Public realm awards for two county amenities

Two local amenities have been hailed for improving the public realm.

Ballincollig Regional Park has this week been recognised Excellence in PlaceMaking Award while Harpers Island Ecological Project was singled out for Special Commendation in the inaugural National Excellence in PlaceMaking.

Cork County Council received the accolades at the Placemaking Awards which were established to reward organisations and communities that that add to the public realm and create better places in which to live, work and play.

Chief Executive of Cork County Council Tim Lucey acknowledging the award said: “It’s gratifying to see the work undertaken by Cork County Council being acknowledged at a National scale. The Ballincollig Regional Park site was acquired in 1977 and since acquiring the site we have installed the County’s first skate park, extensive footpaths, established the Ballincollig Regional Park Development Plan in 2012 which has seen an investment of €1.4m on facilities in the park including the playground, multi-use games areas, allotments, trails, and landscaping.”

He added: “This investment is reflected in the exponential increase of usage of the park in recent years with over 660,000 people visiting in 2018.

“In addition, the Regional Park will soon be linked to the 20 acre amenity lands at Fionn Laoi, which will open a section of the park behind the former heritage centre to the public, thereby creating a riverside walk/cycleway circa of 1km in length, we are exceptionally proud of this project.”