Financial Boost for Ballincollig Murphy Barracks
Sunday Business Post, 13th June 2004

Despite its size, Ballincollig is a somewhat lopsided town.

The local army barracks, which was acquired by the British in 1805 to safeguard the nearby gunpowder mills, is surrounded by a 10ft high wall running almost the entire length of the town’s main street.

Until it was bought by O’Flynn Construction in 2002 in a landmark €40 million deal, the 91-acre site remained largely undeveloped. Construction is already underway on a major new mixed-use development, which is expected to open up the town, creating a vibrant new centre.

During the 1800s Murphy Barracks housed over 240 soldiers as well as facilities for eight field batteries, a hospital, a church, a school, a granary and a grocery shop.

If all goes according to plan, the new Murphy Barracks development will be a little different. It will include a major office development along with a hotel, restaurants, bars, retail outlets and open civic spaces.

Currently, the Barracks site includes a large square, several enclosed buildings and adjacent lands extending to the south.

O’Flynn Construction has joined forces with Reddy & O’Riordan Staehli Architects (RORSA) to refurbish and extend the barracks buildings. These will be converted into offices, all of which will be accessible from the main Barracks square.

The old officer’s mess building will be used either for civic functions or as a gallery space. The landscaped square will include a pavilion café.

“The entire site was in a very bad state to begin with” said Donogh O’Riordan managing director of RORSA. “It had been entirely out of use for nearly 100 years and was uninhabitable. The structures were there, along with an enormous lump of history that we were determined to turn into a sustainable economic and residential environment.

“Our design was based on this concept. We kept all the old buildings in their rightful place, but opened up access routes at various angles. Anywhere we saw a gap, we filled it with contemporary buildings.

“The older buildings were shallow, not well lit, and would not have lent themselves for easy use as offices. We doubled the depth by putting in a light well behind certain buildings and behind that again, we put new buildings. The result is a state-of-the-art office building, linking with historical structures. The inspiration and shape of the square.”

According to O’Riordan, the new barracks offices should be able to accommodate between 2,000 and 3,000 workers daily. The redevelopment along the southern boundary of the Murphys Barracks site – which runs adjacent to Ballincollig’s main street - will include a medical centre, retail units and additional office space, as well as restaurants and bars.

A landscaped plaza to the southern boundary will front the new Barrack Square Hotel. A new multi-storey car park is planned for the eastern side of the development. Thirty-Seven residential units will also be built north of the square.

“What we’re seeing now in a number of towns like Ballincollig is a new trend in mixed housing," O’Riordan said. “The traditional 3-bed semi is being replaced by 1- and 2-bed apartments or 3- to 4-bed townhouses. This will attract a wide range of people, which will result in a very dynamic mix for the area.”