Cork developments

Well everyone is entitled to their opinion but to me it was a concrete monstrosity located in what is otherwise a very historic part of Cork City, looking at it again in streetview it reminds me of an evil corporation's headquarters from Judge Dredd or Blade Runner.

For a finish the council were begging BAM to demolish it because it had become a haven for junkies living there, dumping needles around the area, random fires and general shite.

One of their projects managers did tell me a funny story of getting a security call out when it was demolished to find some hippy types types had scaled the fence and were trying to plant flowers in the concrete rubble 😄

This is great news to me.

While I suspect it will not be cost effective and will not happen, at least it is being considered.

I find it interesting that I, and most people I know with whom I've discussed it with, like this building but the people who dislike it just can't seem to fathom that others do not share their view.

There's definitely a line somewhere we need to draw between keeping something because it's been there ages, versus knocking it because it's ugly. I wouldn't be disappointed to knock that whole block and start afresh

Jesus planners are so full of shite, the developers have told them it's a death trap and I assume provided engineers reports to back that up and the council are like "Yeah but can you not throw millions of euro at it to leave it uninhabitable instead of knocking it down and building something useful"

You'd swear people wernt crying out for housing close to the city and the council's development plans aren't entirely based on stopping people commuting in!

"It seems that R&H Hall is technically deteriorating as a structure and that its retention is not economically viable," planners wrote.

"Given the successful re-use of some silos internationally it would be ideal that some elements of the silo illustrating its scale be retained to acknowledge its significance and keep a strong sense of place. A financial overview of the cost implications of retaining a full-height portion of R&H Hall through re-enforcement of the existing structure is requested to be provided to demonstrate the full implication of reuse of parts of the structure and this will better inform a decision."

The Council said the section of the retained silo would not need to be habitable or even usable. "Most realistically at the very least would exist as an installation feature illustrating the original function of the building," the council said.

So why didn't the council buy this site and develop it themselves? We have a massive need for housing in walking distance to cities and the government would have given them a blank cheque?

Answer: Council planners know nothing about actually building and soon enough we will see the effects of the end of the SHD option with planning grinding to a halt around the country and projects being delayed for years because local planners are arty farty pencil pushers who can't be fired and do everything in their power to make it look like they are busy.

Seriously all this crap does is make projects unviable financially and drag them on longer than the need to, best case all that extra cost gets passed onto joe public in higher apt or office space prices, worst case delays it long enough until the next recession hits and nothing gets built, don't forget there was loads of talk about this site circa 2007 too.

I can see what the planners are doing, when these type of restorations are done well like the Gasworks in Dublin and the Battersea power station, they look great. This kinda feels like one of the planners saw something in an Architects magazine and was waiting for something half suitable to pop up and try to build it here.

I appreciate beauty is subjective, but you don't hold onto something unsightly just because its old.

Your last sentence made me laugh.

It stated that you appreciate that beauty is subjective but then went on to demonstrate that you don't appreciate that at all!

All in one sentence.

Big news for the South docklands development. Not much can/could move ahead with the OCP plans (pretty much the centre city side of the South Docklands) as long as Gouldings are there; though obviously it'll be some time before they're ready to move out and the site can be remediated.

Off the top of my head. East Douglas Street (Douglas), Douglas Street (City Centre), Watercourse Road/Thomas Davis Street, Cook Street, Wandesford Quay, North Main Street, Evergreen Road, Tory Top, Ballincollig, South Mall. Not 100% sure about the Blackpool one, though

I prefer proper street furniture too but they have been doing that too, by putting proper backs and alternating hand rails (so it isn't anti homelessness) to the big blocks on Grand Parade, Cornmarket Street and Patrick Street. The handy thing about those benches above is that so much is squeezed into a small space, especially in terms of planting. The new ones being installed (with the nice green metal) are much better than the original ones installed so they are looking at improvements

There's a very sad looking one shoved in a corner near supervalue in Glanmire -

The one in Balincolig is a bit odd - on the road - in front of an enormous pavement ...

If they're not maintained (typical for Ireland) they'll look shabby in a short time, and attract litter and graffiti.

Isn't it here (red ticks)?