Planning refused for apartments on Patrick St

PLANNING permission to develop apartments at the upper floors of a vacant building in the heart of the city has been refused.

In October, Majorfield Ltd lodged an application with Cork City Council seeking to change the use of part of the ground floor and the entire first, second, and third floors from office space to residential to create three studio apartments at 64 Patrick St.

The building is located at the corner of Patrick St and Grand Parade and was previously used as an office building on the upper floors and office and retail on the ground floor, according to an architectural design statement submitted with the application.

The statement said there had been “nil interest in tenants for the office use” on the upper floors of the currently vacant building.

“A positive view was taken by the applicants and the design team for a new residential use when we considered the current housing crisis in Ireland, the access to the upper floors being independent of the ground floor within the building, and the support the Cork City Council are offering due to the ‘Living City Initiative’”, it added.

The statement acknowledged that the available floor space over the three floors — 30.75sqm, 33.3sqm and 31sqm respectively — are under the minimum recommended for a studio apartment, which is set out as 37sqm in the national guidelines for new apartments, however the council was asked to make an exception and grant permission to the proposal.

A single three-storey apartment, the architectural design statement asserted, would make “a poor use of the spaces available”.

“Even though the floor areas per studio do not quite meet the minimum floor areas set out in the standards, there is a great sense of space in the floors, and this is critical in design,” the statement said.

“We understand that the proposal may cause the Planning Authority concern that it could set a precedent in granting application where floor areas do not amount to the minimum areas set out in the guidelines, which also accepts a greater percentage of studio apartments than typically allowed, however we suggest that this would not be the case, as this building presents an out of the ordinary opportunity to provide unique living spaces within the city and the layout constraints preventing or hampering traditional arrangements,” the statement concluded.

No alterations to the external façade of the building had been proposed.

Decision

In refusing planning, Cork City Council said the development as proposed “does not accord with the relevant standards for assessment of quality and layout of apartment developments as set out in the Ministerial guidelines Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments Guidelines for Planning Authorities, 2023”, stating that the proposed units “do not meet the minimum floor area requirements”.

Commenting following the decision on the application, Green Party councillor for the city’s South Central ward, Dan Boyle, indicated his disappointment that planning permission had been refused. “There is a floor space requirement, but I feel some latitude should exist to develop these spaces,” he said. “We should be encouraging more living in the city centre.”