Right of ReplyA city constrained by a Frank McDonald credo would be 'dismal and prissy' says property developer Owen O'Callaghan, responding to a feature by him in last week's Property

Can new development in Cork city be so devoid of architectural merit as to receive not a single star from Frank McDonald? (Property supplement, November 10th)

By my reckoning, not one recent commercial development is deemed worthy of favourable comment from him. Even for Mr McDonald, this must constitute a record. There is a rich irony that his comments appear under a heading "Little to show for year as European Capital of Culture".

That particular designation, hard won by Cork City Council, reflected not only the city's cultural claims but also the council's rigorous attention to detail.

In organising the EU adjudicators' itinerary, the council - for very good reason - kept the panel of adjudicators far away from the areas of dereliction where now stand many of the buildings at the receiving end of McDonald's baleful stare.

Of course, new developments which end dereliction do not automatically deserve praise but most Corkonians welcome the quantum difference that has occurred in that context.

It is difficult to follow Mr McDonald's criteria for judgement.

For example, the Glucksman Gallery has deservedly received paeans of praise over a period.

This month, the gallery received a special Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government award in Dublin Castle, as best public space in Ireland.

The same panel voted St Patrick's Street, the Beth Gali-designed streetscape, the best in the country for the second year running.

Mahon Point, excoriated by Mr McDonald, was voted the best shopping centre in Ireland by the same panel, on the basis of a range of criteria, including urban design. (Incidentally, Liffey Valley which presumably he doesn't like either, was not designed by Project Architects, as he says, but by one of the top UK architectural firms, Lyons Sleeman Hoare).

Mr McDonald "excuses" O'Callaghan Properties development in Merchants Quay, built at the height of the city's 1980s recession and generally accepted as providing the catalyst for city centre development, on the basis it was "of its time".

What arrogance and by the way, what can anything be but "of its time"?

He reserves particular bile for our development at 21, Lavitts Quay, which recently won the "Best New Cork Building Award" from a panel representative of architectural and town planning expertise, to neither of which can Mr McDonald lay claim.

The building was nominated for a Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government award, as best public space and, incidentally, was considered flexible and attractive enough to be used by Cork 2005 for a number of its major city centre events during the year.

He goes on. Howard Holdings' acclaimed City Quarter development fails to stand muster. Neither does O'Flynn Construction's bold new building at Lapps Quay find favour - nor does much else.

Mr McDonald believes quayside development in Cork should have sharp edges. Those who go a different route are guilty of "mistakes".

On what basis? Heaven preserve us from such a formulaic mindset.

There is a wonderful energy and confidence about Cork at present. The diversity of building design makes a notable contribution to that feeling.

How awful it would be to live in a city constrained by a Frank McDonald credo which would shout "sharp edges only on the quays"; "curved rounded finish allowed off quay"; "heights limited to two/three-storey in city centre". What a dismal and prissy prospect.

Deep down, I suspect Mr McDonald is uneasy about commercial and business development, preferring it wouldn't take place at all.

In recent years, Cork has emerged from being a city where nothing happened to one in which there has been an unprecedented level of development and economic prosperity.

The city's previous atrophied state largely arose from Frank McDonald-type "values" being forced on a city that was full of dereliction and wasted promise.

Now, the Cork metropolitan area is on the cusp of tremendous opportunity.

The Cork Area Strategic Plan, the National Spatial Strategy and the Docklands Re-development Project provide parameters for development that will yield much for Cork and its people.

Perhaps Mr McDonald's real difficulty is that Cork is in the midst of one of the most exciting development phases in its history. Its pace of development, the organisation of its infrastructure, the management of its traffic, contrasts sharply with Dublin.

That the city has done all this without showing the deference the capital and its incestuous media have shown to Mr McDonald must, I suppose, be a sore point.

There is a thin line between offering an opinion and pontificating and he has long since crossed that line.

My hope is that developers and those local, national and international architects criticised by Mr McDonald will do the right thing - simply ignore him and get on with the valuable and creative work in which they are engaged.

Owen O'Callaghan is managing director, O'Callaghan Properties