Planning & DevelopmentPlans for a new quarter on 400 acres in Cork's Docklands are gathering pace with some developers expecting to be on-site next year, writes Michelle McDonagh

With a resident population of 20,000 - as well as 650,321sq m (7 million sq ft) of non-residential development and the provision of up to 25,000 jobs - the new Cork Docklands will be, as city manager Joe Gavin puts it, the size of "a sizeable Irish town".

The Docklands comprises 400 acres of land extending down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh with 4kms of waterfront all within a 20-minute walk from City Hall. The massive regeneration programme - which will cost in the region of €4 billion to €5 billion according to Gavin, and will take about 15 years to fully complete - proposes a vibrant mixed-use quarter which will be an easterly extension of the city centre.

Since the Docklands Strategic Study was launched in 2002, there has been significant interest generated in the Docklands which has seen property values in the area rocket in the past five years.

Gavin, who has been a major force in the city's revival over the past seven years since he took up the reins as city manager, says that the Docklands development will necessitate the building of new infrastructure, including two new bridges (one at Water Street and the other at the Skew Bridge connecting the Docklands to the Lower Glanmire Road).

He explains: "We have taken a policy decision that these bridges will be opening bridges so that the maritime traffic to the heart of the city continues into the future. There are plans to move the main port to Ringaskiddy in the future so there will not be as much commercial and quayside activity in the Docklands as there is at the moment." The city council has purchased through CPO the 22-acre Cork Showground site on the east end of the Docklands for the development of a large amenity park called Marina Park for the city.

"We are hoping to see a mixture of retail, residential, leisure and educational use in the Docklands over the coming years. The area is privately owned by less than a dozen people who we have been working with closely over the last couple of years," says Gavin.

He has set up a special Docklands development team headed up by director of services, Pat Ledwidge, who has been working closely with all of the stakeholders to prepare a master plan for the area.

Due to the scale of the development, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also recently announced the establishment of a Cork Docklands National Forum to co-ordinate responses at Government level and support Cork City Council in the implementation of its plans.

A planning application is due to be lodged in July for the first major project at the Docklands on a 30-acre site near Páirc Uí Chaoimh - the single largest development ever in the city. The joint venture involving Howard Holdings and Tedcastles will see the development of some 213,677sq m (2.3 million sq ft) of office, residential and retail space along with a 200-bedroom hotel.

Howard Holdings has already built the Clarion Hotel and office development at Lapp's Quay, one of the first new developments on the edge of the Docklands, as well as the Web Works at Albert Quay beside City Hall in conjunction with the Cork City Council and Enterprise Ireland.

Greg Coughlan of Howard Holdings says he hopes to be on site this time next year, with the first phase of the seven-year €2 billion project completed in 2011. He is proposing to build two 20-storey towers and a number of lower rise buildings as part of the high density development that he says is going to be "like a mini city".

"We have been working very closely with the council on this over the last five years, it hasn't just come out of the woodwork. It involves colossal infrastructure. There's a new local area plan for the south Docklands coming out at the end of May and I believe this will incorporate a lot of our own vision for the area," he comments.

Gavin says the council will need a lot of support from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, as well as the private sector, in securing the target of 25,000 jobs for the area.

He says: "We would really like to attract the third-level educational institutions into the area and, towards that end, we will be recommending to the Government that they allow tax breaks or direct funding for such new developments."

Gavin sees the Docklands project as a major opportunity for investment and growth in Cork city and he promises a very high quality design, using modern technologies to ensure the buildings are sustainable into the future.

"Generally speaking, the buildings will be six to seven storeys high with room for occasional taller buildings. The Elysian building beside City Hall is currently the tallest building in Ireland at 17 storeys.

"We are currently looking at preparing guidelines for tall buildings in Cork so whether or not there will be more this high remains to be seen," he says.