Wednesday 29 July 2009

Cork private hospital gets go-ahead

PLANNING PERMISSION has been granted for a €60 million private hospital which is due to be constructed alongside Jurys Hotel on Lancaster Quay in Cork city.

O’Callaghan Properties has already built a new hotel for Jurys and some 175 apartments on the five-acre site.

However, the company has dropped plans to build additional apartments in favour of developing the new private hospital.

Property developer Owen O’Callaghan’s 100-bed five-storey project will create 300 full-time new jobs in Cork and could be operational by autumn 2010. In all, 350 construction jobs are also to be created.

The hospital will include surgical day beds and recovery beds, intensive care, an oncology ward, physiotherapy facilities and a cafeteria.

O’Callaghan Properties believes that the Lancaster Quay/Western Road site is the premium location for a private hospital in Cork city because it is close to a number of existing hospitals and clinics, it is near University College Cork and ample on-site parking has already been created.

The plans for the site were lodged in May and Cork City Council gave the go-ahead yesterday. However, conditions were attached including a development contribution of close to €1 million.

Architects for the site are Henry J Lyons and Partners, with support from an international healthcare operator, backed by a European private equity fund.

The plan has the support of several national and international healthcare operators, including the Health Partnership, which was involved in developing Dublin’s Beacon Hospital and Waterford’s Whitfield Clinic, and is developing the Wyndale Clinic in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, as well as the Wellwood Clinic in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

The new hospital is within walking distance of the Bon Secours Hospital on Cork’s College Road where planning permission was granted in April, for a €100 million expansion, by An Bord Pleanála .

The current proposal from O’Callaghan Properties is the latest in a series of private hospital initiatives in Cork and follows an application by the Beacon Medical Group to establish a €242 million private hospital on the grounds of Cork University Hospital.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

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