses will be in operations from 9:30 am on Saturday and 10:30 on Sundays. On the southside of the City Black Ash Park&Ride is open daily.
Photo of the week - a Christmas past on Pana
Out + About
🎄🎄A Christmas glow: Glow will be holding a packed schedule of events this coming weekend at Test Site at the bottom of Cornmarket Street. On Saturday 17 between 12-2m a drop-in bike repair clinic will be up and running. Following that Cork Clothes Swap will hold a clothes swap. No booking is required, but it’s worth noting that if you’re bringing clothes along, you are asked to bring up to five items of clothing and no underwear, swimwear, sleepwear, shoes or accessories.
On Sunday, December 18 artist Aoife Claffey will be holding a festive themed screen print workshop in which you can screen print your own napkins using recycled fabrics and festive patterns. Materials and designs will be available to choose from. The workshop runs from 12:30 pm - 3:30pm. From 1pm Maggie O' Shea will guide hold wreath making workshop where you’ll learn how to assemble your own table centre. Materials will be provided, but you can also bring your own. More details here. Full details of all events here.
Time, date, place: 17&18 December, Test Site, Kyrls Street, Cork city
🎬Home Alone or Die Hard: It’s a perennial question: what’s the greatest Christmas movie of all time (and who cares)? Well if Die Hard is your answer, then you probably owe it to yourself to get along to the Triskel where it will be showing for a couple of nights next week. On the other hand, if your vote is for Home Alone (which I saw when it came out in the Capital…last century), then you’re also in luck as that too is screening at the Triskel next week. More information here.
Time, date, place: 8:15 pm, from 20 December, Triskel Arts Centre, Grand Parade.
🖼 Line drawing: Taking its title from a famous line from the artists Henri Matisse (“Drawing is putting a line around an idea), A Line Around an Idea at The Glucksman, features work from a range of artists, designers and architects including Pablo Bronstein, Felicity Clear, O’Donnell + Tuomey, the architects behind the award winning gallery. The exhibition also features a drawing room with easels set up and guests are invited to try their hand at drawing. On Family Sundays between 3pm and 4pm there are free creative sessions running in the basement. No booking required and materials are supplied.More information here.
Time, date, place: Daily until March 23, (closed every Monday), The Glucksman Gallery, UCC
😹LOLs: It’s comedian Chris Kent’s turn to host the CoCo Comedy Club upstairs at The Roundy tonight. Northsider Chris, a former electrician, is a regular on stages around town and might well be the funniest person in Cork, if Cork wasn’t so full of funny people. He’ll be joined by a smattering of comedians to be announced on the night. Tickets from €16. More information here.
Time, date, place: 8: 30 pm, Friday, 16 December, The Roundy 1 Castle Street
🗣Sticking with the Roundy: An raibh tú i gcónaí ag iarraidh freastal ar Sos Lóin ach tá sé róluath? Beidh Sos Lóin againn sa tráthnóna, Dé Máirt, 20ú Nollaig sa Roundy. Fáilte roimh chách! John saidf it better as gaeilge than I could, but the message there is that Sos Lóin will be moving to an evening slot next week for all those who’d like to attend but can’t make it during lunch. All levels are welcome. It’s an opportunity to speak Irish. No registration required and lots of friendly faces guaranteed.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Tuesday, November 20, The Roundy 1 Castle Street
🎶Christmas carols: On Tuesday night next week, Cork City based choir Cór Cois Abhann will be joined by Soprano Gemma Magner and Cór Scoil Bhríde Eglaintín for a night of Christmas carols and songs at The Lough church in aid of Saint Vincent de Paul. All are welcome. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Tuesday, December 20, The Lough Church, The Lough Road
🕯Happy Chanukah. The Cork Jewish Community (CJC) will be celebrating Chanukah with a series of events beginning with CJC Chanukah party – a Jewish community event with games, doughnuts and latkes. Spaces are limited and you can find out more by contacting info@corkjewishcommunity.ie. On Wednesday, December 21, the fourth night of Chanukah there will be a candle light ceremony at City Hall with Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde. Space is limited, and those interested in attending are asked register interest at the email address above. On Thursday, December 22, the celebration moves online with Chanuka candle lighting and songs on Zoom. Email as above to register interest.
This week on T +D
On Monday we published a news story outlining concerns by Cork City Councillors over use of caustic soda to treat Cork drinking water amidst ongoing quality complaints. Full story here.
On Tuesday, writer Roz Crowley made her T+D debut. A well-known food and drinks writer, Roz had a few sparkling wine recommendations as well as easy to make recipes to pair with the bubbly.
On Wednesday Ellie wrote about Maria O’Sullivan, a mother of three who has been on Cork City Council’s housing list for nine years. Maria says she was locked out of the Choice Based Letting (CBL) social housing allocation system for a year for “unreasonable refusal” after council staff asked if they could withdraw the offer of the house she had bid on. Full story here.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, contact Ellie at emailellieobyrne@gmail.com. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch.