Leeside may only have crown for a year

09:38, 24 Apr 2026Updated 10:47, 24 Apr 2026

What the Parkgate Tower will look like

It looks like the Dubs couldn’t let Cork have it – and we may now be in a race to build bigger, taller and faster with the capital as plans for 30-story plus towers are being advanced in both cities.

The 25-story Railyard Complex tower has shot up on Cork’s south quays over the past few months, with the central ‘spine’ of the building now in place. It is currently the tallest structure in Ireland (and more importantly, when finished, it will have over 270 affordable & social housing apartments).

However, that title may only stay in Cork until the end of this year as construction is now starting on the long-awaited Parkgate Street Tower in Dublin in August. The main 30-story tower opposite Heuston Station will be 102m tall, making it the tallest building on the island of Ireland.

The project will mirror Cork’s Railyard Tower with quick-build Vertical Slipform Construction, where platforms are used by construction workers to build floor-by-floor, placing steel reinforcing rods ahead of concrete and moving up quickly, constructing a central spine of the building for lifts, stairs and utilities. In Cork, which saw the Railyard ‘spine’ fly up 25 stories in a matter of weeks.

The Railyard Apartments. Picture: Drone Solutions Ireland

Developer Joe O’Reilly’s Chartered Lands is behind the project in Dublin, which is on the site previously occupied by Hickey’s Wholesale Fabrics warehouse, across the river from Heuston Station.

Substructure works for this element of the scheme will start on August 13, with the tower set to be built over a two-and-a-half year period from September. Demolition works have already started on the long derelict site and the existing wharehouse will be down by the end of May.

All three blocks of the scheme are scheduled to be complete in April 2029.

There have been proposals for even taller towers in Cork – with one massive 35-story sky-scraper proposed for the site where the old Marina Power Station still stands on the banks of the Lee.

Should one of several 30-story-plus proposals get the green light, Cork could be reclaiming back the title in the near future.