Planning approved for apartments in Cork city

Planning has been granted for an apartment block in Cork City which will provide a dozen new homes in the city centre. Last November, Dranom Developments submitted plans with Cork City Council seeking permission for the construction of a five-storey building at 29 Coach St.

The application proposed the development of 15 new homes consisting of 14 one-bedroom apartments and one studio apartment, all with private open space in the form of an integrated balcony.

It stated that the development would include alterations to an existing residential building on the site to accommodate access to the development. It said the development would also include the provision of bike storage but no car parking. A document submitted with the planning application stated that the Coach St site is comprised of a plot of vacant land around 10m in width with an area to the rear that wraps around the existing residential building.

The area of the site is about 600sq m, of which 245sq m is vacant with the remainder being occupied by the existing residential building.

The site is bounded in the front by Coach St, to the south by Peter’s St, and to the rear by a private laneway that is entered from Peter’s St to the south and Henry St to the north.

“The site itself is infill in nature and is bounded by the aforementioned block of apartments to the south comprised of four storeys and a line of three-storey dwellings to the north with pitched roofs,” the document stated.

It asserted that the design and nature of the development had been guided by the relevant planning policies.

In relation to the height of the proposed building, it stated that Coach St is currently dominated by development that ranges from three to four storeys with pitched roofs; however, “the trend more recently in the surrounding areas along Bachelors Quay is for five-six storey development”.

Cork City Council required some further information before making a decision on the application.

As a result some changes to the proposals were made.

These include a reduction from five to four storeys which has resulted in a decrease in the number of units from 15 to 12.

The 12 new apartments in a block attached to the existing residential development that contains 12 apartments will see 24 apartments at the site.

There are 19 routine conditions attached to the council’s approval of the development.