Apartment blocks opposite Kent Station approved

PLANS for two apartment blocks opposite Kent Station have been green lit by Cork City Council.

The application, submitted by S&L Supple and Lynch Ltd last August, sought permission for the development of 19 apartments at a site between 81 and 82 on Lower Glanmire Rd.

It proposed the partial demolition of an existing stone boundary wall to Lower Glanmire Rd to create a pedestrian entrance to the development and the construction of nine two-bed apartments and 10 one-bed apartments in two blocks over four storeys.

The application also included several other elements, among them a proposed communal garden and bicycle parking.

The site is an old and unused railway line raised above Lower Glanmire Rd behind a wall.

A design statement submitted with the application said the site of proposed development is zoned ‘Sustainable Residential Neighbourhoods’ and that the development had been designed to “harmonise” within the existing urban context.

The proposed development it contends “responds to the historic larger residential properties to the north” and the “evolving contemporary context to the south” by establishing an "appropriate scale and relating presence for the development".

Cork City Council sought some further information before making a decision on the application, but ultimately decided to approve it subject to 30 conditions.

One condition states that the applicant is required to commission a qualified ecologist who is a National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) licensed bat worker to survey the site for bats prior to commencement of site clearance works.

Another stipulates that pedestrian movement on the existing public footpath must be maintained at all times during construction unless suitable temporary traffic management is otherwise agreed with Cork City Council’s traffic department in advance.