The regional park in Ballincollig has been awarded a prestigious Excellence in PlaceMaking Award from the Urban Land Institute, in association with property consultants CBRE. The award was made to Cork County Council, who manage the park, at the inaugural Placemaking awards in Dublin this week. It was one of two Cork successes, with the Harpers Island Ecological Project singled out for special commendation.

Harpers Island project is a council-owned site, managed with Birdwatch Ireland, the National Parks & Wildlife Service, and Glounthaune Community Association, and is part of both a special area of conservation and a special protection area. The vision for Harper’s Island is to enhance the biodiversity and plant native woodlands, and create nature trails and develop a wetlands education centre.

The ULI CBRE Excellence in Placemaking awards reward efforts to improve local communities through placemaking projects that add to the public realm and create better places in which to ‘live, work and play’.

“It’s gratifying to see the work undertaken by Cork County Council being acknowledged at a national scale,” chief executive of Cork County Council, Tim Lucey, said. “The Ballincollig Regional Park site was acquired in 1977 and since acquiring the site, we have installed the county’s first skate park, extensive footpaths, established the Ballincollig Regional Park Development Plan in 2012, which has seen an investment of €1.4m on facilities in the park. This investment is reflected in the exponential increase of usage of the park in recent years, with over 660,000 people visiting in 2018.”

“Ballincollig Regional Park has become a fantastic recreational space that is alive and buzzing, bringing the community together,” the mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy added. “It is great also to see the fantastic Harpers Island project being identified for special commendation.”