Bishop Lucey Park Renewal

Works are underway on the redevelopment of Bishop Lucey Park.  The redeveloped park will be a key element of the regeneration of the Grand Parade Quarter. Bishop Lucey Park will be completely renewed based on an award-winning architectural design that opens up the park to the wider city centre.

Bishop Lucey Park redevelopment works comprises works to this historic, central green space within the city centre. The proposals seek to sustain, protect and celebrate this condition, whilst remembering the historic built character of the site until its transformation into a public park in the mid-1980’s.

The redeveloped park will include:

• Improved access to the historic city wall, including sensitive archaeological excavation in respect of the protection and further exposure of the city wall ahead of conservation and repair works;
• A new pavilion and plaza for housing events;
• Improved access and seating for all;
• A new tower to mark the eastern entrance on South Main Street.
• Changing the park layout through the construction of a new central plinth with associated surrounding paving and soft landscaping.  This will include careful demolition and removal of existing paving, boundary railings and park furnishings;
• The protection and retention of existing mature trees (protected) within the park, with the addition of carefully specified, high quality, new trees and planting. Works will include working within tree root protection areas requiring specific construction, arboricultural and landscape methodologies;
• Repair work to reinstate the existing water-feature;
• Upgrading of the underground drainage network and improved lighting provision within the park.

A competition for the redevelopment of the Park was run by the Royal Institute of Architects in conjunction with Cork City Council in 2020.  Designers were asked to consider a number of objectives, including the design of a park with “something to offer all ages”, that “opens up” the park to the city, the park’s role as a central “soft space” in the city centre and the medieval nature of the site by “emphasising the existing town walls within the site”. The competition was won by Belfast-based Hall McKnight Architects.

The redevelopment of Bishop Lucey Park is a key part of Cork City Council’s City Centre Strategy and integral to improving the quality of amenities in a city that is projected to grow to 300,000 in the next 20 years with an increasing number of young families expected to live in the city centre.

The works are expected to be completed by early 2026.