Planning application lodged for new multi-million euro business school in Cork City centre

A planning application for the development of a new multi-million euro Cork University Business School has been lodged with Cork City Council.

University College Cork (UCC) has submitted its planning application for the development between Copley Street and South Terrace at the old Brooks Haughton site.

The application, currently at pre-validation stage, is seeking permission for the demolition of the former Brooks Haughton buildings, structures, and boundary walls and the construction of the new Cork University Business School (CUBS) building which would range in height from three to six storeys.

According to the development description, the new building would include lecture theatres, academic offices, study and teaching areas, a restaurant and coffee dock, service rooms and bike storage.

The development, if permitted, would also see the renovation of 18 and 19 South Terrace to provide for a café and study space.

The application also seeks permission to create a new pedestrian laneway from Copley Street to South Terrace, with gated access, which would be open to the public during CUBS operational hours in addition to landscaping works, including the provision of a courtyard garden accessed via South Terrace, rooftop terrace and rooftop garden.

The proposals also include temporary landscaping of a future expansion area to the east of the site, to provide a temporary pocket park.

Works to the public realm would include the widening of a footpath on Copley Street, a pedestrian crossing at the western end of the street and the realignment of the existing car parking spaces on Copley Street to include provision for a mobility access space and loading bay.

Plans for the €106m business school have been in the pipeline for a number of years, with the State committing €25m towards the costs in 2019.

Cork University Business School was established in December 2014, when four individual business-related departments and 10 business-related research centres within UCC were brought together and recognised collectively as CUBS.

Currently, CUBS does not have a dedicated building to facilitate all of its departments and research centres.

Its staff and students are dispersed at locations across UCC's campus and a number of its research centres are located in Cork City centre.

UCC has previously said the move to the centre of Cork City “will position CUBS at the heart of the business district, enhancing the social and economic fabric of the city and region”.

By bringing together the previously dispersed departments, programmes and activities, UCC said the CUBS building will provide “space to enable students and staff to take part in cross-departmental activities, which will impact on progression, success, and employability”.

It is expected that the new school, on a 1.46-acre site at Copley Street, South Terrace, Union Quay and Stable Lane, will accommodate in the region of 4,500 students and 225 staff.

A decision on the planning application is expected in February.