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Dublin City Council has given the green light to a € 475 million plan to build a mixed-use plan for the redevelopment of DIT’s former Kevin Street Campus in Dublin.
Last May, Shane Whelan’s Westridge Real Estate presented plans for the development of 53,110 square feet of office space in two 11-story blocks and 299 apartments built for rent in three buildings up to 14 stories high.
Westridge acquired the 3.57-acre site for € 140 million in August 2019 and a report presented with the plans by EY estimates that the total production the remodel will generate over 10 years will be € 7.67 billion.
The council granted the planning despite opposition from Senator Ivana Bacik (Lab), An Taisce and local residents.
The planning was granted after developers scaled down the proposal in which the amount of office space was reduced to 50,008 square meters in response to concerns from local authorities.
The city council has ordered developers to pay € 3.9 million in planning contributions for public infrastructure, and an additional € 1.5 million in respect of the Luas Cross City Plan.
It granted the permit after concluding that the development was acceptable and would not have a serious negative impact on the area.
The planner’s report also considered that the proposal complied with adequate planning and sustainable development of the area.
Objections
In her presentation, Senator Bacik expressed her concern that the proposal “will have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of local residents.”
She added: “I am not and would not object to high-density developments in principle, but the mass and most of the design in this proposal reduces residential amenities and I know that the proposed height is of particular interest to many residents.”
In his presentation on behalf of the An Taisce Dublin City Association, Kevin Duff argued that the demolition of buildings on the site to make way for the new development “is not justifiable”.
He stated that the proposed development “seems over-scaled and overcrowded for the location.”
Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Professor of History and local resident Jane Ohlmeyer said the proposal “will have a visually overwhelming detrimental effect on our street.”
Residents of Blocks 1 and 2 of the Bishop Street Flats also raised objections, claiming that the height of the 14-story towers would affect their privacy.
In his presentation, former Irish Times journalist Frank McDonald claimed that the scale of the proposal was driven by the € 140 million price paid for the site, which would leave “existing residents to live face to face with this imposing representation of the ‘New Dublin’ ”.
The parties now have the option of appealing the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanála.
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