Planning Board Approval for U2's Clarence Hotel plans

The developers of the proposed Clarance Hotel redevelopment which include U2 members Bono and The Edge have secured planning permission from An Bord Pleanála to redevelop the Clarence Hotel in Dublin.

An Bord Pleanála disregarded the recommendation of the inspector who held the public hearing into the case.

The inspector had recommended that the hotel not be granted planning permission.


Heritage groups had opposed the plan as most of the art deco hotel, and several Georgian quayside buildings, will be extensively remodelled.

In April 2008, U2's guitarist The Edge told a hearing by An Bord Pleanála that the future of the hotel may be in doubt, if the owners' redevelopment proposals were rejected.

Under those plans, developed by Norman Foster, most of the 1930s hotel, four Georgian buildings, and a Victorian building will be remodelled. A huge glass atrium will then be built over the new structure.

However, the scale of the redevelopment led the heritage groups to oppose it, arguing the redevelopment was inappropriate and affects protected buildings.

John Redmill, a committee member of the Irish Georgian Society, said it was a very black day for historic buildings and asserted the historic skyline of the capital would now be destroyed.

However, Damien Cassidy of the National Conservation Group welcomed the decision.

He withdrew an objection to the project after Bono arranged a meeting for him with the architect Norman Foster.

He said Mr Foster explained that the controversial glass atrium was an environmentally-friendly aspect, which would contribute to the heating of the building.

Mr Cassidy said the decision guarantees the Clarence will remain open for business as a landmark hotel, which was welcome in the context of the closure of several traditional Dublin businesses such as Bewleys and Jurys.

Comment:

If this development proceeds, it will complete the almost complete destruction of Dublin's historic quays, which took place from the mid-1980's onwards, to be replaced by junk architecture., a process that was largely funded by tax incentives.
This particular development is completely unacceptable in its quayside context.


Source:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0717/clarence.html

http://www.irish-architecture.com/news/2007/000022.html

440 Homes given planning permission in Baldoyle

An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for 440 homes on former racecourse lands at Baldoyle, Co Dublin to Helsingor Ltd.

The Board overruled its own inspector’s recommendation to refuse planning permission and disagreed with the inspector’s appraisal that there was a disproportionate split between the number of houses and apartments which would have a negative impact on achieving the overall objections of the Local Area Action Plan.

As well as over 440 units – made up of apartments, duplexes and houses in seven blocks, and a small number of semi-detached and detached houses – the developer, Sean Mulryan got planning permission for a civic park and a crèche.

In March 2007, the company received permission from An Bord Pleanála for a development of around 400 new homes, as the third phase of the development.

On that occasion the development proposed was sizably reduced following discussions with Fingal County Council and planning conditions imposed by An Bord Pleanála.

Elements of the scheme that were rejected in March include 10,000sq m (107,639sq ft) of offices, a leisure centre and department store while the number of apartments was reduced from 482.

The development will include a medical centre, supermarket, shops, restaurants and a pub.

Around 4,000 homes are planned for the former Baldoyle racecourse and an adjoining 100-acre site in Portmarnock.

Mulryan sold a 50 per cent stake in the Baldoyle and Portmarnock lands to Séamus Ross of Menolly Homes for € 95 million in 2004.

Mulryan, whose main development company is Ballymore Properties, acquired the racecourse in 1999 for about £30 million from developer John Byrne.



Comment:

In 2006, the Census held by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), found that at least 220,000 houses and apartments across Ireland were vacant. In 2008, 40,000 apartments lie vacant in Dublin City alone.


Sources:

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/property-plus/baldoyle-site-gets-go-ahead-for-453-homes-1391871.html

http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/2008/05/bord-says-yes-to-sean-mulryans-plans.html

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/property/2008/0529/1211830527347.html

New "City" for Swords while 40,000 apartments lie vacant in Dublin City

New Plans revealed to develop a new 'city of Swords'
26th May 2008

Fingal County Council has unveiled plans to build a new city of over 120,000 people in Swords. Planners want a third-level university campus, a private hospital and a bus service.

Fingal County Manager David O'Connor said he is not concerned about the impact of present economic difficulties on the development as the plans are projected more than 20 years into the future.

The Manager states that Fingal has a booming population, and is set to benefit from Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport, the proposed new port at Bremore and the Ballymun IKEA development, as well as the proposed new "Metro North" railway line. If built as planned, it will have nine stops in the Fingal area.

Mr O'Connor stated that Swords will merge into Drumcondra in the same way that Dundrum has merged into Ranelagh.

Fingal Co. Council intends to double the region's employment to over 66,000 jobs to ensure that the new city of Swords does not become a commuter town, how this is to be achieved is apparently left unspecified.

The council is planning a (private) hospital development and it is understood it is in talks with two third-level institutions to site a campus near Swords.


Comment:
The proposals are to merge Swords and Drumcronda into a gigantic sprawl, eliminating the remaining green belt and by so doing, further extend the suburbs of Dublin into Meath and Kildare. Plans to merge the suburbs of Lucan and Clondalkin have proved disastrous in planning terms. The proposed new port at Bremore, advertised as relieving the congestion at Dublin Port, will simply accelerate the suburbisation of Co.Meath in particular, with Meath County Council rezoning 240 acres of agricultural land for "industrial and logistics development" in Gormanstown, Co. Meath. The solution for Dublin's planning difficulties is not more of the same, but the recognition that the time has some for a halt to the continued development of the agricultural land of Dublin and Meath counties. 2006 Census figures reveal that 220,000 houses and apartments lie vacant, while auctioneers figures for early show 40,000 apartments vacant in Dublin City. Who will occupy these proposed new houses?

Sources:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0526/metro.html

http://www.droghedaport.ie/cms/publish/article_231.shtml

http://www.irishauction.info/2008/01/21/40000-apartments-vacant-in-dublin-iavi/

http://tara-foundation.org/blog/?p=92

http://dublinopinion.com/2007/08/18/irish-housing-watching-a-fat-man-dance/

New Housing Developments Proposed for Meath when at least 220,000 Houses and Apartments lie vacant across Ireland

Central Statistics Office (CSO) statistics reveal that at least 220,000 houses and apartments are lying vacant across Ireland. The figures were published in 2007 and were available last year but only recently mentioned in the national press. With an increase in rent of up to 20% in the last 12 months, 41,600 apartments and 174,900 houses remain unoccupied. These figures do not include the 50,000 vacant holiday homes around Ireland, or the 30,000 other temporarily vacant properties around the country. The 2006 CSO Report states that: “Approximately 266,000 residences were vacant at the time of the census while in a further 30,000 cases the household was either enumerated elsewhere or temporarily absent from the State.”

15% of Ireland's available housing is now vacant. Developers in Ireland are currently building houses and apartments at a rate of 20 units per 1,000/population. This is almost ten times the average European rate, at between two and four housing units per 1,000 people.

The 2006 figures indicate that 11,000 housing units are vacant in the Fingal Co. Council region of Dublin, 10,000 in the Dublin City Council region, 3,000 in South Dublin and nearly 2,400 in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. In Cork City, 4,000 properties are vacant. Limerick has over 3,000 empty houses and apartments, Galway around 1,300 and Waterford over 1,200 vacant properties.

In total, 174,900 houses, 41,600 apartments and flats, and 50,000 holiday homes: 266,500 properties.

The 2002 census found 104,000 properties vacant, already a substantial number. Comparing the rise in vacancy rates between 2002 and 2006, a spokesman for the CSO told the Sunday Tribune, "In the case of these vacant homes, the (census) enumerator would have gone back to the houses repeatedly to ensure they were actually vacant. . . The vacancy rate has doubled in a four year period. There is evidence that there are a lot of houses out there vacant."

In a related development, house prices in Dublin have now fallen by 10 per cent on average in 2007 compared with 2006, according to a report by the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers’ Institute (IAVI).

There seems to be evidence that vacancies are steadily climbing since 2006, since second-hand apartments are more difficult to sell than second-hand houses, with falls of up to 17 per cent, and that up to 40,000 apartments are vacant in the capital.


Sources:

(Irish Auction Info):

http://www.irishauction.info/2008/01/21/40000-apartments-vacant-in-dublin-iavi/

(Vacant Housing Doubled in Ireland, Una Mullally, Sunday Tribune, 24th May 2008): http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?_scope=TribuneFTF&id=109701&SUBCAT=&SUBCATNAME=&DT=13/01/2008%2000:00:00&keywords=galway&FC=

(Irish Census 2006):

http://www.cso.ie/census/Census2006_Volume6.htm

(Irish Housing: Watching a Fat Man Dance, August 18th 2007, Conor McCabe). Dublin Opinion Blog http://dublinopinion.com/2007/08/18/irish-housing-watching-a-fat-man-dance/

GPO to face major alteration by Office of Public Works

Plans being drawn up by architects in the Office of Public Works (OPW) envisage demolishing part of the building to create a glazed courtyard to the rear, two-thirds the size of the Upper Yard of Dublin Castle.

The two existing courtyards within the GPO are "rather mean", according to a spokesman, so the plan is to demolish the cross-block between them and create a much more impressive civic space.

Beneath this courtyard, there would be a vast concourse - "something like the Louvre rather than Clery's basement" - which would be accessible from the front and sides of the building.

The concept being worked on is to retain the existing post office, but reconfigure it to create a processional route from the neoclassical portico on O'Connell Street to the courtyard and concourse.

"This could become the 'front room of the nation' within a building that's central to the foundation of the State," the OPW spokesman said. "It could even be used for presidential inaugurations."

Traditionally, presidents have been inaugurated in St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle, "with 500 people crammed in, so it would be lovely to have these ceremonies in a space that could accommodate 2,000".

The proposed concourse beneath the courtyard would be a large, column-free exhibition space similar to the central concourse of the Louvre museum, with roof lights above to flood it with natural light.

Apart from a 1916 museum, it would contain a philately museum and possibly also a museum of Dublin. A working group headed by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism is examining the options.

The National Museum is advising on the content of the 1916 museum, which is likely to be broader than the Rising itself and its aftermath, but it is likely that professional exhibition designers will also be involved.

It is envisaged that shops would be installed at ground level, along the Prince's Street frontage of the building, to complement plans by Arnott's for a major redevelopment of this "back street" area.

The proposal to demolish the cross-block, which is located halfway between the front of the building and the GPO arcade, means that many of An Post's 1,000 staff will have to relocate to other offices.

However, the OPW spokesman emphasised that the GPO would continue to house the "headquarters function" of An Post as well as the post office, which dates from 1814 and was rebuilt in the 1920s.

The OPW's in-house design team is headed by assistant principal architect Michael Haugh, with Charles Moore as project architect, and overseen by commissioner David Byers, who is also an architect.

The sketch scheme they are preparing is expected to be presented to the Cabinet in May, with a view to getting approval to proceed to planning application stage and finish the building work by 2013.



Comment: This proposal, designed to "complement" plans by Arnotts for the creation of a huge Henry Street / Mary Street / Princes Street store, will involve a fundamental alteration of the GPO, one of Dublin's most famous and historic monuments.
In 2006, Arnotts unveiled its plans to "transform" the area of Dublin City Centre bounded by Henry Street, O’Connell Street, Abbey Street and Liffey Street. The area, branded as the "Northern Quarter," will be redeveloped into a new shopping and entertainment area complete with 47 new shops, 17 new cafes, restaurants and bars, 189 apartments and a 152 bed four star hotel.
The question is, why is the proposal to alter the GPO, being made at this point? Planning permission was granted for the Arnotts development, but was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by a number of parties, including An Post and An Taisce. The planning board has not yet announced its decision, but Arnotts seem to be confident that the proposals will be upheld.

In terms of the OPW's proposals for the GPO, the concept of a so-called 'processional way' through the existing structure into a new Dublin square, which will be carved out of the GPO's two existing courtyards should simply not be permitted. Historic buildings are protected structures and this type of invasive development should not be permitted.

Source:

© 2008 The Irish Times
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/0324/1206144654457.html

High Court Appeal Against Poolbeg Incinerator

The Combined Residents Against Incineration (CRAI) group has taken the first steps in a High Court appeal against the decision to grant planning permission for an incinerator in Poolbeg, in Dublin.

The organisation lodged papers with the High Court initiating an appeal against the Minister for the Environment, the Attorney General, Dublin City Council and An Bord Pleanála.

In the summons, the organisation cites a number of claims including that Ireland has failed to transpose its obligations under European Council directives, in particular the Arhaus Directive, into Irish law.

CRAI also says it is entitled to have access to a review proceedure to challenge the legality of an Bord Pleanála's decision to grant permission for the incinerator.

The defendants in the case have 21 days to respond.

Reference:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0123/incinerator.html?rss