Cork 2023: Developing the cornerstone of Cork city’s ambitious plans

As part of the regeneration of the docklands, the Horgan's Quay development has now become the cornerstone of Cork's ambitions and plans, being a centre-piece of the city's rejuvenation, marrying the old with the new.

The core is 1 Horgan's Quay, its eight-story office block, and The Dean Cork, a 120-bedroom boutique hotel that opened in December 2020, with the entire district giving direct access to Kent station.

In recent times, it developed both the Goods Shed and Carriage Shed in 1 Horgan's Quay as part of its efforts to conserve the history and culture of Cork city.

Significant work has gone into Horgan Quay and the results are clear. 1 Horgan's Quay is much busier than a year ago as the general populace returned to normal life, the Dean Cork continues to perform strongly, and overall activity is encouraging.

"There's a lot of people returning to the offices now, so 1 Horgan's Quay is much busier than it was a year ago," said Ronan Downing, development director at Clarendon Properties. "We're seeing a much bigger uptake of the space and its usage.

"Interestingly, it does seem to be a push from the younger generation to be in the office. We have some tenants who only require three days a week in the offices, but we're seeing younger staff members turning up four or five days a week."

Downing put this down to the fact that younger staff are developing their careers and therefore looking for mentors in their respective spaces. With that face-to-face time being so crucial for their professional development, more are looking towards being present to help develop their skill sets and build connections.

"It's been a year of recovery as people get used to normal working practices," he explained. "We're not there yet, but the city in general is much busier, and there's a lot more life around.

"Horgan's Quay is very active now, the Dean is flying out now and 1 Horgan's Quay is very busy.

"We're starting to see the office market returning to a smaller degree; it's tentative but encouraging."

Likewise, the different buildings have received recognition from various awards. In 2022, 1 Horgan's Quay and the Dean Hotel were shortlisted for the RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) public choice award and building and architect of the year awards, respectively.

In November 2022, The Dean Hotel took home the best in tourism arts and accommodation award in the CBA Cork Better Buildings Awards. While awards aren't the be-all and end-all, getting recognition for the work done is always great.

"The Cork Business Association gave us a few awards, the overall development got one, and it's great we get those acknowledgements," said Downing. "Even to be nominated in those categories is fantastic, and we're delighted with that and the docklands developments in general.

“The building standards between ourselves and our fellow developers joining us has been of good quality so the whole area is looking excellent and comparable to best in class internationally.

"The area is established as the new central business district for Cork."

Challenge of developing residential units

While it's very encouraging from a business perspective, there is a major stumbling block.

It's no secret that housing is a major issue in the country, and initially the plan was to build 302 apartments across from 1 Horgan's Quay that would house more than 800 people. Both rising interest rates and the cost of materials stemming from the war in Ukraine have complicated this issue, meaning the apartments aren't being built.

"The biggest gap in the overall scheme is that we just can't get those apartments built," he said. "Horgan's Quay is a good microcosm of the national problem. When we took on that site, the first element we were planning to build was the apartments because there was already a shortage.

"That is going back seven years ago, we always struggled to make the sums add up… it's really good quality, but it's designed to be as efficient as possible."

The lack of housing does feed into the issue of younger graduates not finding mentors and developing their skill sets. City centre accommodation is essential for a thriving city; if people live further away, it becomes less likely for senior members to be in the office often. Likewise for younger graduates to commute into the office.

While remote and hybrid working brings many benefits, the lack of options and the increasing unaffordability of it all create significant ripple effects.

"The housing issue plays into that; if there's not enough housing in the city centre, it's harder for people to turn up to the office," he said. "Nobody wants to commute the way we're used to, particularly younger generations, and something will need to be done to address the shortage of city centre housing.“

Downing said that city centre and apartment housing is better for the environment as there’s less carbon used on commutes. It also helps with the vibrancy of the city as there’s more people living in the city core, alongside the amenity benefits that comes along with it.

"From the office occupiers' perspective, we are seeing that they're running into difficulties with younger staff not having suitably accessible places to live. It is not unusual for talent attracted from across Europe not to be able to drive,” he said.

"They're also seeing the progression of graduates that might have come in four or five years ago who aren't keen on returning to the office; skillsets aren't developing the way they would normally, there's a big push on that regard as well."

Downing believes that much of the focus on housing and supply has been focused on the wrong areas. For one, blaming the Private Rental Sector (PRS) is unnecessary as the main issue is the lack of new housing coming in, when the reality is they're the only sector willing to take on the paying for these assets for such a low return.

"We have a system that has made provisions for housing supply that nobody can afford," he said. "We need all kinds of housing but the housing we need more of is city centre apartment housing.

"There's a huge demand for it which has been evident for several years and the fundamental reason for the cost burden is the regulations, and this is never addressed; it's never part of the debate.

"It's stark that the second city in the country has no private residential development schemes. The only apartments that are being built are by approved housing body schemes for the state, that's it."

That said, Downing is optimistic about Ireland turning the tide with this problem; while the problem is big, the country has met these challenges and can do so again with the right mindset and approach.

"Sometimes we do lose sight of the fact that we're a small and agile country, particularly when we're looking at problems," he said. "But I think particularly about housing because we're such a small and agile country; it won't take much for us to address this problem."

That said, Downing warned that we would have to start addressing the real problems soon rather than issues around it.

“The choice for us as a society is simple, as we all know the current situation doesn’t work,” he said. “We need to decide if we want to keep not building housing in our city centres, that is regulated to provide for the environment and has some of the highest standards in the world. For example, typical apartment sizes are nearly 20 per cent higher than our European counterparts.

“Or alternatively we can decide to no longer burden the provision of the supply of the correct, and badly needed, kind of housing with the current level of taxation. It is estimated that approximately a third of the cost of an apartment is tax.

“If we want to keep the regulations, reduce the tax burden. If we want to keep the tax revenue, reduce the constraints and costs associated with the regulations. Maintaining the quid pro quo will not provide for anywhere near enough affordable housing that we require as a society.”