20/21 Kyle Street is a scheme of ten 1-bedroom apartments above a café space on a compact 170sq.m urban infill site in the medieval core of Cork City.

The site had long been vacant and derelict, and posed challenges to development, as it is located in an area of archaeological interest, in a conservation area, was listed on the record of protected structures, is located in a flood zone, and on a narrow street with restricted site access. We acquired the site at auction in 2017 and our work lay in methodically dismantling each barrier to development through a combination of liaison with the Council and clever design solutions to unlock its redevelopment potential.

The design solution features a central lift and stair core with two apartments per floor. The plan is divided lengthwise in order to achieve double aspect for each home and locate the balconies on the rear elevation, allowing the scheme to present a more sympathetic flat-fronted elevation to the Georgian context.

A covered laneway at ground floor level gives access into the lobby and also to the bin store at the rear, with sheltered bicycle parking located directly off the laneway. The café space features a wrap-around corner window to facilitate passive surveillance of the laneway while also increasing the commercial frontage. The laneway has a gentle slope rising up towards the entrance lobby, bringing the finished floor level above the flood zone threshold.

The building massing steps back at 4th floor level to match the adjacent Georgian context, while the main volume of the building rises to 6 storeys matching the parapet height of the multistorey carpark behind the site. The flank elevations are expressed as three playfully staggered colour blocks integrating the parapets of the setbacks front and back to play with height and proportion. It is hoped that the vacant sites either side of the scheme will be regenerated in time, and thus the side elevations will eventually be built up against and obscured from view.

MiDRISE lodged the planning application in 2019 which was granted An Bord Pleanala in 2020, on condition that it be reduced in height to four storeys. We therefore took the decision to sell the site with the benefit of the planning permit to a social housing provider, thereby capturing the significantly increased land value we created by unlocking the site.

A construction company working for the social housing provider subsequently constructed the much simplified version of the scheme that stands on the site today, delivering six social housing units in a highly sustainable inner city location.