24 May 2022
Apple to significantly expand operations in Cork with new offices for up to 1,300 workers
Apple has announced a significant expansion of its campus in Cork lodging plans today for a new four-storey building that could accommodate up to 1,300 workers.
Apple said the new facility will allow the tech giant to expand the range of services it currently operates in Cork including manufacturing, logistics, finance, sales and customer care.
The proposed new office building will be located on Apple’s existing car park and will connect to an existing office building known as ‘HH4’ to the southeast by way of an elevated link corridor.
A new surface car park on lands to the north of the David McCarthy Road is proposed to accommodate the relocation of the displaced car parking spaces.
The reported last month that Apple was planning a significant expansion of its Hollyhill operations with a 10-hectare landbank identified by Cork City Council as suitable for disposal to the IDA.
According to the planning application, the new building will be four storeys over a partial lower ground floor providing office space, meeting rooms, staff welfare and service areas.
Pending planning approval, construction at the site could commence later this year and be completed in 2025.
The facilities will also include employee transport services and green communal spaces and will run on 100 per cent renewable energy with solar panels built onto all the new structures.
Cathy Kearney, Apple’s Vice President of European operations said of Apple’s expansion plans: “We’ve called Cork home for more than 40 years, and are thrilled to accelerate our investments here as we grow our team and expand our campus.”
“We are proud to be part of the community here, and with this new project, we will continue to create new jobs, support local organisations, and drive innovation on behalf of our customers.”
Apple has invested €250m in its facilities in Cork in the past five years. Last month it opened a new multi-million euro engineering and test facility in the former Banta warehouse complex that will test and analyse Apple products for the whole of Europe.
Speaking following today’s announcement Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was a strong endorsement of Ireland as a prime location for leading global technology companies to establish and successfully grow their operations.
“Apple was a trailblazer in technology at the time they established operations in Cork and their presence here gave, and continues to give, confidence to many more global tech companies to locate in Ireland. It is most encouraging to see them continue to invest in their Cork site,” he said.
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has described the Apple Expansion in Cork as a “fantastic” vote of confidence in the city.
He said it is really quite an extraordinary campus that has been built there of a global standard and excellence.
He said the commitment to Cork, from the world’s largest company, reflects just how attractive and competitive a place Ireland is for the world’s largest company to expand in and grow their global businesses.
“And there’s nobody bigger than Apple to remind us of that,” he said speaking alongside US Congressman Richard Neal, who is in Dublin with a cross-party delegation from the House.
“Fantastic, I mean, what a story we were talking about the transatlantic economy, and I was explaining to Chairman Neal this, you know, Apple employs 6000 people in Cork at the moment,” Mr Coveney said.