'What should have been delivered is a vibrant, family friendly park,' Cork city councillor says as Bishop Lucey Park costs outlined

More than €800,000 has yet to be spent on Bishop Lucey Park’s redevelopment, with one Cork city councillor expressing outrage at the overall cost of €7m, excluding Vat, for the project.

Cork City Council’s director of infrastructure development, Gerry O’Beirne, said that the total amount spent to date was €6,168,532 excluding Vat or €7,064,682 inclusive of Vat.

Bishop Lucey Park measures 3,900sq m, so the cost equates to more than €1,800 per square metre, including Vat.

The information was provided to Sinn Féin councillor Michelle Gould, who told The Echo she shares “the outrage expressed by the many constituents who have contacted me”.

“What we’ve been left with is a space with no playground, no play equipment, and none of the child-friendly amenities a true city centre park should offer,” she said.

In the information provided, Mr O’Beirne outlined the costs of the development so far: €482,388 was spent on “prelim items, insurance, bond, site clearance, offices etc”, and €774,483 on “site preparation, clearance, removal of existing pavements, material, structures, etc”.

There was a spend of €18,325 on “ancillary site structures, plant room, maintenance cabin” and €110,927 on “formwork, granite pavers, concrete, reinforcement”.

And €456,674 was spent on the pavilion tower and portal structures, as well as “groundworks and piling”; €809,895 on “boundary walls, railings, repairs and restoration of stonework, heritage railings, walls, fencing, plinth walls”; €493,412 on “pavements, plinth surfacing, paving, concrete, geomembranes, cobbles. tactile paving, subsurface tree protection”.

A further €124,843 went on “fountain refurb, demolition and excavation, formwork, concrete, re-patination and repair offsite, and new base”; €262,953 on “foul water, surface water, third-party services, removal of existing ducting, pipe and chamber, manholes, irrigation system”; and €501,787 on “electrical and CCTV ducting, plus all associated civils, duct chambers, mini pillars, lamp posts, CCTV cameras and back office equipment”.

“Benches, tree grilles, surface finishes, bins, water fountain, pigeon deterrent, bike racks, banner rails, and signage” amounted to €116,123; “top soil, landscaping, planting, tree pits, anchor systems, tree-protection measures, watering systems, edging” amounted to €591,542; and other measured work, including public lighting, feature lighting, cabling, etc, to €588,329.

This brought the sub-total construction cost to €6,051,457, including Vat of 13.5%. €70,009 was also spent on site supervision and project management costs, with no Vat applied to this work category.

Architectural fees, engineering fees, building condition surveys, quantity surveying fees, landscape design fees, archaeology fees, tree works, site investigation, RIAI competition fees and admin, topographical survey, specialist works to fountain, ESB connection fees, swan fountain sculpture fees, and the renewal of the mural by the original artists came to €766,842, including Vat of 23%.

“This project is being delivered through a 75% grant from the Government’s Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, which forms part of Project Ireland 2040,” Mr O’Beirne said.

“The total project is expected to cost €7m, excluding Vat, as previously advised. The total remaining expenditure is therefore expected to be circa €0.8m.”

Ms Gould told The Echo that instead of “creating a welcoming green space where families can relax and children can play safely, the only open area left in the city centre has effectively been turned in to a walkway linking South Main St to the Grand Parade”.

“This is a missed opportunity and a disappointing outcome for the people of Cork, who were promised and expected so much more,” she added.

“What should have been delivered is a vibrant, family friendly park — with more covered seating, somewhere people of all ages could enjoy — not simply concrete, gravel, and pass-through footpaths.”

She added that Weaver Park on Cork St, Dublin, cost €1.4m, is 4,000sq m, and is “an amazing playground and green space on a much more complex site, a visual example of what Bishop Lucey Park could have been”. It opened in 2017 and construction costs have risen since then, but, she said,“Inflation hasn’t been that high.”