UCC allowed to turn old bank into business school

University College Cork has been given planning permission to turn an old city centre bank into a premises for its business school.

With no objections received by Cork City Council, the slim likelihood of appeals being allowed could mean work can begin within weeks.

UCC applied in late December for permission to change the use of the Savings Bank building to education. The building was vacated by Permanent TSB five years ago, after 170 years as a bank.

The property, and the adjoining old bank secretary’s residence, on Parnell Place, were bought by Cork City Council for a reported €800,000, but were sold to the college last year for €1.4m.

In a planned total €5m investment, Cork University Business School (CUBS) will locate its executive education facility there, providing courses for regional industry and businesses, as well as postgraduate classes. 

It has already filled 10 of the 30 required professorial-level posts for the school’s expansion.

The Lapps Quay premises will include five lecture rooms, one of them formed by the demolition of part of the wall between the bank and the Parnell Place building.

The conditions attached to Cork City Council’s grant-of-permission include a requirement that the historically-significant elements of the neo-classical, polished timber counters from the banking hall be re-used within the building.

Source: www.irishexaminer.com

Journalist: Niall Murray