Shaping Cork’s future as Ireland’s second city
"The real challenge is about creating the momentum of delivery, of tangible execution, that helps everyone to believe in the possibilities. Something actionable."
Stephen Prendiville, Infrastructure Lead, Deloitte Ireland.
On any given day, thousands of people move through Cork city centre. Students, between lectures and cafés on College Road, business owners around South Mall, and tourists around the English Market where the narrow streets have been shaped by centuries of history. But beneath that familiar rhythm, some age-old fundamentals have shifted.
Post-pandemic working patterns, changing retail and socialising habits, pressure on housing, and congestion, as well as an evolving expectation around how people want to live in cities, have all reshaped Cork’s city centre. The challenge facing Cork City Council is how one of Ireland’s most important economic engines can be deliberately supported for the future it needs. That was the challenge brought to us in Deloitte.
Over six months, our teams worked alongside Cork City Council to help turn years of analysis into a practical action plan capable of directing and leveraging Government support, aligning stakeholders and creating a long-term vision for Cork as Ireland’s recognised Second City.
“In Ireland, we’ve traditionally taken our cities for granted," explains Stephen Prendiville, Partner and Infrastructure Lead at Deloitte Ireland.
“We assume they’ll always succeed. But from my experience internationally, particularly in North America, I saw examples of cities that didn’t adapt quickly enough, places where industries collapsed, populations changed and suddenly the city wasn’t fit for purpose. What really struck me about Cork was that the leadership here understood you cannot be passive and you cannot wait - that positive and proactive intervention was necessary to allow Cork to make the critical transition that people are demanding.”
Stephen says the work required Deloitte to look far beyond traditional urban planning. “There were infrastructure questions, but also cultural, economic and social, and people questions. You have two universities, tourism operators, retailers, businesses, developers, arts and culture organisations and current residents, all with different perspectives on what a successful city centre should look like. The real challenge is a creative plan people can collectively believe in. Something actionable.”
The resulting Action Plan helped catalyse the creation of the Cork City Futures Group, a government-backed taskforce now charged with developing critical implementation plans, delivery targets and investment frameworks for the city’s next phase of growth
This was no ordinary or standard consultancy; this required Stephen and the Deloitte team to become colleagues, collaborators and co-visionaries with the team at the council for Cork City's future.
Valerie O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of Cork City Council.
“They had to be equally invested in its potential, its possibilities, its performance and its people. This passion for a place is normally reserved to those of us who work there, or were born there.
“But this was different. This required a report that would be deliverable and politically as well as practically possible. Cork City became the main character on the Irish stage for this collaboration, around which both teams worked together to show that it could and should become a national priority. It is rare, if ever, a consultancy firm, in my experience, believes in the goal of the work just as much as the Council, and that commitment shines through in the final report.”
The work Deloitte is carrying out also explores how emerging technologies and economic development opportunities, including AI, pharma research, semi-conductors and more, can combine with the “living lab” concepts for city centre regeneration and development. Critical to the Deloitte work to date is how it is now positioning us to present this Cork City project to Government – one that will create the funding and investment framework for accelerated delivery.
