A Munster firm of architects has taken the top, penthouse-floor level of an iconic 1960s architect-designed building at 1 South Mall.

Meitheal Architects, which has specialist expertise in healthcare/primary health care centres, hospitality, and housing/SHDs, now joins another top design firm, O'Mahony Pike Architect, in No 1, which was designed by Cork's Frank Murphy to replace the Victorian Suttons building which burned down.

Meitheal has taken 2,900 sq ft on floor five in the refurbished building, acquired by a private investor in 2017 and now with just one floor remaining to let.

It's in a key and high-profile South Mall setting, looking down the River Lee to the burgeoning docklands renewal swathes beyond City Hall and the just-vacated Port of Cork site (see separate story this page).

Meitheal has moved from another South Mall location, "to facilitate our growth trajectory, and to selfishly capture what I think is the best view in the city — straight out the river and harbour, from which we’ll hopefully witness the continued renewal of the city centre", says director Patrick O'Toole.

"The decision to stay in the city is a deliberate one. We have a belief in Cork evolving into a better city, a living city, and to abandon the city centre for suburban convenience would have seemed hypocritical."

Meitheal, with offices in Cork, Kerry, and Dublin, was founded in 2002 and has projects from Donegal to Dingle.

"While the realities of, and inevitable fallout from the pandemic, mean that our hospitality team will be quiet this year, we are very busy with our healthcare work, a nationwide portfolio of primary care centres, and a portfolio of nursing and care homes being re-imagined for elderly care in a post-Covid world), and our housing portfolio," says Mr O'Toole.

The firm joins O'Mahony Pike Architects,  commercial law firm Regan Wall, and Irish Life Health in the upper floors of No 1, where letting agents Lisney has itself occupied the building's ground floor for the past 14 years.

Lisney chairwoman Margaret Kelleher said that rents in the order of €24 psf were achieved for all upper-floor lettings, and it quotes  this sum for the 2,900 sq ft floor four, the only remaining space.

"Lettings secured to date all involved existing indigenous business seeking to relocate to a landmark building with panoramic views. The success of the lettings is testament to the landlord investment and quality refurbishment undertaken," she says.

Lisney 021 4275079