Approval granted for student accommodation on Sullivan's Quay

Plans for student accommodation apartments containing 503 beds on Sullivan’s Quay have been approved by Cork City Council.

The development – which will be carried out by BAM Property Ltd – will consist of 67 purpose-built student accommodation apartments spread across two blocks ranging from 5-11 storeys tall.

The apartments will contain 4-8 bedrooms each.

Aside from the apartments, amenities are to be provided for tenants, including a reception area, landscaped communal courtyard, gymnasium, entertainment room, student hub, bin stores, and bicycle stores.

Bicycle storage has been increased from the originally proposed 210 spaces, to 250 spaces.

There will also be a ground-floor café and retail unit, which will be accessible from Sullivan’s Quay, Drinan Street, Cove Street, and Meade Street, as well as a new loading bay on Sullivan’s Quay.

The development will require the removal of an ESB substation on-site.

The plans for the development were initially submitted by BAM on 5 February, but Cork City Council requested additional information from the developer in April.

The council requested that one of the buildings be reduced in size, and the materials used to be changed to keep it more in line with the character of the surrounding area. The council also requested a traffic management plan for the development.

The site formerly held the Cork office of the Revenue Commissioners before this was moved to Blackpool in 2008. BAM bought the site that same year. Plans for a hotel development on the site were shelved following the financial crash.

In 2018, BAM were provided permission for a 193-bed hotel and cylindrical tower, but this failed to progress.

The former tax office building was demolished in 2019, and the one-acre site has been blocked by hoardings since.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.