Housing approved for 170 residential units at Cork's Vita Cortex site

Permission has been granted for a large-scale residential development on the brownfield site of the former Vita Cortex plant on Kinsale Rd and Pearse Rd.

In 2011, the Vita Cortex factory, where foam for furniture and packaging was produced, was the scene of a peaceful, 160-day sit-in protest by workers who had been made redundant without pay just before Christmas.

The dispute led to nationwide protests, a television appeal, and was the subject of debates in Dáil Éireann.

Eventually, a resolution for an undisclosed sum was reached.

The new development at the site will consist of 170 residential units, including 12 townhouse apartments, to include 51 one-bed apartments, 84 two-bed, and 35 three-bed, all to be arranged in four blocks varying in height from four to part-eight/part-nine storeys.

The proposed development also includes a creche, cafe, and management office, four retail units, 514 bicycle spaces, nine motorcycle spaces, and 82 shared car-parking spaces, including 13 EV spaces and six accessible spaces.

COMMUNAL SPACES

The plans also include private, communal, and public open spaces, rooftop solar panels and green roofs, internal roads and pathways; new vehicular and pedestrian access points from Kinsale Rd and Pearse Rd, and bin stores.

The future implementation of BusConnects along Kinsale Rd will also be facilitated in the plans, the developer added.

There were dozens of submissions and objections, with local residents saying there was inadequate road and public transport infrastructure, raising concerns about traffic congestion, and saying that some of the blocks were of “excessive height”.

In its planning statement, developer BML Duffy Property Group Limited said: “The site is well connected to the city centre via the Kinsale Rd, which hosts a number of high-frequency bus routes, in addition to cycle lanes.

“The site is also well connected to the wider Cork metropolitan area, via the Kinsale Rd, which has direct access to the South Link Road.”

The site has remained vacant since Vita Cortex ceased operations in 2011 and was placed on the derelict sites register by Cork City Council in 2017, with demolition and decontamination works taking place on the site.