Cork City Council has requested further information on plans by O'Callaghan Properties for a major retail and residential development in the heart of the city, saying it "is not acceptable in its current form".
The council's planners are "concerned with the building heights proposed for the overall scheme", which would step up to nine storeys, and say these heights "will have to be modified to mitigate its impact" on the surrounding area.
They say the maximum building heights should be reduced by approximately 8m (26 ft) - equivalent to the omission of two floors - and that the "shoulder height" of buildings fronting streets should also be reduced.
The proposed development covers two city blocks bounded by Patrick Street, Academy Street, Emmet Place and Bowling Green Street. It would provide 19 large retail units on four levels as well as 91 apartments and two gyms overhead.
In their request for further information, the planners are seeking a revised visual impact statement, including a further series of photomontages showing how the scheme would look from various points.
They want the developers to provide a scale model of the proposed development as well as details of its impact on the vistas of such landmark buildings as Holy Trinity Church, SS Peter and Paul's Church.
The planners have queried the proposed demolition of the former Cork Examiner building on Patrick Street.
"Whilst not a protected structure, its attractive appearance contributes significantly in a positive fashion to the existing streetscape," they say.
While supporting the traditional block structure of the scheme, they are concerned that its treatment at ground-floor level would give pre-eminence to a widened Faulkener's Lane at the expense of both Academy Street and Bowling Green Street.
"The number of secondary staircases/lift cores proposed . . . and what appear to be rear doors as well as the narrowness of the shopfronts . . . is not acceptable and requires to be modified so as to ensure the continued vitality of Academy Street."
Owen O'Callaghan, who previously developed the Merchant's Quay and Mahon Point shopping centres in Cork as well as Liffey Valley in Dublin, said he did not believe the further information request would affect the proposed development.
His planning consultants, Cunnane Stratton Reynolds, maintain that the proposed apartments "will add a new dynamic to city centre living" while the shops would transform "dark and uninviting" Faulkener's Lane into a "vibrant retail thoroughfare".
Project Architects, who designed the scheme in conjunction with Gehl Consultants of Copenhagen, have been told to "reduce the palette of materials" along Faulkener's Lane and to submit detailed shopfront design guidelines for the shops fronting on to it.
The further information request also makes clear that the scale, form and architectural treatment of one of the main buildings proposed for the Emmet Place frontage are not acceptable and its height and "unduly horizontal nature" will have to be reconsidered.
Altogether, the council has received 20 objections to the proposed development. These have come mainly from retailers and property owners in the area who are concerned about the adverse impact of demolition and construction works.
Given that O'Callaghan Properties is seeking to demolish buildings with a total floor space of over 11,000sq m (118,400 sq ft), the planners want to know how the potential adverse effects on nearby commercial properties would be mitigated.
Only two of those who have made submissions - the Cork branch of An Taisce and Mary O'Keeffe, with an address in Dundrum, Dublin 16 - have dealt with the wider impact of the scheme, saying its height would alter the character of Cork city centre.
