Cork developments

SleetAndSnow

airy fairy wrote: »

Was in Douglas yesterday evening. It's been a while since I was there. I grew up in the area.
Why has everything been built on a postage stamp size plot?
The new Aldi is open, former cinema site. It's large and overpowering.
Then the queue out on the road for McDonald's, another mess.
Outdoor dining in the East Village bar consisted of a few tables upstairs on the balcony and a few benches below in the dark delivery area of it's shadow. Ramen next door only takeaways. I know this is more of a private area, not sure who owns what but surprised that the Cork city council didn't make provision for outdoor dining in Douglas. In that area alone, parking areas could have been switched for dining. No big umbrellas and tables like the city. No street parklets like Ballincollig.
There's nowhere for a teen to hang out apart from the, nice, but tiny park in comparison to what's going on around the place.
I've read somewhere there are plans to build another Lidl or similar in the area?
The charm and soul of Douglas is gone.

Agree with the park bit, have a few relatives in Douglas and they were hoping that the site where Aldi is now would be turned into a sort of park, or some sort of town square as you would see in Europe. They are disappointed anyway. It was private land though I guess.

snotboogie

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

Agree with the park bit, have a few relatives in Douglas and they were hoping that the site where Aldi is now would be turned into a sort of park, or some sort of town square as you would see in Europe. They are disappointed anyway. It was private land though I guess.

Ya, you will see complaints about a park or a square on the Aldi and Lidl plots but it was never going to happen. City Council couldnt spend tens of millions to purchase a relatively small bit of land. I'm not sure it would have been a great spot for a town square anyway, all of the businesses along that road are completely car focused; KFC and McDonald's are drive through, to get into Douglas Court as a pedestrian you need to walk through a huge car park.

the beer revolu

snotboogie wrote: »

Ya, you will see complaints about a park or a square on the Aldi and Lidl plots but it was never going to happen. City Council couldnt spend tens of millions to purchase a relatively small bit of land. I'm not sure it would have been a great spot for a town square anyway, all of the businesses along that road are completely car focused; KFC and McDonald's are drive through, to get into Douglas Court as a pedestrian you need to walk through a huge car park.

Yeah, I was going to say that unless the park had a massive car park, no one would use it.

I don't know which came first but it appears to me that people from around the Douglas area (obviously a generalisation) just want to drive everywhere and Douglas reflects this.

unplayable

airy fairy wrote: »

Was in Douglas yesterday evening. It's been a while since I was there. I grew up in the area.
Why has everything been built on a postage stamp size plot?
The new Aldi is open, former cinema site. It's large and overpowering.
Then the queue out on the road for McDonald's, another mess.
Outdoor dining in the East Village bar consisted of a few tables upstairs on the balcony and a few benches below in the dark delivery area of it's shadow. Ramen next door only takeaways. I know this is more of a private area, not sure who owns what but surprised that the Cork city council didn't make provision for outdoor dining in Douglas. In that area alone, parking areas could have been switched for dining. No big umbrellas and tables like the city. No street parklets like Ballincollig.
There's nowhere for a teen to hang out apart from the, nice, but tiny park in comparison to what's going on around the place.
I've read somewhere there are plans to build another Lidl or similar in the area?
The charm and soul of Douglas is gone.

Lived up Maryborough hill with the family for years. Couldn’t agree more what a mess they have made of it. It is an absolute dive of a place at the moment and only getting worse it seems.

the beer revolu

unplayable wrote: »

Lived up Maryborough hill with the family for years. Couldn’t agree more what a mess they have made of it. It is an absolute dive of a place at the moment and only getting worse it seems.

Thing is, when was Douglas actually a great place?
When did it have a nice village feel? I don't remember this Douglas.

As far as I can remember, it's been primarily a shopping centre, traffic and a few takeaways.

ofcork

Is the lidl supposed to be built now on the bit of ground between aldi and the east village?

airy fairy

the beer revolu wrote: »

Yeah, I was going to say that unless the park had a massive car park, no one would use it.

I don't know which came first but it appears to me that people from around the Douglas area (obviously a generalisation) just want to drive everywhere and Douglas reflects this.

No, Douglas was an actual village. The merries, a petrol station, a library, guards, post office, bank, chemist, just between circle k across the road and up towards Barry's, in that area alone. People walked around Douglas. Walked up the hill to Grange before the bus went up there, but sure that's a dive now too.
You'd get the number 6 or 7 bus from the front or back village.
And the Johnny Giles ( incorrect spelling I think) at one end of the open roofed little shopping centre, down towards Quinnsworth food.
The park was for kids, not a hang out area. I lived in beyond Grange, before it was built up, no bus, and walked every Saturday to the library for school projects. Everyone walked to school.
There were times during fine days we'd walk from Sacred Heart in Turners cross back into Douglas and up towards Grange and beyond.
Everyone in Douglas knew each other. The demise if the village began when Fox Donvans sold the petrol station and transformation of the centre started soon after when putting a roof on the centre....

Nigel Fairservice

airy fairy wrote: »

The demise if the village began when Fox Donvans sold the petrol station and transformation of the centre started soon after when putting a roof on the centre....

I remember getting rained on sometimes walking through the centre when it had no roof. Hard to imagine that ever happened with the way the place is now.

Mav11

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

I remember getting rained on sometimes walking through the centre when it had no roof. Hard to imagine that ever happened with the way the place is now.

I remember it being built in the early 70's. I used to go to school in Colaiste Mhuire (now Douglas Com). We used to go cross the Tramore river on a suspended pipe, running from the school and through the site for Friday chips in KC's. I wonder what Health and Safety would say to that in todays world? Douglas was a great village in the 80's.

BTW Stillorgan SC in Dublin was built a few years before Douglas SC and it is still open roofed. Must have been the design at the time and great for covid ventilation now.

the beer revolu

airy fairy wrote: »

No, Douglas was an actual village. The merries, a petrol station, a library, guards, post office, bank, chemist, just between circle k across the road and up towards Barry's, in that area alone. People walked around Douglas. Walked up the hill to Grange before the bus went up there, but sure that's a dive now too.
You'd get the number 6 or 7 bus from the front or back village.
And the Johnny Giles ( incorrect spelling I think) at one end of the open roofed little shopping centre, down towards Quinnsworth food.
The park was for kids, not a hang out area. I lived in beyond Grange, before it was built up, no bus, and walked every Saturday to the library for school projects. Everyone walked to school.
There were times during fine days we'd walk from Sacred Heart in Turners cross back into Douglas and up towards Grange and beyond.
Everyone in Douglas knew each other. The demise if the village began when Fox Donvans sold the petrol station and transformation of the centre started soon after when putting a roof on the centre....

I remember all that. You are going back to the early 80 and beyond? I knew Douglas then, and while a whole lot better than now, I never remember it having a proper village feel.
It was always very car oriented, imo.

BTW, I never remember a Post Office in the front village.

Mav11

the beer revolu wrote: »

BTW, I never remember a Post Office in the front village.

I think and I could be wrong, that it was where the Bamboo House Chinese is now. Close to the old Garda station.

the beer revolu

Mav11 wrote: »

I think and I could be wrong, that it was where the Bamboo House Chinese is now. Close to the old Garda station.

I don't recall it.
Only post office I remember was in the back village - same side a the South County.

I can't imagine Douglas having two.

Mav11

the beer revolu wrote: »

I don't recall it.
Only post office I remember was in the back village - same side a the South County.

I can't imagine Douglas having two.

They shut the post office in the front village and moved it to the back village in the early 80s, if memory serves me right.

opus

Was away for the last week & this has gone from a site to a new building in that period. First time I've seen that modular construction take shape, they don't hang about.

Shedite27

the beer revolu wrote: »

Thing is, when was Douglas actually a great place?
When did it have a nice village feel? I don't remember this Douglas.

As far as I can remember, it's been primarily a shopping centre, traffic and a few takeaways.

My granparents and my dad grw up in Douglas, it's defintely grown up a lot. Quinnsworth was there before my time but it still felt like a village, had an east side and a west side. There wasn't much there at the time, and no real reason for people to drive there. Wilton probably the driving destination at the time.

It was probably sometime in the early 90's I'd guess, that Douglas Court, Cinema and McDonalds opened in quick succession (and added that road from Circle K to Douglas Court and Fingerpost). From that point on it had things that people wanted to drive to. Probably the first cinema in Cork that wasn't city-centre?

Daytime, it's mainly a drive-to place, evening, there's still a lot will walk to Eco's, 12 tables, Barrys, Sullivans etc.

Apogee

Examiner wrote:

The decommissioned Marina power station in Cork city is being considered as a potential site for housing development. The strategic riverside site in the heart of the city’s south docks is one of several key landbanks in the city which are being examined by the Land Development Agency (LDA), the State body set up to coordinate the delivery of housing on state land.

The LDA has already secured planning permission for 266 homes on the State-owned former St Kevin’s site on the city’s Lee Road.

It has engaged with the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice in relation to the former Cork prison site on Rathmore Road, which closed in 2016.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40324241.html?type=amp

Mefistofelino

Apogee wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40324241.html?type=amp

A development there is unlikely to yield any housing for 4-5 years, even if they decide imminently . Demolition and remediation could take up to 2 years alone, given the risks of potential hydrocarbon contamination of the soil and the widespread use of asbestos insulation.

And that's all without getting into potential planning delays with people campaigning for the retention of the brickwork structures.

Treehelpplease

what? https://twitter.com/OireachtasNews/status/1410152976459743233?s=20

Tij da feen

Treehelpplease wrote: »

what? https://twitter.com/OireachtasNews/status/1410152976459743233?s=20

The link is only a live feed. Why does he want the boundary extension to be reviewed?

marno21

Tij da feen wrote: »

The link is only a live feed. Why does he want the boundary extension to be reviewed?

https://youtu.be/cA2MiVuGDaM

cantalach

Mefistofelino wrote: »

A development there is unlikely to yield any housing for 4-5 years, even if they decide imminently . Demolition and remediation could take up to 2 years alone, given the risks of potential hydrocarbon contamination of the soil and the widespread use of asbestos insulation.

Proximity of that site to the Goulding fertiliser storage depot is also a regulatory barrier to new residential development. I think Goulding plans to relocate to the old Irish Fertiliser factory on Great Island, but that mightn't happen for a while yet.

Usir

airy fairy wrote: »

Was in Douglas yesterday evening. It's been a while since I was there. I grew up in the area.
Why has everything been built on a postage stamp size plot?
The new Aldi is open, former cinema site. It's large and overpowering.
Then the queue out on the road for McDonald's, another mess.
Outdoor dining in the East Village bar consisted of a few tables upstairs on the balcony and a few benches below in the dark delivery area of it's shadow. Ramen next door only takeaways. I know this is more of a private area, not sure who owns what but surprised that the Cork city council didn't make provision for outdoor dining in Douglas. In that area alone, parking areas could have been switched for dining. No big umbrellas and tables like the city. No street parklets like Ballincollig.
There's nowhere for a teen to hang out apart from the, nice, but tiny park in comparison to what's going on around the place.
I've read somewhere there are plans to build another Lidl or similar in the area?
The charm and soul of Douglas is gone.

Why do people still line up to buy houses there? It baffles me

mike_cork

Usir wrote: »

Why do people still line up to buy houses there? It baffles me

Plus the traffic nightmare on top-Douglas would not be a place I'd want to rent/buy in

Level 42

Usir wrote: »

Why do people still line up to buy houses there? It baffles me

Because it's different gravy -top.people and near enough to the city

whisky_galore

Usir wrote: »

Why do people still line up to buy houses there? It baffles me

Because people make sensible decisions in a boom...roll up roll up, dont miss out on the over inflated property, this madness must end soon, get on the ladder etc

bingo9999

Usir wrote: »

Why do people still line up to buy houses there? It baffles me

Because we cant wait the 10-15 years between busts, and when theres a bust our income drops further than the cost of a house. And in the time you'd be waiting you'd have it half paid off

Markcheese

Mefistofelino wrote: »

A development there is unlikely to yield any housing for 4-5 years, even if they decide imminently . Demolition and remediation could take up to 2 years alone, given the risks of potential hydrocarbon contamination of the soil and the widespread use of asbestos insulation.

And that's all without getting into potential planning delays with people campaigning for the retention of the brickwork structures.

A decent architect could make a the existing building shine - it doesn't look amazing now though -
On the timelines a lot would depend on will -
If the remediation was to be done at the same time as the planning a construction timed with Goulding's move then it could progress relatively quickly
but if the powers that be wait for gouldings to move - before starting a design and planning process before then starting the remediation it could be decades -

Apogee

https://twitter.com/ESSmodular/status/1410570024151027712

snotboogie

Markcheese wrote: »

A decent architect could make a the existing building shine - it doesn't look amazing now though -
On the timelines a lot would depend on will -
If the remediation was to be done at the same time as the planning a construction timed with Goulding's move then it could progress relatively quickly
but if the powers that be wait for gouldings to move - before starting a design and planning process before then starting the remediation it could be decades -

I assume the existing building will be knocked?

Anyone know about updates for the LDA project at St Kevins?

lostinsuperfunk

Plus the traffic nightmare on top-Douglas would not be a place I'd want to rent/buy in

I grew up nearby and I remember it being choked with traffic even back in the late 70s/early 80s before the N25/N40 overpass was built. There was a really bad road junction near where the eastern flyover is now. It's a shame because it had some potential, especially the two "main" streets and near the churches, but bad planning has allowed it to turn into a concrete jungle.