Cork city event centre planning to ensure compliance

THE developers and the design team behind Cork’s long-awaited event centre are working with Cork City Council to ensure compliance with the planning conditions set out so the “latent potential” of the venue “becomes a reality for Cork city”.

Last month, the chief executive of Cork City Council, Ann Doherty, told The Echo that detailed design on the 6,000-capacity venue — which is due to be built on the site of the former Beamish & Crawford brewery on South Main St — had been completed.

Documents recently submitted to the council’s planning department show that, following the conclusion of the detailed design process, a number of amendments to the building have been proposed.

An architect’s planning compliance report submitted last month, states that “as with all large scale projects, the detailed design process has suggested some alterations to the permitted building in order to comply with building regulations including fire safety, access and use, and conservation of fuel and energy, as well as operational requirements”.

The report contends that none of the proposed alterations “are considered to be material or substantial in the context of the overall scale and complexity of such a development and building type”.

The report states that Scott Tallon Walker Architects has worked closely with developer BAM, operator Live Nation, and specialist design team members “to develop in detail the final proposals, drawings, specifications, and pricing documents for the event centre”.

There are 19 conditions attached to An Bord Pleanála’s approval of the development.

When it has been confirmed that the conditions are being complied with, pricing negotiations with sub-contractors and suppliers can be completed “with confidence”, the architect’s planning compliance report states.

It added that the team is committed to ensuring that the “latent potential of this iconic and historic site and venue becomes a reality for Cork city”.

The sod was turned on the event centre in February 2016 and the project has been delayed for numerous reasons over the years.