Retail Offices
7.46 Retail offices are those where financial, professional and other services are provided to visiting members of the public. The primary location for retail offices will continue to be the City Centre and District Centres. These are addressed within the retail section of this chapter below.
General Offices
7.47 General offices provide a range of financial, professional and other services and administrative services. In some instances, they may be combined with a retail office in appropriate locations. As outlined above there is increasing overlap between technology and general office functions in terms of the type of accommodation they need and the density of employment. This has locational implications due to potentially high levels of traffic generation if alternatives to the car are unavailable. 7.48 The main focus for office uses in the city has traditionally been the City Centre, where the mix of retail office and general office activities are essential to the health and vibrancy of the City Centre. While there has been significant office construction in the City Centre in the last decade these new facilities are nearing full occupation as set out in the Cork City Strategic Employment Locations Study (SELS). 7.49 There remains scope for development of large floor plate offices in the City Centre and eastwards into Docklands, as a natural extension of the City Centre. This Plan will strongly support development of offices in these areas which can be served by existing transport and other infrastructure. The employment generated would also help support the City Centre retail and service functions.
7.50 General offices will be open for consideration in Business and Technology zones in the suburbs of the city, provided each office unit is greater than 1,000 sqm in area, in order to encourage smaller office uses to locate in the City Centre. These zones are well dispersed throughout the city and currently provide a significant amount of employment. In order to increase focus on the City Centre and adjacent mixed-use areas for office development over the next plan period, the Cork City Council will be guided by the general distribution strategy set out in the Cork City SELS and in the Strategic Employment Locations section above. 7.51 General office uses will also be open for consider- ation in District Centres, provided they are in scale with the overall size of the specific District Centre and do not exceed a total of 20,000 sqm in any one District Centre.
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Cork City Draft Development Plan 2022-2028
Volume 1 I Chapter 7
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