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The second largest city in Ireland, Cork has an economy focused on the city centre, which as of 2011, supported employment for 24,092 people. According to 2006 figures, the top five employers in the area were public sector organisations, and included Cork University Hospital, University College Cork, Collins Barracks, Cork City Council and Cork Institute of Technology. Apple Inc. was the sixth largest employer, followed by Supervalu / Centra Distribution Ltd, Mercy University Hospital, Bon Secours Hospital and Boston Scientific.
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Industry and workforce
Most of the industry in Cork is concentrated around the Greater Cork area, taking in Cork city and its hinterland, supported by the Cork Suburban Rail network.
The immediate Cork city area has a population of 150,000 in the city and suburbs, while another 150,000 live within the commuter belt giving Metropolitan Cork a population of c. 300,000. Large city suburbs include Douglas (25,000), Bishopstown (13,000) and Mahon (12,000). Larger towns in the commuter belt are: Ballincollig (20,000), Glanmire (15,000), Carrigaline (13,000), Cóbh (12,887), Mallow (11,000), Midleton (10,336), Youghal (7,000), Fermoy (7,000), Bandon (6,000), Carrigtwohill (6,000), Blarney (5,000), Passage West (5,000), Kinsale (4,000), Macroom (4,000) and Ringaskiddy.
Some of the companies within this area include Pfizer (Pharmaceutical), GlaxoSmithKline (Pharmaceutical), Johnson & Johnson (Pharmaceutical), EMC (Data Storage), Apple inc. (European HQ), Avery Dennison (Financial Shared Services), Siemens Group (Third party multi-lingual tech support) and the Marriott Group (Shared Services and Customer Service Contact Centre), Centocor (Biopharmaceutical Manufacture), McAfee (Security Software, EU Operations Centre), VMware (Enterprise Software and International Support/Shared Services Centre), Clearstream and Amazon.com (Customer Services – On line Retail Activities).
There are two key third-level institutions in the city, Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and University College Cork (UCC), which are the sixth and third largest employers in the city respectively - the latter employing approximately 2,800 people.
Information Technology and pharmaceuticals
Information Technology multinationals such as Apple, Amazon, EMC, IBM, McAfee Ireland Limited, SolarWinds, Siemens and VMware INC have a presence in the city.
The area around Cork is home to a number of pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical companies, with a number of pharmaceutical companies located in Little Island and Ringaskiddy.
Retail
Mahon Point Shopping Centre is County Cork's largest shopping center, having opened in 2005. Almost €737 million has been invested in Mahon, Cork, including the N25 dual carriageway extending from Dunkettle Roundabout to Cork Airport & Cork City via a €137 million tunnel, the Jack Lynch Tunnel, which opened in 1999. Construction began on the shopping centre in 2000, and opened in 2005. Other larger retail centres in the city and suburbs include Wilton Shopping Centre, Blackpool Shopping Centre , and two centres in the suburb of Douglas.
Offices and business parks
Larger office buildings in the city include Half Moon Street, Penrose Wharf and The Elysian in the city centre, with Linn Dubh and The Atrium in Blackpool, and City Gate Park in Mahon.
The larger IDA business parks in Cork City and surroundings include Little Island Business Park and Cork Airport Business Park. Other smaller parks include Cork Business and Technology Park, Kilbarry Business and Technology Park, Carrigtwohill Business and Technology Park and Ringaskiddy Business Park.
Recent city centre office developments include One Albert Quay, a commercial development consisting of 175,000 sq ft of office space on Albert Quay. Work commenced in September 2014 and the building opened in March 2016. The complex has seven floors as well as two basement levels, and is home to Johnson Controls (Tyco International), PricewaterhouseCoopers, Investec and others. The building's developer described it as "Ireland's smartest building" due to the "smart systems" installed in the building.
Brewery quarter
A proposed development of the old Beamish and Crawford brewery site had a projected cost of 150 million euro, including a 6,000-seat events centre. Construction on the events centre was planned for the end of 2015, but as of 2017 has yet to commence fully due to "rising costs". Heineken Ireland/ BAM also plans a viewing tower, a tourist centre in the former brewery counting house, a cinema, retail units, and residential accommodation.
Office developments
In September 2016, initial approval was granted for "Navigation Square", a five-building €90 million office scheme close to Albert Quay. Though planned to commence in late 2017, as of February 2017, planning appeals to An Bord Pleanála are pending.
In January 2017, a 65,000 square foot office space development was announced for Camden Place, for which demolition works began in February 2017.
Cork Harbour
A program of eight projects around Cork Harbour, to "transform Cork into the 'Sydney of Europe' by the end of 2018", was proposed in late 2014. This included a €40m project to redevelop Spike Island as a tourist attraction, with a further €40m to clean up the previous Irish Steel/Irish Ispat site on Haulbowline Island. As of late 2016, the latter project (to redevelop a former toxic dump for use as a public park) was re-estimated to a cost of least €61m, and queried for its suitability.