For their stunning achievement in successfully delivering the magnificent Moxy Hotel & Residence Inn on Camden Quay in Cork city, Conack were shortlisted for a 2025 Irish Construction Industry Award. Building Ireland touched base with project director Adrian McGrath to find out more.
Proven industry leaders Conack were shortlisted in the Contractor Tourism & Hospitality Project of the Year category for their exceptional Design & Build delivery of the Moxy Hotel & Residence Inn.
Construction of this spectacular new hotel in the heart of Cork City presented a unique set of challenges due to its tight urban location, the integration of a protected historic structure and ambitious sustainability goals. Its success represents a benchmark in delivering excellence, sustainability and value through a combination of innovative construction practices, sustainable design and collaborative project management.
From inception to completion, the project team embraced cutting-edge methods and rigorous standards to exceed client expectations and deliver a high-quality asset that enhances the local urban landscape. The hotel’s construction was guided by a commitment to seamless collaboration, adherence to LEED Gold and BREEAM Very Good standards for sustainability and the use of modern construction techniques which created greater value for the client and other stakeholders.
Standing tall as a prototype for the innovative use of off-site manufacturing and BIM, this project sets a new standard for future developments, demonstrating how thoughtful design and cutting-edge construction techniques can transform the built environment in a way that benefits both people and the planet.
Project director Adrian McGrath was delighted to learn that the Moxy Hotel & Residence Inn project had made a shortlist of three for the prestigious Contractor Tourism & Hospitality Project of the Year accolade at the Irish Construction Industry Awards: “Absolutely – it was a very exciting and interesting project to be involved in. The project was delivered right in the heart of Cork city, on a very tight site from a logistical point of view, with a great deal of site restrictions.
“The site was bounded on all four sides – by busy roads on two sides and by neighbouring buildings (a commercial premises and residential houses) on the other two. As the footprint of the building took up the entire site, from a logistical viewpoint it was a real challenge to get just-in-time deliveries in early in the mornings and late in the evenings.”
The project consisted of the development of two hotels on a restricted and fully utilised 0.5-acre brownfield site in the Victorian Quarter of Cork city centre. The new hotels are operated by Carra Shore Ltd.’s parent company JMK Group Ltd., trading under two separate Marriott International entities, namely Moxy Hotel and Residence Inn.
Conack enjoy a long-standing relationship with JMK Group, having completed their first Moxy hotel at Sackville Place, Dublin in 2019. Their proven track record with JMK Group allowed them to procure this Design & Build contract through a negotiated procedure.
Conack provided full turnkey Design & Build services including interior design for all public areas, guest accommodation and back of house accommodation. Included in their scope of works was the supply, install and commissioning of fitted furniture & equipment, operating supplies & equipment, loose furniture, artwork, IT, AV, point of sales equipment to all areas.
The turnkey hotel had to be delivered in accordance with the Moxy & Residence Inn brand and sustainability standards, meeting statutory regulations. A key sustainability goal for the client was for the finished building to achieve both LEED Gold and BREEAM Very Good certifications with an A3 BER rating.
The Moxy Hotel features 153 bedrooms tailored for short-stay guests. The ground floor public areas accommodate a welcoming, open-plan bar, dining and reception space. In keeping with Marriott International’s brand standards and strict design guidelines, the design embraces an industrial aesthetic, incorporating local artwork, memorabilia and styling, referencing both the city and county of Cork.
The Residence Inn brand hotel offers 53 long-stay suites, each equipped with a fully functioning kitchen. This ‘apart-hotel’ concept caters to a diverse range of guests, from business travellers to families on staycations. The ground floor public areas, including the bar, dining and reception space, are designed for both informal work and relaxation.
The completed hotel development also encompasses an extensively modified and carefully restored 19th-century protected structure which fronts onto the River Lee. This landmark building, with its detailed ornate external facade plasterwork features, has been incorporated into the overall hotel design and houses a bar, dining area, and eleven uniquely designed bedrooms with stunning views across the city and river. Key elements from the original building, such as windows, roof structure, floorboards, fireplaces and columns, have been retained, refurbished and reused within the completed scheme.
The completed development revitalises the Pine Street area of Cork city’s Victorian Quarter, transforming it from a dark, neglected area into a vibrant space for both people locally and tourists.
“The site had been a brownfield site for a number of years and to the front overlooking the river was the protected structure which had gone through various uses, including a courthouse and agri merchants,” Adrian continues. “This historic building was in a very poor state but we had to retain and restore it, put a new structural frame in place, and incorporate it into the new hotel.
“We had to be very sympathetic to the old building and make sure its character was fully retained in line with Cork City Council’s Heritage department. On the back of that, we had to build a seven-storey high building, clad all around, primarily in brickwork but also some of it in reconstituted stone cladding panels.”
Incorporating the historic Camden Place structure into the overall project was a central challenge. The brief was to preserve the character of the original structure while adapting it to accommodate modern guest requirements. This required a delicate balance between conservation and modernisation.
The original building’s fabric had to be carefully preserved and restored, with special attention to features such as historic masonry, windows and doors. Where possible, existing elements were refurbished rather than replaced to maintain the authenticity of the building’s character.
Ensuring that the old building could support its new functions involved structural reinforcement and sensitive upgrades to bring it up to modern safety and construction standards. This required working closely with conservation specialists, architects, M&E consultants and structural engineers to develop solutions that respected the building’s heritage while meeting contemporary requirements for accessibility, fire safety and energy efficiency.
Brand standards for the hotel had to be adapted to fit within the constraints of the historic building. This involved modifying the design to incorporate smaller or irregular spaces, whilst still providing a high level of comfort and maintaining the aesthetic quality expected by the hotel brand.
The foundation of the project’s success was the seamless collaboration between all stakeholders, including the client, design team, contractors and supply chain partners. From the early stages, a collaborative project management approach was adopted, facilitated by Procore, a centralised digital platform that provided real-time access to project documents, schedules and updates. This approach ensured that all parties had the latest information at their fingertips, enabling swift decision-making and proactive problem-solving.
Over a quarter of a million working hours were invested into the successful delivery of the Moxy Hotel & Residence Inn. “To achieve something like this takes a lot of patience and a huge team effort from everybody,” Adrian notes. “The fact that this complex project went so well was largely down to having such a good team on board – not just the Conack team but also the design team we appointed, including Meitheal Architects, MMOS Engineers and Woods PS M&E Services Engineers.
“We also had to work very closely with the client’s appointed PM – Mitchell Mc Dermott, Marriott International’ Brand Managers and with the hotel’s operations team to ensure that the finished hotel met and exceeded the expectations of all stakeholders. So, all in all, there was a very detailed and close-collaboration process to get to the point where we handed over the hotel in early September, 2024, having been appointed in May, 2022. The hotel opened for business three days after handover.
“As it was a full Design & Build project, we fitted out everything down to the bed linen on the beds, the soap in the shower bottles and the operational equipment in the bar and restaurant areas.”
Adrian, who is currently overseeing the nearby Marina Depot development of 1,178 new A-rated apartments for Glenveagh Homes in the Cork Docklands area beside Pairc Ui Chaoimh, is immensely proud of what Conack achieved in delivering the Moxy Hotel & Residence Inn and attended the ICI Awards in Dublin’s Convention Centre in October with great pride:
“To get that recognition from your peers in the industry after putting all this work in is great. We were delighted to be shortlisted. It was an honour just to get there.
“For me, one of the real successes of this project is how it has transformed and reinvigorated an area of Cork city that was dilapidated and derelict, attracting a lot of antisocial behaviour,” the project director concludes. “We breathed new life into that site and it’s no longer an eyesore but a beacon to look at as you drive along the river.
“During the entire process, we worked very closely with all the neighbours, kept them informed on what was going on, minimised disruption to them and operated a number of schemes to support local charities because giving back something is very important and ultimately all construction projects are all about community.”
Conack Construction is an industry-leading building and civil engineering company based in Limerick and with regional offices in Cork, Galway and Dublin. Over the years, they have gained a reputation for carrying out quality projects, on schedule and within budget where every project receives personal attention from the company’s joint managing directors.
Working tirelessly to provide proactive, innovative and flexible solutions that provide complete client satisfaction, Conack have been involved in the successful execution of many diverse projects, with operations extending mainly throughout the Mid-West region where their portfolio encompasses the healthcare, retail, leisure, commercial, industrial, civils, educational, residential, refurbishment and fit out sectors.
Conack Construction,
Unit C1,
Eastway Business Park
Ballysimon Road
Limerick.
Tel: 061 310002
Email: [email protected]
Web: conack.ie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/weareconack
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, December 2025, Vol 11 No 13
