Horgan’s Quay scheme due to start in weeks

CONSTRUCTION on one of the city’s biggest hotel and office developments is due to start before the end of the month.

However, developers are warning that it could take as long as four years before the HQ Development on Horgan’s Quay is fully completed and occupied.

The ambitious development is one of several planned for the city centre quays. It is adjacent to the revamped Kent Station, while plans have also been submitted for a further office block just a few metres up the quays at Penrose Dock.

HQ - a joint development by BAM and Clarendon - includes 37,000 square metres of office space, 237 apartments and a hotel, including a rooftop bar.

The hotel, one of several in the works in the city including the Metropole, Beasly Street and Sullivan’s Quay, will be the first element of the plan undertaken by developers.

A spokesperson for the developer confirmed that HQ plans ‘to begin construction on the hotel by the end of the summer.’

It is likely to take a number of years before the full project is completed, though.

“The planning permission provides for approximately 70,000 square metres of varying types of development,” the spokesperson said.

“It will at least two years before completion and realistically three to four years before the entire site is built out and fully occupied.”

The €160 million Horgan’s Quay development is one of the most ambitious in the city centre confines and is viewed as a crucial component of the revamp of Cork’s Docklands. 5,000 people will be employed on site by the time it is finished.

Planning permission was granted by city planners in February, clearing the way for the project to proceed. However, an objection was lodged by the Port of Cork in late March, leaving the plan in limbo.

However, the Port of Cork withdrew their objection by mid-April, confirming that their concerns had been satisfied.

HQ’s plan includes apartments, open plazas, a hotel and other retail amenities.