Wednesday 10 January 2007

Ballsbridge plans scuppered?

Did anyone catch that story in The Irish Times today about how Dublin City Council plans to cap the height of buildings in Ballsbridge? Will this scupper old Sean Dunne's plans for the area? His 32 storey building may now not be possible on the Jurys and Berkeley Court hotel sites.

The reason for this is the proposed local area plan that will restrict the height of buildings in the area. The plan, written by town planning consultants Urban Initiatives, has been presented to the local city councillors and will be put out to public consultation later this month. According to The Irish Times, it focuses on the "urban village" centre of Ballsbridge around the junction of Pembroke Road, Shelbourne Road and Merrion Road, especially the development opportunities presented by large sites such as the seven-acre Jurys/Berkeley Court site bought by developer Sean Dunne for €380 million last year.

Personally I think that this is not the ideal location for tall buildings, but the DEGW Study wasn't strong enough and only Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is funding a study on tall buildings at present. Hopefully the Local Area Plan will give some guidance.

For details on local area plans see my October blogs!

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