A planning application has been lodged for a 60,000 sq ft library, retail, office and residential units in a €50 million development at the Grand Parade in Cork.
Frinailla Developments lodged its application with Cork City Council yesterday.
The proposed new five-storey library will be more than twice the size of the existing Cork city central library, which is no longer adequate in size or in facilities. It will be provided to the city at no cost after a deal between the developers and the city council.
Designed by architects Reddy O'Riordain Staehli & Associates, the library will anchor the development and have a "glass tower" effect, like a series of stacked books, near the corner of Tuckey Street and Grand Parade. The library's 1930s Hiberno-Celtic art deco façade is to be retained.
A spokesman for Frinailla Developments said: "The new library will be ambitious in terms of its service and facilities, offering not just a depository of books, but also a place of learning which offers a wide range of adult education classes, career support training, ancillary meeting areas, a cafe and a venue for arts and leisure pursuits."
The building will also house the Cork Hall of Fame, a major new tourist attraction which will honour persons who have made outstanding contributions to the development of the city.
A Frinailla Developments spokesman said the significance of the contribution that the development would make towards the urban regeneration of the area should not be underestimated.
