ABBEYROCK DEVELOPMENT has got permission from An Bord Pleanála to demolish Block 1, Lwr Clanwilliam Court, Lwr Mount St, D2 and replace it with a six-storey office building. The developer wanted to build a seven-storey block but the board reduced this by one floor.
Seosamh and Colm Cahill appealed permission granted by the council on the grounds it would overshadow property in the vicinity and saying the board can prevent the proliferation of "obtrusive glass structures".
The board also said that the upper most floor must be set back a further three metres from the building line.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Bord rejects a scheme at Grand Parade and St Patrick's Street in Cork
AN ATTEMPT by PadLake Ltd to build a scheme at Grand Parade and St Patrick's Street in Cork has been rejected by the appeals board as it would "detrimentally" interfere with the historic character of the streets.
Headed by Joe O'Donovan, Padlake proposed a five-storey scheme with 8,999sq m (96,864sq ft) of shops and offices of 3,276sq m (35,263sq ft) which involved demolishing the Capital Cinema on Grand Parade, 21-23 Grand Parade, 55-57 St Patrick's Street and the Vineyard Bar on Market Lane.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Headed by Joe O'Donovan, Padlake proposed a five-storey scheme with 8,999sq m (96,864sq ft) of shops and offices of 3,276sq m (35,263sq ft) which involved demolishing the Capital Cinema on Grand Parade, 21-23 Grand Parade, 55-57 St Patrick's Street and the Vineyard Bar on Market Lane.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Planning and development
An Bord Pleanála
APPEALS
Location: Clonbur, off the junction of Torquay Road and Westminster Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18. Proposed development: demolish house for 11 apartments and retail. Applicant: Michael McNamara. Appellant(s): Joseph McCarthy, Foxrock Area Development Ltd, Susan Jenkins and Andrew Moore.
Location: Promenade Road, Parish of St Thomas, Dublin Port, Dublin 3. Proposed development: new over ground, vertical, steel petroleum product storage tank within newly constructed bund in yard one and site works. Applicant: Tedcastle Oil Products. Appellant(s): Clontarf Residents Association.
Location: 70 Grafton Street and 1 2 Harry Street, Dublin 2. Proposed development: change of use to 280sq m (3,014sq ft) retail unit. Applicant: Ickendel Ltd. Appellant(s): Irish Life and Permanent PLC.
Location: former CIÉ lands at Carnlough Road, Cabra, Dublin 7. Proposed development: alterations to previous permission (Reg. Ref: 3884/06) and An Bord Pleanála PL29N.221512. Applicant: Niall Molley Ailesbury Co-ownership. Appellant(s): Cabra Hills Committee.
Location: Ahgfarrell Townlands, Brittas, Co Dublin. Proposed development: continuance of use of quarry, ancillary facilities, extension of the quarry extraction area by 4.2 hectares to give a total extraction area of 15.5 hectares within site of 28.1 hectares. Applicant: Shillelagh Quarries Ltd. Appellant(s): Dublin Mountain Conservation and Environmental Group, Shillelagh Quarries Ltd.
Location: Captains Hill, Leixlip, Co Kildare. Proposed development: demolish crèche for 21 houses and crèche. Applicant: James Hargraves. Appellant(s): Emmet Stagg, Avondale Residents Association.
Location: Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Dundalk, Co Louth. Proposed development: 302 staff car-parking spaces, footpaths, cycle lanes, lighting, CCTV cameras, fencing and landscaping. Applicant: Dundalk Institute of Technology. Appellant(s): An Taisce.
Location: The Millhouse, Main Street, Clonee, Co Meath. Proposed development: 42 apartments, retail units, offices and works. Applicant: CPF Properties Ltd. Appellant(s): Alan and Brenda Molloy, Seamus Aidan Fleming.
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: lands at Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Proposed development: regional/district centre of 23,510sq m (253,059sq ft), 952 car-parking spaces and site works. Applicant: Parkway Partnership (with revised conditions).
Location: Block 1, Clanwilliam Court, Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2. Proposed development: demolish building for a seven-storey office building. Applicant: Abbeyrock Developments Ltd (with revised conditions).
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: Glen Erin, the Burrow, Portrane, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish house for 15 houses and site works. Applicant: Tony and Doreen Ritchie.
Location: Knocks and Johnstown, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. Proposed development: 160 houses and site works. Applicant: Ray Stokes.
Location: Dromin Road, Dromgoolestown, Castlebellingham, Co Louth. Proposed development: service station building, foot court, restaurants, eight retail units, 51-bed hotel, car-parking and site works. Applicant: Patrick and Noel Martin and Damien Donegan.
Dublin City Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: Jervis Lane Upper (rear of 56 57 Capel Street), Dublin 1. Proposed development: demolish structures for a five-storey building with two office units and six apartments (four one-beds and two two-bed duplex units). Provision of 12 cycle spaces and site works. Applicant: Phillip Conlon.
Location: 3, 4, 5 6 Parnell Street and Jervis Lane Upper, Dublin 1 (protected structure). Proposed development: extension and alteration of structures at 3 Parnell Street and the demolition of 4, 5 and 6 Parnell Street. Retention and part restoration of the façade at 3, 4 and 5 Parnell Street. Six-storey building with three retail units and 13 apartments (eight one-beds, three two-beds, one two-bed duplex and one three-bed duplex); provision of 15 cycle spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Philip Conlon.
Location: 44a 43a Belvedere Place, part rear return and lands to rear of 43 Belvedere Place and rear of 16 Mountjoy Square North, Dublin 1 (protected structure). Proposed development: demolish part rear return of 43 Belvedere Place (protected structure) at first, second and third floor levels and demolish 44a Belvedere Place, a derelict commercial unit, and 43a Belvedere Place, a single storey garage. New end-terrace five-storey 21-bed residential hostel with site works. Applicant: Olwen OCallaghan.
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: site designated as 5B Shangan Avenue, bounded by Shangan Green to the north, Shangan Gardens to the east, Whitcare Park and residential estate to the south, and 1-59 Shangan Avenue, Ballymun, Dublin 9. Proposed development: 57 residential units from one to three storeys and consisting of 25 apartments, one duplex unit and 31 terraced houses. Provision of 85 car-parking spaces at surface level; new rear access gates and wall to 46 Shangan Gardens, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Ballymun Regeneration Ltd.
Location: 19 Richmond Avenue, Fairview, Dublin 3. Proposed development: demolish house for a five-storey residential scheme with two one-beds, seven two-beds and one three-bed (10 apartments) with 16 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Jerry Beades.
Fingal
APPLICATIONS
Location: on a site of 0.47 hectares at Hansfield, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, located within zone two of the Hansfield Strategic Development Scheme Plan 2006 bounded on the north and east by the Ongar Road and roundabout on the south and west by a previously permitted development known as Hansfield Wood. Proposed development: 47 one, two and three-bed apartments in three four, five and seven-storey blocks with site development works, car-parking and landscaping. Applicant: Menolly Homes.
Location: on a site of 4.97 hectares at Hansfield, Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Proposed development: residential scheme of 103 dwellings consisting of 26 two-storey three-bed duplex units with 13 two-bed apartments on second level; two three and four-bed duplex units with one three-bed apartment on second level; 20 three-bed two-storey townhouses in four blocks; nine two and three-bed duplex units and apartments in one three-storey block; three two-bed apartments and one three-storey block and 29 two-bed apartments in one three-storey block with penthouses setback at fourth storey level. Car-parking, site works, public and private open spaces, and landscaping. Applicant: Menolly Homes.
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: The Emerald, Donabate, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish two-storey shop and living accommodation for a three-storey mixed-use scheme with a total of 14 units. The development will include restaurant and function room, three retail units and post office/convenience store at ground floor level with eight office/commercial units and two kitchenette areas at first floor and a recessed penthouse including two two-bed apartments. Applicant: Gary Fay and Linda McGloughlan.
South Dublin
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: Ashleaf Shopping Centre, Crumlin Cross, Crumlin, Dublin 12. Proposed development: demolish 3,559sq m (38,309sq ft), refurbish 2,960sq m (31,861sq ft), continued use of 12,394sq m (133,408sq ft), reorganise existing floorspace and new construction resulting in total floor space of 28,084sq m (302,293sq ft), excluding car-parking at basement level of 14,482sq m (155,883sq ft). Increase retail space from 7,857sq m (84,572sq ft) to 10,926sq m (117,606sq ft). Increase office use from 2,367sq m (25,478sq ft) to 2,653sq m (28,557sq ft). Increase medical centre from 247sq m (2,659sq ft) to 323sq m (3,477sq ft). Decrease non-retail services from 714sq m (7,685sq ft) to 238sq m (2,562sq ft). Decrease public bars from 3,209sq m (34,541sq ft) to 214sq m (2,303sq ft). Provision of an 80-bed aparthotel, 40 residential units (four one-beds, 33 two-beds and three three-beds) and increase car-parking by 11 spaces to 557 spaces. The scheme will be arranged over five levels. Applicant: Gary Smith.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
APPEALS
Location: Clonbur, off the junction of Torquay Road and Westminster Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18. Proposed development: demolish house for 11 apartments and retail. Applicant: Michael McNamara. Appellant(s): Joseph McCarthy, Foxrock Area Development Ltd, Susan Jenkins and Andrew Moore.
Location: Promenade Road, Parish of St Thomas, Dublin Port, Dublin 3. Proposed development: new over ground, vertical, steel petroleum product storage tank within newly constructed bund in yard one and site works. Applicant: Tedcastle Oil Products. Appellant(s): Clontarf Residents Association.
Location: 70 Grafton Street and 1 2 Harry Street, Dublin 2. Proposed development: change of use to 280sq m (3,014sq ft) retail unit. Applicant: Ickendel Ltd. Appellant(s): Irish Life and Permanent PLC.
Location: former CIÉ lands at Carnlough Road, Cabra, Dublin 7. Proposed development: alterations to previous permission (Reg. Ref: 3884/06) and An Bord Pleanála PL29N.221512. Applicant: Niall Molley Ailesbury Co-ownership. Appellant(s): Cabra Hills Committee.
Location: Ahgfarrell Townlands, Brittas, Co Dublin. Proposed development: continuance of use of quarry, ancillary facilities, extension of the quarry extraction area by 4.2 hectares to give a total extraction area of 15.5 hectares within site of 28.1 hectares. Applicant: Shillelagh Quarries Ltd. Appellant(s): Dublin Mountain Conservation and Environmental Group, Shillelagh Quarries Ltd.
Location: Captains Hill, Leixlip, Co Kildare. Proposed development: demolish crèche for 21 houses and crèche. Applicant: James Hargraves. Appellant(s): Emmet Stagg, Avondale Residents Association.
Location: Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Dundalk, Co Louth. Proposed development: 302 staff car-parking spaces, footpaths, cycle lanes, lighting, CCTV cameras, fencing and landscaping. Applicant: Dundalk Institute of Technology. Appellant(s): An Taisce.
Location: The Millhouse, Main Street, Clonee, Co Meath. Proposed development: 42 apartments, retail units, offices and works. Applicant: CPF Properties Ltd. Appellant(s): Alan and Brenda Molloy, Seamus Aidan Fleming.
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: lands at Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Proposed development: regional/district centre of 23,510sq m (253,059sq ft), 952 car-parking spaces and site works. Applicant: Parkway Partnership (with revised conditions).
Location: Block 1, Clanwilliam Court, Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2. Proposed development: demolish building for a seven-storey office building. Applicant: Abbeyrock Developments Ltd (with revised conditions).
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: Glen Erin, the Burrow, Portrane, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish house for 15 houses and site works. Applicant: Tony and Doreen Ritchie.
Location: Knocks and Johnstown, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. Proposed development: 160 houses and site works. Applicant: Ray Stokes.
Location: Dromin Road, Dromgoolestown, Castlebellingham, Co Louth. Proposed development: service station building, foot court, restaurants, eight retail units, 51-bed hotel, car-parking and site works. Applicant: Patrick and Noel Martin and Damien Donegan.
Dublin City Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: Jervis Lane Upper (rear of 56 57 Capel Street), Dublin 1. Proposed development: demolish structures for a five-storey building with two office units and six apartments (four one-beds and two two-bed duplex units). Provision of 12 cycle spaces and site works. Applicant: Phillip Conlon.
Location: 3, 4, 5 6 Parnell Street and Jervis Lane Upper, Dublin 1 (protected structure). Proposed development: extension and alteration of structures at 3 Parnell Street and the demolition of 4, 5 and 6 Parnell Street. Retention and part restoration of the façade at 3, 4 and 5 Parnell Street. Six-storey building with three retail units and 13 apartments (eight one-beds, three two-beds, one two-bed duplex and one three-bed duplex); provision of 15 cycle spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Philip Conlon.
Location: 44a 43a Belvedere Place, part rear return and lands to rear of 43 Belvedere Place and rear of 16 Mountjoy Square North, Dublin 1 (protected structure). Proposed development: demolish part rear return of 43 Belvedere Place (protected structure) at first, second and third floor levels and demolish 44a Belvedere Place, a derelict commercial unit, and 43a Belvedere Place, a single storey garage. New end-terrace five-storey 21-bed residential hostel with site works. Applicant: Olwen OCallaghan.
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: site designated as 5B Shangan Avenue, bounded by Shangan Green to the north, Shangan Gardens to the east, Whitcare Park and residential estate to the south, and 1-59 Shangan Avenue, Ballymun, Dublin 9. Proposed development: 57 residential units from one to three storeys and consisting of 25 apartments, one duplex unit and 31 terraced houses. Provision of 85 car-parking spaces at surface level; new rear access gates and wall to 46 Shangan Gardens, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Ballymun Regeneration Ltd.
Location: 19 Richmond Avenue, Fairview, Dublin 3. Proposed development: demolish house for a five-storey residential scheme with two one-beds, seven two-beds and one three-bed (10 apartments) with 16 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Jerry Beades.
Fingal
APPLICATIONS
Location: on a site of 0.47 hectares at Hansfield, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, located within zone two of the Hansfield Strategic Development Scheme Plan 2006 bounded on the north and east by the Ongar Road and roundabout on the south and west by a previously permitted development known as Hansfield Wood. Proposed development: 47 one, two and three-bed apartments in three four, five and seven-storey blocks with site development works, car-parking and landscaping. Applicant: Menolly Homes.
Location: on a site of 4.97 hectares at Hansfield, Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Proposed development: residential scheme of 103 dwellings consisting of 26 two-storey three-bed duplex units with 13 two-bed apartments on second level; two three and four-bed duplex units with one three-bed apartment on second level; 20 three-bed two-storey townhouses in four blocks; nine two and three-bed duplex units and apartments in one three-storey block; three two-bed apartments and one three-storey block and 29 two-bed apartments in one three-storey block with penthouses setback at fourth storey level. Car-parking, site works, public and private open spaces, and landscaping. Applicant: Menolly Homes.
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: The Emerald, Donabate, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish two-storey shop and living accommodation for a three-storey mixed-use scheme with a total of 14 units. The development will include restaurant and function room, three retail units and post office/convenience store at ground floor level with eight office/commercial units and two kitchenette areas at first floor and a recessed penthouse including two two-bed apartments. Applicant: Gary Fay and Linda McGloughlan.
South Dublin
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: Ashleaf Shopping Centre, Crumlin Cross, Crumlin, Dublin 12. Proposed development: demolish 3,559sq m (38,309sq ft), refurbish 2,960sq m (31,861sq ft), continued use of 12,394sq m (133,408sq ft), reorganise existing floorspace and new construction resulting in total floor space of 28,084sq m (302,293sq ft), excluding car-parking at basement level of 14,482sq m (155,883sq ft). Increase retail space from 7,857sq m (84,572sq ft) to 10,926sq m (117,606sq ft). Increase office use from 2,367sq m (25,478sq ft) to 2,653sq m (28,557sq ft). Increase medical centre from 247sq m (2,659sq ft) to 323sq m (3,477sq ft). Decrease non-retail services from 714sq m (7,685sq ft) to 238sq m (2,562sq ft). Decrease public bars from 3,209sq m (34,541sq ft) to 214sq m (2,303sq ft). Provision of an 80-bed aparthotel, 40 residential units (four one-beds, 33 two-beds and three three-beds) and increase car-parking by 11 spaces to 557 spaces. The scheme will be arranged over five levels. Applicant: Gary Smith.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Locals appeal Michael McNamara's plans for mixed-use scheme in Foxrock
FOXROCK AREA Development Limited is appealing planning permission to redevelop Clonbur, a property owned by developer Michael McNamara in Foxrock, Dublin 18 into an apartment complex.
Located at the junction of Torquay Road and Westminster Road, McNamara is proposing knocking the house to make way for 11 apartments, an office, shop and 33 car-parking spaces. The proposal attracted considerable local opposition from residents of the leafy suburb.
Three parties have appealed the planning permission to An Bord Pleanála. Foxrock Area Development Ltd (FADL) says the development is premature pending the adoption of an urban design framework for Foxrock village and says the development is located on one junction of a crossroads that suffers from serious traffic congestion.
The group says it is concerned that the development has the potential to have a detrimental impact on the amenities and character of Foxrock because it has been assessed in the absence of an agreed urban design framework plan.
“It is considered that granting planning permission for any additional development which will put additional pressure on parking in the village, while not exploring the potential of important sites such as Clonbur to provide additional parking as a form of planning gain to the village, would be premature and short sighted,” says the appeal.
While the group says it’s not opposed in principle to the development and agrees “that in its architectural treatment and scale, it is a distinct improvement on previous proposals”, they say the proposal “is a commercial development geared to achieve the maximum return for its promoter, which gives nothing back to the local community”.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Located at the junction of Torquay Road and Westminster Road, McNamara is proposing knocking the house to make way for 11 apartments, an office, shop and 33 car-parking spaces. The proposal attracted considerable local opposition from residents of the leafy suburb.
Three parties have appealed the planning permission to An Bord Pleanála. Foxrock Area Development Ltd (FADL) says the development is premature pending the adoption of an urban design framework for Foxrock village and says the development is located on one junction of a crossroads that suffers from serious traffic congestion.
The group says it is concerned that the development has the potential to have a detrimental impact on the amenities and character of Foxrock because it has been assessed in the absence of an agreed urban design framework plan.
“It is considered that granting planning permission for any additional development which will put additional pressure on parking in the village, while not exploring the potential of important sites such as Clonbur to provide additional parking as a form of planning gain to the village, would be premature and short sighted,” says the appeal.
While the group says it’s not opposed in principle to the development and agrees “that in its architectural treatment and scale, it is a distinct improvement on previous proposals”, they say the proposal “is a commercial development geared to achieve the maximum return for its promoter, which gives nothing back to the local community”.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Council rejects Hamleys signs in Dundrum
OPENED LAST week, Hamleys toy shop in Dundrum Town Centre – a branch of the famous London toy shop – has already run into problems with the local authority.
It was refused planning permission by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to display six Hamleys signs on three elevations because they would be “visually unappealing”.
The first standalone Hamleys outside Regent Street, it was looking to erect six signs – four illuminated ones on the north-east and north-west elevations.
These would have been brushed stainless steel with Hamleys written in red and surrounded by gold stars.
On the south-west elevation they were looking for two non-illuminated signs, one with the Hamleys name on it and the other reading “Hamleys Toy Man”.
However, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council criticised the design, number and prominent location of the proposed signage, and said that in the absence of an overall strategy for signage in Dundrum Town Centre the proposal would be “inconsistent with existing signage within the Dundrum Town Centre” and would “detract from the visual amenities of the area and would set a poor precedent in the area”.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
It was refused planning permission by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to display six Hamleys signs on three elevations because they would be “visually unappealing”.
The first standalone Hamleys outside Regent Street, it was looking to erect six signs – four illuminated ones on the north-east and north-west elevations.
These would have been brushed stainless steel with Hamleys written in red and surrounded by gold stars.
On the south-west elevation they were looking for two non-illuminated signs, one with the Hamleys name on it and the other reading “Hamleys Toy Man”.
However, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council criticised the design, number and prominent location of the proposed signage, and said that in the absence of an overall strategy for signage in Dundrum Town Centre the proposal would be “inconsistent with existing signage within the Dundrum Town Centre” and would “detract from the visual amenities of the area and would set a poor precedent in the area”.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
11-storey apartment scheme on hold as petrol station reopens
IT’S A SIGN of the times: a former petrol station on the Rock Road/Merrion Road, Dublin 4, which was earmarked for redevelopment into a €60 million 11-storey residential development, is due to open next week as . . . a petrol station.
In March, An Bord Pleanála approved the residential development on the site of the former Shell petrol station beside the Tara Towers hotel. Developer O’Mahony Finnerty secured permission to build 42 apartments on the site which fronts the Merrion/Rock roads and straddles the border of two local authorities, Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.
But the hoarding around the site has been taken down and Texaco, the new leaseholder, has been busy erecting signage, installing pumps and fitting out a shop.
Developer Fergal O’Mahony says there is “no truth whatsoever” to the rumour that Texaco has taken a five-year lease on the site saying his company is simply deferring the residential development for a year.
“We have good planning on it for 11 storeys and we might never achieve planning like that on it again.”
While he says the current downturn in the economy is a factor in their decision to wait until next year to start the development, he says another reason is that “we have so much other work”.
O’Mahony Finnerty bought the former Shell petrol station for €16 million last year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
In March, An Bord Pleanála approved the residential development on the site of the former Shell petrol station beside the Tara Towers hotel. Developer O’Mahony Finnerty secured permission to build 42 apartments on the site which fronts the Merrion/Rock roads and straddles the border of two local authorities, Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.
But the hoarding around the site has been taken down and Texaco, the new leaseholder, has been busy erecting signage, installing pumps and fitting out a shop.
Developer Fergal O’Mahony says there is “no truth whatsoever” to the rumour that Texaco has taken a five-year lease on the site saying his company is simply deferring the residential development for a year.
“We have good planning on it for 11 storeys and we might never achieve planning like that on it again.”
While he says the current downturn in the economy is a factor in their decision to wait until next year to start the development, he says another reason is that “we have so much other work”.
O’Mahony Finnerty bought the former Shell petrol station for €16 million last year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Mahon tribunal ends 11 years of hearings
THE CHAIRMAN of the Mahon tribunal, Judge Alan Mahon, thanked witnesses, their legal representatives, tribunal staff, members of the public who attended its hearings, and the journalists who regularly covered its proceedings, at the outset of what was effectively the tribunal's final day of hearing evidence yesterday.
The tribunal has held 916 days of public hearings into allegations of planning corruption over the past 11 years. It is expected to cost the exchequer in excess of €300 million when third-party legal costs are submitted following the publication of its final report some time next year.
Only two members of the public attended yesterday's sitting, which was held so certain evidence could be read into the public record.
There is a chance a further, short hearing may be heard, Judge Mahon said.
Judge Mahon, who took over as chairman of the tribunal from its original chairman, Mr Justice Feargus Flood, said the tribunal had since 2002 heard evidence from more than 400 witnesses, producing more than 60,000 pages of transcripted evidence.
He said more than 76,000 pages of documents had been circulated in briefs to interested parties.
The tribunal heard from Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, that the son of the late Liam Lawlor, Niall Lawlor, had told the tribunal he would not be travelling from the US to give evidence. The tribunal also heard that the late Mr Lawlor's wife, Hazel Lawlor, would not be giving evidence as she was not in a position to do so, for medical reasons.
Pat Quinn SC, for the tribunal, read documentation associated with the late Mr Lawlor into the record. It included a statement from Mr Lawlor to the effect that he received £30,000 in political contributions from Declan Ganley's business, Ganley International, in 1996.
Mr Quinn also said the tribunal had been told that an invoice dated February 1997 from Mr Ganley's business at 128 Mount Street, London, was used by Mr Lawlor when providing documentation to cover for a £25,000 payment to him from the former lobbyist and Fianna Fáil election agent, Frank Dunlop.
The cheque for that amount and made out to Ganley International, was lodged by an associate of Mr Lawlor's, Patrick Murphy to an account in his name in Lucan, Dublin, and the proceeds given to Mr Lawlor over time.
Evidence taken on commission from the long-time associate of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tim Collins, was read into the record by the tribunal registrar, Peter Kavanagh. Mr Collins's evidence was given in private, or on commission, for medical reasons. He attended Dublin Castle on October 9th, along with his counsel Hugh Mohan SC.
Mr Collins was questioned about his involvement in the purchase of land at Cloghran, Co Dublin, by John Butler, Tom Williams and Niall Kenny in 1989. The land was bought for £165,000 and Mr Collins said he was paid a finder's fee in 1996 of £29,613. Mr Collins said he used to drive around looking for property that might be of interest to clients.
"I drove into the yard and I asked the chap in the yard" if the land was up for sale, he said.
Mr Collins said he introduced lobbyist Frank Dunlop to the purchasers of the land during a chance meeting in the offices of the architect, Ambrose Kelly, in 1993. Told that Mr Dunlop had said he made it clear at the meeting that councillors would have to be paid if the land at Cloughran was to be rezoned, Mr Collins replied: "That's a lie."
He said Mr Dunlop's contribution was "public relations". The land was rezoned and sold at a substantial profit.
The tribunal adjourned and its public proceedings may now be complete.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The tribunal has held 916 days of public hearings into allegations of planning corruption over the past 11 years. It is expected to cost the exchequer in excess of €300 million when third-party legal costs are submitted following the publication of its final report some time next year.
Only two members of the public attended yesterday's sitting, which was held so certain evidence could be read into the public record.
There is a chance a further, short hearing may be heard, Judge Mahon said.
Judge Mahon, who took over as chairman of the tribunal from its original chairman, Mr Justice Feargus Flood, said the tribunal had since 2002 heard evidence from more than 400 witnesses, producing more than 60,000 pages of transcripted evidence.
He said more than 76,000 pages of documents had been circulated in briefs to interested parties.
The tribunal heard from Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, that the son of the late Liam Lawlor, Niall Lawlor, had told the tribunal he would not be travelling from the US to give evidence. The tribunal also heard that the late Mr Lawlor's wife, Hazel Lawlor, would not be giving evidence as she was not in a position to do so, for medical reasons.
Pat Quinn SC, for the tribunal, read documentation associated with the late Mr Lawlor into the record. It included a statement from Mr Lawlor to the effect that he received £30,000 in political contributions from Declan Ganley's business, Ganley International, in 1996.
Mr Quinn also said the tribunal had been told that an invoice dated February 1997 from Mr Ganley's business at 128 Mount Street, London, was used by Mr Lawlor when providing documentation to cover for a £25,000 payment to him from the former lobbyist and Fianna Fáil election agent, Frank Dunlop.
The cheque for that amount and made out to Ganley International, was lodged by an associate of Mr Lawlor's, Patrick Murphy to an account in his name in Lucan, Dublin, and the proceeds given to Mr Lawlor over time.
Evidence taken on commission from the long-time associate of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tim Collins, was read into the record by the tribunal registrar, Peter Kavanagh. Mr Collins's evidence was given in private, or on commission, for medical reasons. He attended Dublin Castle on October 9th, along with his counsel Hugh Mohan SC.
Mr Collins was questioned about his involvement in the purchase of land at Cloghran, Co Dublin, by John Butler, Tom Williams and Niall Kenny in 1989. The land was bought for £165,000 and Mr Collins said he was paid a finder's fee in 1996 of £29,613. Mr Collins said he used to drive around looking for property that might be of interest to clients.
"I drove into the yard and I asked the chap in the yard" if the land was up for sale, he said.
Mr Collins said he introduced lobbyist Frank Dunlop to the purchasers of the land during a chance meeting in the offices of the architect, Ambrose Kelly, in 1993. Told that Mr Dunlop had said he made it clear at the meeting that councillors would have to be paid if the land at Cloughran was to be rezoned, Mr Collins replied: "That's a lie."
He said Mr Dunlop's contribution was "public relations". The land was rezoned and sold at a substantial profit.
The tribunal adjourned and its public proceedings may now be complete.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Judges set tall task by litany of allegations, cash trails and digouts
AFTER 16 modules, 11 years, 400 witnesses, and a likely total cost of close to €300 million, the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments sat yesterday for what is expected to be its last public hearing.
Only one person remains on the tribunal's witness list, civil servant Gerry Carroll who was due to be briefly cross-examined by former assistant Dublin city and county manager George Redmond, whom he accused of being a bully.
The tribunal was set up in November 1997 to investigate allegations of planning corruption in Dublin.
Public hearings took place in Dublin Castle first before Mr Justice Flood and then, from late 2002, before chairman Judge Alan Mahon sitting with Judge Mary Faherty and Judge Gerald Keys.
Luckily for the public purse strings, not all witnesses sought legal representation. Of those who did, many have not yet claimed costs. So far, €8.9 million has been paid out for third-party legal expenses. The largest single payment, of €3.57 million, was made to lawyers for the late James Gogarty, the whistleblower whose allegations led to the setting up of the tribunal. Those against whom adverse findings were made have already had, and will in the future have, to pay their own legal bills.
The tribunal's own legal costs total €47.8 million, including €42.5 million to counsel and solicitors at the tribunal and the balance for costs in up to 30 cases in other courts. Des O'Neill SC earned €5.25 million, Patricia Dillon SC earned €4.6 million and Pat Quinn SC earned €3.8 million.
Administrative costs have so far amounted to almost €25 million. Judge Mahon has said he expects the total cost of the tribunal not to exceed €300 million.
Four interim reports were published; the first and fourth dealt with procedural matters, while the second and third, both by Justice Flood, made findings of corruption against Mr Redmond and former Fianna Fáil minister for communications Ray Burke.
These reports were clear, direct and netted €34.5 million in taxes for the Revenue.
The tribunal's current judges will have to sift through mountains of contradictory evidence, incredible allegations and meandering money trails.
They will look at evidence from Mr Redmond, who has denied allegations of corruption and who personally cross-examined some witnesses, including the late Liam Lawlor, who was as elusive as smoke.
They will have to consider allegations by Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin against his former business partner Owen O'Callaghan and lobbyist Frank Dunlop. Mr Gilmartin, who had a seanchaí's love of a story, provided some of the most memorable anecdotes to emerge from the hearings.
He told the tribunal how he was driven from one pub to another in a pick-up truck in search of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He also said Mr O'Callaghan fell out of a broom cupboard while trying to eavesdrop on him.
He talked of payments to politicians including former taoiseach Bertie Ahern and was labelled a fantasist by Mr O'Callaghan. Yet, sometimes his allegations were corroborated by other sources, or were revealed to have at least a nugget of truth in them.
Mr Dunlop's "road to Damascus" in April 2000, when he agreed to co-operate and provided a list of politicians to whom he said he made corrupt payments, will also have to be assessed. He said he told all to the tribunal, yet some entries in his diaries were so mutilated even the Federal Bureau of Investigation could not decipher them.
And the destination of some of his cash has never been ascertained, although €64,000 of it was said to have bought a horse that was never named and died a few months later.
The judges have listened with patience to a long line of politicians who, once it had been established they received money from Mr Dunlop, said the sums were legitimate political donations. They've heard evidence of invisible envelopes at fundraising dinners, tribunal documents lost in the Dáil car park and a conspiracy that sent a councillor to London when he should have been at a planning vote.
And they have followed the money trail with Bertie Ahern and heard about cash in safes, a house in Drumcondra, digouts and fit-outs and money that came from bets on horses.
To say the three judges have their work cut out is an understatement.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Only one person remains on the tribunal's witness list, civil servant Gerry Carroll who was due to be briefly cross-examined by former assistant Dublin city and county manager George Redmond, whom he accused of being a bully.
The tribunal was set up in November 1997 to investigate allegations of planning corruption in Dublin.
Public hearings took place in Dublin Castle first before Mr Justice Flood and then, from late 2002, before chairman Judge Alan Mahon sitting with Judge Mary Faherty and Judge Gerald Keys.
Luckily for the public purse strings, not all witnesses sought legal representation. Of those who did, many have not yet claimed costs. So far, €8.9 million has been paid out for third-party legal expenses. The largest single payment, of €3.57 million, was made to lawyers for the late James Gogarty, the whistleblower whose allegations led to the setting up of the tribunal. Those against whom adverse findings were made have already had, and will in the future have, to pay their own legal bills.
The tribunal's own legal costs total €47.8 million, including €42.5 million to counsel and solicitors at the tribunal and the balance for costs in up to 30 cases in other courts. Des O'Neill SC earned €5.25 million, Patricia Dillon SC earned €4.6 million and Pat Quinn SC earned €3.8 million.
Administrative costs have so far amounted to almost €25 million. Judge Mahon has said he expects the total cost of the tribunal not to exceed €300 million.
Four interim reports were published; the first and fourth dealt with procedural matters, while the second and third, both by Justice Flood, made findings of corruption against Mr Redmond and former Fianna Fáil minister for communications Ray Burke.
These reports were clear, direct and netted €34.5 million in taxes for the Revenue.
The tribunal's current judges will have to sift through mountains of contradictory evidence, incredible allegations and meandering money trails.
They will look at evidence from Mr Redmond, who has denied allegations of corruption and who personally cross-examined some witnesses, including the late Liam Lawlor, who was as elusive as smoke.
They will have to consider allegations by Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin against his former business partner Owen O'Callaghan and lobbyist Frank Dunlop. Mr Gilmartin, who had a seanchaí's love of a story, provided some of the most memorable anecdotes to emerge from the hearings.
He told the tribunal how he was driven from one pub to another in a pick-up truck in search of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He also said Mr O'Callaghan fell out of a broom cupboard while trying to eavesdrop on him.
He talked of payments to politicians including former taoiseach Bertie Ahern and was labelled a fantasist by Mr O'Callaghan. Yet, sometimes his allegations were corroborated by other sources, or were revealed to have at least a nugget of truth in them.
Mr Dunlop's "road to Damascus" in April 2000, when he agreed to co-operate and provided a list of politicians to whom he said he made corrupt payments, will also have to be assessed. He said he told all to the tribunal, yet some entries in his diaries were so mutilated even the Federal Bureau of Investigation could not decipher them.
And the destination of some of his cash has never been ascertained, although €64,000 of it was said to have bought a horse that was never named and died a few months later.
The judges have listened with patience to a long line of politicians who, once it had been established they received money from Mr Dunlop, said the sums were legitimate political donations. They've heard evidence of invisible envelopes at fundraising dinners, tribunal documents lost in the Dáil car park and a conspiracy that sent a councillor to London when he should have been at a planning vote.
And they have followed the money trail with Bertie Ahern and heard about cash in safes, a house in Drumcondra, digouts and fit-outs and money that came from bets on horses.
To say the three judges have their work cut out is an understatement.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Hearing planned over incinerator
PLANS FOR an incinerator in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, which are opposed by South Dublin County Council, the National Roads Authority (NRA), local politicians and more than 200 residents, will be subject to a Bord Pleanála public hearing next month.
Protesters gathered outside the Green Isle Hotel in west Dublin yesterday where An Bord Pleanála held a preliminary hearing to establish how long the planning hearing was likely to last, given the large number of objectors.
A schedule for the hearing, which begins on November 12th, will be sent to all parties in the coming days. Initial indications suggest it is likely to last several weeks.
Energy Answers International, the US firm who plan to operate the incinerator, has applied directly to An Bord Pleanála for permission for the incinerator, using the "fast-track" planning process.
The Strategic Infrastructure Act, which came into force in January 2007, allows applications for major infrastructural developments to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála, bypassing the usual local authority planning process.
The proposed incinerator would burn 365,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, just over half the amount of waste that would be processed in the Poolbeg incinerator for which permission was granted by An Bord Pleanála earlier this year to burn 600,000 tonnes annually.
Energy Answers International said that the plant could provide enough electricity to power 43,000 households. It would recover about 11,500 tonnes of metals and would produce more than 23,000 tonnes of an aggregate material for use in the manufacture of concrete products.
The incinerator would have been extremely unlikely to have secured permission from South Dublin County Council as the local authority has asked An Bord Pleanála to refuse permission.
The council has told the board that the incinerator is not required for the Dublin region and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
The NRA in its submission says the incinerator should be refused as the applicants had failed to demonstrate how the additional traffic generated could be accommodated on the existing road network.
Energy Answers International had also failed to address a number of safety issues, the NRA says, including the possibility of waste lorries leaving the facility "losing control" and colliding with traffic on the N7.
Liam McDermott of Rathcoole Against Incinerator Dioxins (Raid), the group which held yesterday's protest, said the incinerator would have a hugely negative impact on the environment and on the lives of the local community.
"The greatest fear of a waste incinerator that the residents of Rathcoole, Saggart, Newcastle, Lucan, Kill, Clondalkin and Tallaght have is the emission of dioxins. Also, the fear of extra traffic, strong odours and constant noise. They do not wish Rathcoole to be known as the incinerator village."
Local Fine Gael councillor Derek Keating said the development failed to comply with the objectives of the Dublin waste management plan, it would damage people's health it and would deter house buyers.
"It was clear from this preliminary oral hearing that the strongest possible representations will be made at the substantive oral hearing by the local community and the local authority to ensure that An Bord Pleanála refuses planning permission for this proposed incinerator," Mr Keating said.
Local resident and Raid member Deborah McDermott said it was "environmental injustice" to locate an incinerator near Clondalkin and Tallaght on the basis that people living there might be less likely to complain.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Protesters gathered outside the Green Isle Hotel in west Dublin yesterday where An Bord Pleanála held a preliminary hearing to establish how long the planning hearing was likely to last, given the large number of objectors.
A schedule for the hearing, which begins on November 12th, will be sent to all parties in the coming days. Initial indications suggest it is likely to last several weeks.
Energy Answers International, the US firm who plan to operate the incinerator, has applied directly to An Bord Pleanála for permission for the incinerator, using the "fast-track" planning process.
The Strategic Infrastructure Act, which came into force in January 2007, allows applications for major infrastructural developments to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála, bypassing the usual local authority planning process.
The proposed incinerator would burn 365,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, just over half the amount of waste that would be processed in the Poolbeg incinerator for which permission was granted by An Bord Pleanála earlier this year to burn 600,000 tonnes annually.
Energy Answers International said that the plant could provide enough electricity to power 43,000 households. It would recover about 11,500 tonnes of metals and would produce more than 23,000 tonnes of an aggregate material for use in the manufacture of concrete products.
The incinerator would have been extremely unlikely to have secured permission from South Dublin County Council as the local authority has asked An Bord Pleanála to refuse permission.
The council has told the board that the incinerator is not required for the Dublin region and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
The NRA in its submission says the incinerator should be refused as the applicants had failed to demonstrate how the additional traffic generated could be accommodated on the existing road network.
Energy Answers International had also failed to address a number of safety issues, the NRA says, including the possibility of waste lorries leaving the facility "losing control" and colliding with traffic on the N7.
Liam McDermott of Rathcoole Against Incinerator Dioxins (Raid), the group which held yesterday's protest, said the incinerator would have a hugely negative impact on the environment and on the lives of the local community.
"The greatest fear of a waste incinerator that the residents of Rathcoole, Saggart, Newcastle, Lucan, Kill, Clondalkin and Tallaght have is the emission of dioxins. Also, the fear of extra traffic, strong odours and constant noise. They do not wish Rathcoole to be known as the incinerator village."
Local Fine Gael councillor Derek Keating said the development failed to comply with the objectives of the Dublin waste management plan, it would damage people's health it and would deter house buyers.
"It was clear from this preliminary oral hearing that the strongest possible representations will be made at the substantive oral hearing by the local community and the local authority to ensure that An Bord Pleanála refuses planning permission for this proposed incinerator," Mr Keating said.
Local resident and Raid member Deborah McDermott said it was "environmental injustice" to locate an incinerator near Clondalkin and Tallaght on the basis that people living there might be less likely to complain.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Limerick regeneration
EARLIER THIS year, President McAleese visited Limerick to launch a major community development and physical refurbishment programme for the most deprived areas of the city. It was identified, correctly, as the most ambitious social project undertaken by the State. And it promised to transform the prospects of thousands of families whose lives have been blighted by high levels of unemployment, poor quality education and health services and depredation caused by drug-dealing gangs.
Intimidation, anti-social behaviour and internecine warfare were all part of the toxic mix. Now, it appears the Government may delay necessary expenditure. This must not happen. People in these estates simply cannot wait until Government finances improve.
It is not just about building new houses, although in the current economic climate that would make good sense. It is about the level and quality of services available and the provision of community-based facilities. Most importantly, it is about ensuring that law and order prevails within these communities. Family-based gangs that have made the districts virtual "no-go" areas for years should receive no quarter from the authorities. Funding for a continuing high level of Garda activity and for extra personnel must be provided in order to reassure and support law-abiding citizens and to draw a line under the legacy of the "bad old days".
A masterplan for regeneration of the designated areas was presented to Limerick City Council yesterday by the chief executive of the project, Brendan Kenny. He made the point that while funding was not immediately required for the demolition and reconstruction of an estimated 3,000 homes and the provision of new town centres, it was essential that other aspects of the plan be implemented in order to tackle an unacceptable level of lawlessness. Major capital funding will not be needed until next year. In the meantime, however, official commitment and support for the 10-year project is vital.
Here is an opportunity for the Government to show its commitment to community values, social progress and basic fairness. Ever since the Budget, it has been castigated for favouring the rich over the poor and for concentrating cutbacks on the least well off. It can show now not just that it cares, but that it is flexible and focused enough to provide funding for the necessary educational, psychological, special needs and health services that can give the young people in these communities a positive start in life. Above all, families should be entitled to feel safe and secure in their homes.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Intimidation, anti-social behaviour and internecine warfare were all part of the toxic mix. Now, it appears the Government may delay necessary expenditure. This must not happen. People in these estates simply cannot wait until Government finances improve.
It is not just about building new houses, although in the current economic climate that would make good sense. It is about the level and quality of services available and the provision of community-based facilities. Most importantly, it is about ensuring that law and order prevails within these communities. Family-based gangs that have made the districts virtual "no-go" areas for years should receive no quarter from the authorities. Funding for a continuing high level of Garda activity and for extra personnel must be provided in order to reassure and support law-abiding citizens and to draw a line under the legacy of the "bad old days".
A masterplan for regeneration of the designated areas was presented to Limerick City Council yesterday by the chief executive of the project, Brendan Kenny. He made the point that while funding was not immediately required for the demolition and reconstruction of an estimated 3,000 homes and the provision of new town centres, it was essential that other aspects of the plan be implemented in order to tackle an unacceptable level of lawlessness. Major capital funding will not be needed until next year. In the meantime, however, official commitment and support for the 10-year project is vital.
Here is an opportunity for the Government to show its commitment to community values, social progress and basic fairness. Ever since the Budget, it has been castigated for favouring the rich over the poor and for concentrating cutbacks on the least well off. It can show now not just that it cares, but that it is flexible and focused enough to provide funding for the necessary educational, psychological, special needs and health services that can give the young people in these communities a positive start in life. Above all, families should be entitled to feel safe and secure in their homes.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
New bridge at Achill to open this week
THE FIRST vehicles are expected to be rolling across a new bridge to Achill Island in coming days.
The €5 million swing bridge at Achill Sound replaces the old structure called after Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League, which was provided in 1947 after the pivotal mechanism of the first bridge, built 60 years earlier, had become stuck and corroded.
Before 1887, the narrow sea channel at Achill Sound could only be crossed at low tide on foot or on horseback.
Now, the third major bridge in Achill's history is ready to go into service for the inhabitants of the island and the tens of thousands who visit every year. The swing mechanism allows pleasure boats fishing boats and other vessels pass.
The old bridge had begun to give problems.
Michael Mongan, senior engineer with the council, said: "The elements were again taking their toll on the mechanism. You could open the bridge to allow vessels through but you ran the risk of not being able to close it again."
SIAC Construction began work on the project in September last year. Work proceeded slowly throughout the winter as overhead high tension wires had to be re-routed underground.
The opportunity was taken to complete a phase of the Achill Sound sewerage scheme in conjunction with the new cabling.
Mr Mongan said the bridge would be commissioned this week, meaning that the equipment which will pivot the bridge will be powered up and tested. He said he did not foresee any difficulties.
There will be a kiosk at the bridge with automatic controls on it, a one-person operation. There will be barriers for traffic such as exists at railway level crossings or similar to those on one of the Shannon bridges at Tarmonbarry.
The weight of the new structure is about 200 tonnes.
"It is important to keep it as light as possible so that it can swing easily on its central pier," Mr Mongan said.
Work is now under way to remove about 25,000 tonnes of material used to build the temporary causeway which was in place throughout construction.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The €5 million swing bridge at Achill Sound replaces the old structure called after Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League, which was provided in 1947 after the pivotal mechanism of the first bridge, built 60 years earlier, had become stuck and corroded.
Before 1887, the narrow sea channel at Achill Sound could only be crossed at low tide on foot or on horseback.
Now, the third major bridge in Achill's history is ready to go into service for the inhabitants of the island and the tens of thousands who visit every year. The swing mechanism allows pleasure boats fishing boats and other vessels pass.
The old bridge had begun to give problems.
Michael Mongan, senior engineer with the council, said: "The elements were again taking their toll on the mechanism. You could open the bridge to allow vessels through but you ran the risk of not being able to close it again."
SIAC Construction began work on the project in September last year. Work proceeded slowly throughout the winter as overhead high tension wires had to be re-routed underground.
The opportunity was taken to complete a phase of the Achill Sound sewerage scheme in conjunction with the new cabling.
Mr Mongan said the bridge would be commissioned this week, meaning that the equipment which will pivot the bridge will be powered up and tested. He said he did not foresee any difficulties.
There will be a kiosk at the bridge with automatic controls on it, a one-person operation. There will be barriers for traffic such as exists at railway level crossings or similar to those on one of the Shannon bridges at Tarmonbarry.
The weight of the new structure is about 200 tonnes.
"It is important to keep it as light as possible so that it can swing easily on its central pier," Mr Mongan said.
Work is now under way to remove about 25,000 tonnes of material used to build the temporary causeway which was in place throughout construction.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Piped floodwater proposed for Dublin
ONE OF the options being considered in a major study of Dublin's water supply would involve taking water from the Shannon when the river is in flood and piping it to a large reservoir in the midlands.
Consultants RPS Veolia are looking at the possibility of taking water from Lough Ree and Lough Derg in winter and storing it in a reservoir on cutaway bog near Rochfortbridge, Co Westmeath, from where it would be piped to Dublin.
This may emerge as the "preferred option" in the study - due to be completed before the end of 2009 - as it would overcome fears that the Shannon lakes would be "drained" if the water was simply piped to Dublin directly.
Last month, objectors from the Shannon catchment area marched to Leinster House to protest against proposals by Dublin City Council to abstract 350 million litres of water a day from the river's two largest lakes to serve consumers in the capital.
The march was organised by the Shannon Protection Alliance, a coalition of objectors from the catchment area set up in April 2007 after the city council identified Lough Ree as the most likely source from which Dublin would need to draw extra water.
The council's water engineers believe that the capital will require such a new source by 2015 to cater for its growing population.
However, the alliance is adamant that the plan to take it from the Shannon would be an "ecological disaster".
There are also fears locally, particularly around Lough Ree, that water levels in the lake would fall drastically, damaging its principal money-spinner - leisure boating on the Shannon. The Shannon Regional Fisheries Organisation also opposes the plan.
However, Dublin City Council has maintained it would only draw off 2 per cent of the volume of water in the river in any year. If this could be confined to the times of year when the Shannon is in flood, the environmental impact would be less.
The direct piping of water from Lough Ree to Dublin was provisionally costed at €550 million- €600 million. No estimate is available for the additional cost of building a large reservoir in the midlands, though this is likely to be substantial.
Domestic water use in Ireland, at 160 litres per capita a day is among the highest in Europe. Economists have attributed this to the absence of tariffs based on consumption. Water charges were abolished in 1997.
With 83 per cent of drinking water coming from surface water, Minister for the Environment John Gormley has said that water shortages "will be a key issue that Ireland will have to grapple with in the future", mainly because of the impacts of climate change.
The huge capital cost of providing a new supply for Dublin at a time of severe budgetary constraints will obviously pose problems for the Government. However, there is little appetite among Ministers to reintroduce water charges to fund it.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Consultants RPS Veolia are looking at the possibility of taking water from Lough Ree and Lough Derg in winter and storing it in a reservoir on cutaway bog near Rochfortbridge, Co Westmeath, from where it would be piped to Dublin.
This may emerge as the "preferred option" in the study - due to be completed before the end of 2009 - as it would overcome fears that the Shannon lakes would be "drained" if the water was simply piped to Dublin directly.
Last month, objectors from the Shannon catchment area marched to Leinster House to protest against proposals by Dublin City Council to abstract 350 million litres of water a day from the river's two largest lakes to serve consumers in the capital.
The march was organised by the Shannon Protection Alliance, a coalition of objectors from the catchment area set up in April 2007 after the city council identified Lough Ree as the most likely source from which Dublin would need to draw extra water.
The council's water engineers believe that the capital will require such a new source by 2015 to cater for its growing population.
However, the alliance is adamant that the plan to take it from the Shannon would be an "ecological disaster".
There are also fears locally, particularly around Lough Ree, that water levels in the lake would fall drastically, damaging its principal money-spinner - leisure boating on the Shannon. The Shannon Regional Fisheries Organisation also opposes the plan.
However, Dublin City Council has maintained it would only draw off 2 per cent of the volume of water in the river in any year. If this could be confined to the times of year when the Shannon is in flood, the environmental impact would be less.
The direct piping of water from Lough Ree to Dublin was provisionally costed at €550 million- €600 million. No estimate is available for the additional cost of building a large reservoir in the midlands, though this is likely to be substantial.
Domestic water use in Ireland, at 160 litres per capita a day is among the highest in Europe. Economists have attributed this to the absence of tariffs based on consumption. Water charges were abolished in 1997.
With 83 per cent of drinking water coming from surface water, Minister for the Environment John Gormley has said that water shortages "will be a key issue that Ireland will have to grapple with in the future", mainly because of the impacts of climate change.
The huge capital cost of providing a new supply for Dublin at a time of severe budgetary constraints will obviously pose problems for the Government. However, there is little appetite among Ministers to reintroduce water charges to fund it.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Gormley set to intervene over development plan for Ennis
MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley is expected to intervene in the drawing of the new Ennis development plan after members of Clare County Council, contrary to national policy, loosened rules for one-off housing.
A special council meeting on the adoption of the draft Ennis and Environs Plan was told that a submission from Mr Gormley's department had made it clear that the development plan was not compatible with national policy or with the National Spatial Strategy.
The council's senior executive planner, John Bradley, also told councillors that their decision to allow exceptions for one-off homes along national routes in the draft plan "is not consistent with national policy and is going against National Roads Authority policy".
Responding to a call by Fianna Fáil councillor Bernard Hanrahan to further loosen restrictions on one-off housing in the countryside, Mr Bradley said: "We can do no more and are likely to be told by the department to remove what is in the plan."
Mr Bradley said that the council had loosened up restrictions on one-off housing rather than tightened them up.
Last year, when members of Monaghan County Council chose to ignore a department directive on what should be in the county development plan, Mr Gormley used special powers to make the department's suggested changes.
Fianna Fáil councillor PJ Kelly said there were "terrible clouds" coming from a submission by the department to Clare County Council.
In its submission on the draft plan, the department said that the controls on the establishment of housing in countryside areas should be reviewed.
The department states that there were a number of terms and phrases, "which if not defined clearly and precisely, would create the potential for significant numbers of new residential houses in the countryside areas".
In a separate submission, the National Roads Authority has told the council to eliminate exceptions that it has included in the draft plan to allow one-off homes on national routes.
The department backed up the roads authority's submission by stating that its exceptions listed for one-off housing on national routes were not in line with national policy.
In the draft plan, the council is proposing to allow the development of one-off homes on national routes for farmers and their sons and daughters working on the land.
However, councillors have rejected the contents of the roads authority's submission, prompting Mr Bradley to sound his warning that the draft plan was contrary to national policy.
The Ennis draft plan is to now on display for a further period and has to be adopted by December 8th.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
A special council meeting on the adoption of the draft Ennis and Environs Plan was told that a submission from Mr Gormley's department had made it clear that the development plan was not compatible with national policy or with the National Spatial Strategy.
The council's senior executive planner, John Bradley, also told councillors that their decision to allow exceptions for one-off homes along national routes in the draft plan "is not consistent with national policy and is going against National Roads Authority policy".
Responding to a call by Fianna Fáil councillor Bernard Hanrahan to further loosen restrictions on one-off housing in the countryside, Mr Bradley said: "We can do no more and are likely to be told by the department to remove what is in the plan."
Mr Bradley said that the council had loosened up restrictions on one-off housing rather than tightened them up.
Last year, when members of Monaghan County Council chose to ignore a department directive on what should be in the county development plan, Mr Gormley used special powers to make the department's suggested changes.
Fianna Fáil councillor PJ Kelly said there were "terrible clouds" coming from a submission by the department to Clare County Council.
In its submission on the draft plan, the department said that the controls on the establishment of housing in countryside areas should be reviewed.
The department states that there were a number of terms and phrases, "which if not defined clearly and precisely, would create the potential for significant numbers of new residential houses in the countryside areas".
In a separate submission, the National Roads Authority has told the council to eliminate exceptions that it has included in the draft plan to allow one-off homes on national routes.
The department backed up the roads authority's submission by stating that its exceptions listed for one-off housing on national routes were not in line with national policy.
In the draft plan, the council is proposing to allow the development of one-off homes on national routes for farmers and their sons and daughters working on the land.
However, councillors have rejected the contents of the roads authority's submission, prompting Mr Bradley to sound his warning that the draft plan was contrary to national policy.
The Ennis draft plan is to now on display for a further period and has to be adopted by December 8th.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Councillors endorse high-rise provisions
DUBLIN CITY councillors have voted to endorse new planning principles that would allow high-rise buildings to be built at 15 locations around the city and suburbs.
The council's strategic planning committee yesterday recommended that the city's development plan be changed to allow buildings of 16 or more storeys at five specific locations and buildings of up to 16 storeys at a further 10 locations around the city.
Their recommendation will be put to the full meeting of the city council in December. However, some councillors and the An Taisce representative on the planning committee said the change should not go ahead and any review should be considered as part of the next development plan, which comes into force in 2012.
Under the proposals, buildings of 16 or more storeys will be permitted in the Docklands; the Connolly Station area; George's Quay including Tara Street and Hawkins House, the Digital Hub including Thomas Street/James's Street and the Heuston Station area.
A further 10 locations could accommodate buildings of eight to 15 storeys, the document says. These are Phibsboro; Grangegorman; the "north fringe", where the city meets Fingal on the Malahide Road near Darndale, Clonshaugh Industrial Estate; Ballymun; Pelletstown; the Dublin Industrial Estate near Cabra; Ballyfermot, Parkwest/ Cherry Orchard and the Naas Road near the intersection of Long Mile Road.
Labour Mary Freehill proposed the issue of heights should be considered as part of the next development plan. Speaking in support of Ms Freehill's proposal, Labour Dermot Lacey said there was "enormous cynicism" among the public about the planning process. "A significant change out of sequence with the development plan only increases that cynicism," he said.
Valerin O'Shea of An Taisce said she believed there should be no rush to incorporate high-rise principles into the plan.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The council's strategic planning committee yesterday recommended that the city's development plan be changed to allow buildings of 16 or more storeys at five specific locations and buildings of up to 16 storeys at a further 10 locations around the city.
Their recommendation will be put to the full meeting of the city council in December. However, some councillors and the An Taisce representative on the planning committee said the change should not go ahead and any review should be considered as part of the next development plan, which comes into force in 2012.
Under the proposals, buildings of 16 or more storeys will be permitted in the Docklands; the Connolly Station area; George's Quay including Tara Street and Hawkins House, the Digital Hub including Thomas Street/James's Street and the Heuston Station area.
A further 10 locations could accommodate buildings of eight to 15 storeys, the document says. These are Phibsboro; Grangegorman; the "north fringe", where the city meets Fingal on the Malahide Road near Darndale, Clonshaugh Industrial Estate; Ballymun; Pelletstown; the Dublin Industrial Estate near Cabra; Ballyfermot, Parkwest/ Cherry Orchard and the Naas Road near the intersection of Long Mile Road.
Labour Mary Freehill proposed the issue of heights should be considered as part of the next development plan. Speaking in support of Ms Freehill's proposal, Labour Dermot Lacey said there was "enormous cynicism" among the public about the planning process. "A significant change out of sequence with the development plan only increases that cynicism," he said.
Valerin O'Shea of An Taisce said she believed there should be no rush to incorporate high-rise principles into the plan.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
€3bn plan to rebuild worst areas of Limerick
A €3 BILLION plan for the largest regeneration project in the State's history was unveiled in Limerick yesterday.
The Limerick Regeneration Plan aims to totally transform some of the city's most-deprived housing estates over the next ten years, with the demolition of some 3,000 homes.
The public cost of transforming Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and St Mary's Park between 2009 and 2018 is estimated at €1.67 billion with a further investment of €1 billion expected from the private sector.
Replacement housing, estimated to be in the region of 2,400 homes, will be built to house existing families who wish to stay in these areas.
However, in order to help redress the current and historic social imbalance in the housing mix, all additional housing above that will be private and/or affordable housing, according to the 200-page document unveiled yesterday.
The draft plan proposes the construction of at least 5,000 additional private homes in the three areas.
Currently, over 52 per cent of householders in the estates own their homes, while 48 per cent are renting from the local authority.
The draft plan provides for that mix to change to 20 per cent social/rented and 80 per cent private ownership. The significance of the massive plan for Limerick is highlighted in the words of Southill parish priest Fr Pat Hogan in the opening pages of the blueprint unveiled yesterday.
"Critical historical moments come to cities rarely, maybe every odd century, this is one for Limerick," he said.
Fr Hogan said pockets of poverty "on a par with some of the worst in the world" were allowed to develop in certain parts of Limerick. With Limerick regeneration an opportunity "is being given to build a new city and a new citizenry", he wrote.
Meanwhile, Brendan Kenny, the man tasked with driving the regeneration plan over the next decade, admitted that he is seeking funding at a bad time.
"The reality is, yes, we are going to Government looking for funding at probably the worst economic climate over the last 30 maybe 50 years, which is ironic for the people living in the regeneration areas, that they lived through an unprecedented economic boom over the last 15 years and really didn't benefit from it," he said.
"We are confident of getting continued support from Government for this vital project, however Government departments will need to carefully assess all the implications of this draft plan, in particular the funding issues," he said.
It is exactly a year since the regeneration agencies started working on their plan to transform some of the most deprived parts of Limerick city, and just over two years since the horrific arson attack in Moyross on children Gavin and Milly Murray-McNamara, which underpinned the whole process.
Gavin and Milly were aged four and six respectively when the car they were sitting in was petrol-bombed in September 2006 by local youths.The children's mother Sheila had earlier refused a lift to a number of youths, one of whom decided to burn her car in revenge.
The north side and south side regeneration agencies were established after the Government commissioned former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald to report on how to tackle the social, criminal and economic problems in Limerick's troubled estates.
Mr Fitzgerald yesterday stressed that those engaged in anti-social activities would not be accommodated in the regenerated areas.
"We have made it quite clear that those who are engaged in criminal activity or serious social problems will not be accommodated in the new areas. That is what people have looked for and that is what they are entitled to," he said.
"Already that message has got out there. There are people who might have felt that they had some kind of licence to be disruptive before who have suddenly realised it is in their interests not to cause the kind of havoc that they did cause in those areas."
The draft plan unveiled yesterday focuses on the three key pillars of physical, economic and social regeneration. Mr Kenny said job opportunities were critical to the success of the plan.
Key objectives include the development of educational facilities, construction of town squares, and a new business park in Moyross.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The Limerick Regeneration Plan aims to totally transform some of the city's most-deprived housing estates over the next ten years, with the demolition of some 3,000 homes.
The public cost of transforming Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and St Mary's Park between 2009 and 2018 is estimated at €1.67 billion with a further investment of €1 billion expected from the private sector.
Replacement housing, estimated to be in the region of 2,400 homes, will be built to house existing families who wish to stay in these areas.
However, in order to help redress the current and historic social imbalance in the housing mix, all additional housing above that will be private and/or affordable housing, according to the 200-page document unveiled yesterday.
The draft plan proposes the construction of at least 5,000 additional private homes in the three areas.
Currently, over 52 per cent of householders in the estates own their homes, while 48 per cent are renting from the local authority.
The draft plan provides for that mix to change to 20 per cent social/rented and 80 per cent private ownership. The significance of the massive plan for Limerick is highlighted in the words of Southill parish priest Fr Pat Hogan in the opening pages of the blueprint unveiled yesterday.
"Critical historical moments come to cities rarely, maybe every odd century, this is one for Limerick," he said.
Fr Hogan said pockets of poverty "on a par with some of the worst in the world" were allowed to develop in certain parts of Limerick. With Limerick regeneration an opportunity "is being given to build a new city and a new citizenry", he wrote.
Meanwhile, Brendan Kenny, the man tasked with driving the regeneration plan over the next decade, admitted that he is seeking funding at a bad time.
"The reality is, yes, we are going to Government looking for funding at probably the worst economic climate over the last 30 maybe 50 years, which is ironic for the people living in the regeneration areas, that they lived through an unprecedented economic boom over the last 15 years and really didn't benefit from it," he said.
"We are confident of getting continued support from Government for this vital project, however Government departments will need to carefully assess all the implications of this draft plan, in particular the funding issues," he said.
It is exactly a year since the regeneration agencies started working on their plan to transform some of the most deprived parts of Limerick city, and just over two years since the horrific arson attack in Moyross on children Gavin and Milly Murray-McNamara, which underpinned the whole process.
Gavin and Milly were aged four and six respectively when the car they were sitting in was petrol-bombed in September 2006 by local youths.The children's mother Sheila had earlier refused a lift to a number of youths, one of whom decided to burn her car in revenge.
The north side and south side regeneration agencies were established after the Government commissioned former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald to report on how to tackle the social, criminal and economic problems in Limerick's troubled estates.
Mr Fitzgerald yesterday stressed that those engaged in anti-social activities would not be accommodated in the regenerated areas.
"We have made it quite clear that those who are engaged in criminal activity or serious social problems will not be accommodated in the new areas. That is what people have looked for and that is what they are entitled to," he said.
"Already that message has got out there. There are people who might have felt that they had some kind of licence to be disruptive before who have suddenly realised it is in their interests not to cause the kind of havoc that they did cause in those areas."
The draft plan unveiled yesterday focuses on the three key pillars of physical, economic and social regeneration. Mr Kenny said job opportunities were critical to the success of the plan.
Key objectives include the development of educational facilities, construction of town squares, and a new business park in Moyross.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Breakdown of Limerick city project costs
THE regeneration project will cost €3.1bn. This figure will be made up of: l €1.7bn in public money l €1.4bn private sector money.
This €3.1bn total will be spent as follows:
l €1.1bn for housing.
l €400m for investments in industrial and commercial enterprises.
l €300m for infrastructure.
l €1.3bn of the total is allocated for a range of social, education, training, cultural and civic facilities.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
This €3.1bn total will be spent as follows:
l €1.1bn for housing.
l €400m for investments in industrial and commercial enterprises.
l €300m for infrastructure.
l €1.3bn of the total is allocated for a range of social, education, training, cultural and civic facilities.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Dublin City to permit tall buildings in five locations
DUBLIN'S skyline could be set for massive changes in coming years after city councillors yesterday moved to begin the process of allowing tall buildings in key locations.
Councillors have agreed to a variation to the 2005-2011 Dublin city development plan at a forthcoming December meeting, which would allow greater height and density for new developments.
If the variation is accepted, it will see buildings of up to 16 storeys or over 60 metres high allowed in five city centre locations. A further ten locations on the city's fringes could see buildings of a similar height permitted.
At a time when development site values have plummeted in some areas, the council's high rise plans could help to bolster values for some sites by up to 30pc
The areas selected for the non-restricted heights are Dublin's Docklands and Poolbeg; around Connolly Station; George's Quay incorporating Tara Street and Hawkins House; the Digital Hub including Thomas Street and James's Street and around Heuston Station.
The council's plan states any application "must make a positive contribution to the urban character of the city," and developments must adhere to six robust assessment criterias.
They are design, environmental sustainability, social inclusion, economic contribution, access to public transport and cultural and heritage awareness.
But one property agent argued yesterday the councillors' decision could add little or nothing to the value of development sites.
"In the current market, banks will not lend the money for a development unless the developer can sell 60pc of the apartments beforehand or do a pre-funding deal for offices with an investor or occupier.
"The larger the development, the more expensive it is to develop,"said Garvan Walsh of agents Kelly Walsh.
Garrett Kelleher, the Irish businessman behind the delayed Chicago Spire scheme, is expected to redevelop Hawkins House near Tara Street, in partnership with the Office of Public Works.
However, the former Jury's hotel sites in Ballsbridge and Burlington Road, now owned by Sean Dunne and Bernard McNamara, are not included in the proposals.
CIE could benefit from sites at Tara Street, Connolly and Heuston Stations, while Liam Carroll and Sean Dunne, who have recently engaged in a court battle over their north docklands sites, look set to benefit in that area.
Colin Bartley and Donal Buckley
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Councillors have agreed to a variation to the 2005-2011 Dublin city development plan at a forthcoming December meeting, which would allow greater height and density for new developments.
If the variation is accepted, it will see buildings of up to 16 storeys or over 60 metres high allowed in five city centre locations. A further ten locations on the city's fringes could see buildings of a similar height permitted.
At a time when development site values have plummeted in some areas, the council's high rise plans could help to bolster values for some sites by up to 30pc
The areas selected for the non-restricted heights are Dublin's Docklands and Poolbeg; around Connolly Station; George's Quay incorporating Tara Street and Hawkins House; the Digital Hub including Thomas Street and James's Street and around Heuston Station.
The council's plan states any application "must make a positive contribution to the urban character of the city," and developments must adhere to six robust assessment criterias.
They are design, environmental sustainability, social inclusion, economic contribution, access to public transport and cultural and heritage awareness.
But one property agent argued yesterday the councillors' decision could add little or nothing to the value of development sites.
"In the current market, banks will not lend the money for a development unless the developer can sell 60pc of the apartments beforehand or do a pre-funding deal for offices with an investor or occupier.
"The larger the development, the more expensive it is to develop,"said Garvan Walsh of agents Kelly Walsh.
Garrett Kelleher, the Irish businessman behind the delayed Chicago Spire scheme, is expected to redevelop Hawkins House near Tara Street, in partnership with the Office of Public Works.
However, the former Jury's hotel sites in Ballsbridge and Burlington Road, now owned by Sean Dunne and Bernard McNamara, are not included in the proposals.
CIE could benefit from sites at Tara Street, Connolly and Heuston Stations, while Liam Carroll and Sean Dunne, who have recently engaged in a court battle over their north docklands sites, look set to benefit in that area.
Colin Bartley and Donal Buckley
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Half of €3bn suburb revamp bill to be paid by taxpayer
THE cost of regenerating four of the country's most deprived suburbs would be over €3bn -- with the taxpayer picking up the bill for more than half of the overhaul.
In total, the Government would have to pay just over €1.7bn for the 10-year redevelopment of the Limerick suburbs of Southill, Ballina- curra-Weston, St Mary's Park and Moyross.
It is hoped that a further €1.4bn would come from private investment.
But at the presentation of the masterplan to the city council yesterday, Brendan Kenny, the chief executive of Limerick Regeneration Agencies, said that all involved were "very conscious of the new economic environment".
"But we stress that the investment proposed will be required over a 10-year period and that, ultimately, a successful regeneration project will deliver considerable economic benefits and savings for the State."
John Fitzgerald, chairman of Limerick Regeneration Agencies, also issued a stern warning that there would be no place in the new estates for any person involved in criminal activity.
The affected areas in Limerick have been plagued by gangland violence and high levels of anti-social behaviour.
The masterplan focuses on three key pillars of regeneration: social, economic and physical. Mr Kenny said that physical regeneration would be the most visible and had already predominated public debate in relation to the project, but he said social regeneration was the "most critical element of all".
The social regeneration aspect sets out about 50 different actions while, in relation to housing, the draft plan sets out to demolish 3,000 houses in a bid to have 80pc of residents as owners of their new homes.
Currently, in the regeneration areas, 52pc of residents own their properties while 48pc rent their homes from the local authority -- resulting in these estates having the highest concentration of of social housing in the country.
Speaking of the significance of the regeneration project, Southill Parish Priest Fr Pat Hogan said: "Critical historical moments come to cities rarely, maybe every odd century. This is one for Limerick."
Limerick Regeneration Agencies chairman Mr Fitzgerald said the estimated figures "are robust and conservative, but they are not final figures".
Opportunities
"We have made that quite clear in the report . . . that almost half of the total cost is private sector investment. Somewhere, between now and the end of next year, we will have an opportunity to check out the appetite that is there in the private sector for private housing, offices, shops and job creation -- which is what is going to change these places," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"If we simply replace social housing with more social housing it is not going to solve anything. The whole idea is that at the end of this project we are going to have a better social mix," he added.
The former Dublin City Manager also issued a stern warning to criminals in the affected areas, saying: "We have made it quite clear that those who are engaged in criminal activity or serious social problems will not be accommodated."
"There are people who might have felt they had some kind of licence to be disruptive before, who have suddenly realised it is in their interests not to cause the kind of havoc that they did cause," Mr Fitzgerald added.
Last night, Limerick City councillors welcomed the masterplan ahead of a planned full meeting to discuss the 205-page document.
Barry Duggan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
In total, the Government would have to pay just over €1.7bn for the 10-year redevelopment of the Limerick suburbs of Southill, Ballina- curra-Weston, St Mary's Park and Moyross.
It is hoped that a further €1.4bn would come from private investment.
But at the presentation of the masterplan to the city council yesterday, Brendan Kenny, the chief executive of Limerick Regeneration Agencies, said that all involved were "very conscious of the new economic environment".
"But we stress that the investment proposed will be required over a 10-year period and that, ultimately, a successful regeneration project will deliver considerable economic benefits and savings for the State."
John Fitzgerald, chairman of Limerick Regeneration Agencies, also issued a stern warning that there would be no place in the new estates for any person involved in criminal activity.
The affected areas in Limerick have been plagued by gangland violence and high levels of anti-social behaviour.
The masterplan focuses on three key pillars of regeneration: social, economic and physical. Mr Kenny said that physical regeneration would be the most visible and had already predominated public debate in relation to the project, but he said social regeneration was the "most critical element of all".
The social regeneration aspect sets out about 50 different actions while, in relation to housing, the draft plan sets out to demolish 3,000 houses in a bid to have 80pc of residents as owners of their new homes.
Currently, in the regeneration areas, 52pc of residents own their properties while 48pc rent their homes from the local authority -- resulting in these estates having the highest concentration of of social housing in the country.
Speaking of the significance of the regeneration project, Southill Parish Priest Fr Pat Hogan said: "Critical historical moments come to cities rarely, maybe every odd century. This is one for Limerick."
Limerick Regeneration Agencies chairman Mr Fitzgerald said the estimated figures "are robust and conservative, but they are not final figures".
Opportunities
"We have made that quite clear in the report . . . that almost half of the total cost is private sector investment. Somewhere, between now and the end of next year, we will have an opportunity to check out the appetite that is there in the private sector for private housing, offices, shops and job creation -- which is what is going to change these places," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"If we simply replace social housing with more social housing it is not going to solve anything. The whole idea is that at the end of this project we are going to have a better social mix," he added.
The former Dublin City Manager also issued a stern warning to criminals in the affected areas, saying: "We have made it quite clear that those who are engaged in criminal activity or serious social problems will not be accommodated."
"There are people who might have felt they had some kind of licence to be disruptive before, who have suddenly realised it is in their interests not to cause the kind of havoc that they did cause," Mr Fitzgerald added.
Last night, Limerick City councillors welcomed the masterplan ahead of a planned full meeting to discuss the 205-page document.
Barry Duggan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
State must find €1.6bn to rebuild city’s estates
THE beleaguered Government is facing a fresh financial challenge.
The state will have to come up with €1.6 billion in order to back the massive €3bn government-commissioned plan to transform rundown, crime-ridden, housing estates in Limerick.
As the plan was backed by Limerick City Council yesterday, Southill parish priest Fr Pat Hogan said: “An opportunity is being given to build a new city and a new citizenry.”
The council was told that the plan marks an epoch in government strategy to bring new hope to the lives of thousands whose neighbourhoods are gripped by poverty and crime.
Although it carries a price tag of over €3bn, backers warned that failure would be even more costly.
More than €1.6bn will be needed from Government funds and a further €1.4bn from the private sector.
The plan to demolish and rebuild Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and St Mary’s Park has been widely welcomed in the city.
Brendan Kenny, head of the two regeneration boards, said what is envisaged should be viewed as an investment as much as a cost. “We have a mandate from Government to do this.”
Mr Kenny said it will be 2010 before they start the new housing and at that stage they will seek “a small amount of capital investment” to start the project.
“The overall funding is not required now, it won’t be required in 2009, it will be required over a period of 10 years. The money will have to come ultimately.
“We are not naive and understand the situation we are in at the moment and there are likely to be some delays, but we are talking abut a plan for implementation over 10 years and a plan for Limerick city for the next 50 to 100 years.”
There is all-round acceptance that Limerick’s most rundown estates could not go looking for public funding at a worse possible time. But its backers warn that the cost of doing nothing would even be more catastrophic.
Central to the plan is the demolition of 2,500 houses which will be replaced by 4,800 dwellings in mixed public/private estates.
Former Dublin city manager, John Fitzgerald who was asked by the Government to put a regeneration programme in place said: “There is no easy solution to problems that have already spanned many generations — particularly to change behaviour and attitudes that exist both inside and outside these communities that are deep rooted and create barriers to progress.
“However, once implementation begins there is a lot that can be done relatively quickly during the earlier years of delivery. The potential benefits of implementing this plan far outweigh the costs.”
Mayor John Gilligan said: “We now have a clear strategy to bring us into the implementation phase of regeneration. We must seize this opportunity and use it to advance Limerick as one of the most vibrant and progressive cities in western Europe.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
The state will have to come up with €1.6 billion in order to back the massive €3bn government-commissioned plan to transform rundown, crime-ridden, housing estates in Limerick.
As the plan was backed by Limerick City Council yesterday, Southill parish priest Fr Pat Hogan said: “An opportunity is being given to build a new city and a new citizenry.”
The council was told that the plan marks an epoch in government strategy to bring new hope to the lives of thousands whose neighbourhoods are gripped by poverty and crime.
Although it carries a price tag of over €3bn, backers warned that failure would be even more costly.
More than €1.6bn will be needed from Government funds and a further €1.4bn from the private sector.
The plan to demolish and rebuild Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and St Mary’s Park has been widely welcomed in the city.
Brendan Kenny, head of the two regeneration boards, said what is envisaged should be viewed as an investment as much as a cost. “We have a mandate from Government to do this.”
Mr Kenny said it will be 2010 before they start the new housing and at that stage they will seek “a small amount of capital investment” to start the project.
“The overall funding is not required now, it won’t be required in 2009, it will be required over a period of 10 years. The money will have to come ultimately.
“We are not naive and understand the situation we are in at the moment and there are likely to be some delays, but we are talking abut a plan for implementation over 10 years and a plan for Limerick city for the next 50 to 100 years.”
There is all-round acceptance that Limerick’s most rundown estates could not go looking for public funding at a worse possible time. But its backers warn that the cost of doing nothing would even be more catastrophic.
Central to the plan is the demolition of 2,500 houses which will be replaced by 4,800 dwellings in mixed public/private estates.
Former Dublin city manager, John Fitzgerald who was asked by the Government to put a regeneration programme in place said: “There is no easy solution to problems that have already spanned many generations — particularly to change behaviour and attitudes that exist both inside and outside these communities that are deep rooted and create barriers to progress.
“However, once implementation begins there is a lot that can be done relatively quickly during the earlier years of delivery. The potential benefits of implementing this plan far outweigh the costs.”
Mayor John Gilligan said: “We now have a clear strategy to bring us into the implementation phase of regeneration. We must seize this opportunity and use it to advance Limerick as one of the most vibrant and progressive cities in western Europe.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Limerick regeneration plan ‘an investment that will pay for itself’
THE man whose report prompted the government sponsored regeneration plan for Limerick said it is an investment that will pay for itself in the long term.
Former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald said he would have been much more concerned about the economic downturn if they had the plan ready two years ago and were now looking for private and public sector investment.
He said: “In a way it is fortuitous that we are not at that stage now. By the time we get to that stage in a year’s time, I think things will have changed quite considerably and bottomed out. We will know, then, where we stand and how long it will take.”
The regeneration plan, he said is a must. The alternative to do nothing was not an option.
He said: “You can’t leave things simply as they are...”He said much progress has been made since he published his original report 18 months ago.
“It is really the beginning of the beginning. It’s a long haul programme to deal with issues that span generations,” he said.
Mr Fitzgerald added that he is confident that the necessary funding will come.
He said: “The tide has turned, but it will turn again by the time we get well into it [the plan]. Most of next year will be taken up at planning process.”
He said they have been receiving “phenomenal” support from both the environment and justice departments despite the economic change.
Mr Fitzgerald said the costing are “robust” and “conservative”.
Over the coming year they will have an opportunity to check out the private sector appetite to get involved.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald said he would have been much more concerned about the economic downturn if they had the plan ready two years ago and were now looking for private and public sector investment.
He said: “In a way it is fortuitous that we are not at that stage now. By the time we get to that stage in a year’s time, I think things will have changed quite considerably and bottomed out. We will know, then, where we stand and how long it will take.”
The regeneration plan, he said is a must. The alternative to do nothing was not an option.
He said: “You can’t leave things simply as they are...”He said much progress has been made since he published his original report 18 months ago.
“It is really the beginning of the beginning. It’s a long haul programme to deal with issues that span generations,” he said.
Mr Fitzgerald added that he is confident that the necessary funding will come.
He said: “The tide has turned, but it will turn again by the time we get well into it [the plan]. Most of next year will be taken up at planning process.”
He said they have been receiving “phenomenal” support from both the environment and justice departments despite the economic change.
Mr Fitzgerald said the costing are “robust” and “conservative”.
Over the coming year they will have an opportunity to check out the private sector appetite to get involved.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
€63m Tipperary-Cork gas pipeline unveiled
PROPOSALS to build a €63 million gas pipeline to supply industries in the Cork region have been unveiled at an oral hearing.
Gerry Keane, deputy managing director of Bord Gáis networks division, told the Bord Pleanála hearing that gas imported from Britain would be pumped through the country’s pipeline network and through the new 47km line, which will run from Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, to Midleton.
Bord Gáis wants to start construction next March, completing the pipeline within six months.
As part of the project the company is seeking access to land owned by about 120 people.
John Gordon, Bord Gáis’ senior counsel, told the hearing that 80 of those landowners had already agreed to provide wayleave access, but he was seeking a further 40 compulsory access orders under the 1976 Gas Act.
He said Bord Gáis had a very good 30-year track record in laying pipeline and to date had constructed 1,500km of underground pipeline throughout the country.
Nearly all the land involved is agricultural, although nearer Midleton, where the land becomes more urbanised, the 600mm wide pipeline will be reinforced and buried at a depth of 1.2 metres.
Reinforced pipeline will also be deployed at 51 road crossings and 16 river crossings, including the River Blackwater.
A total of 9,500 tonnes of steel pipeline will be laid along the route.
Cork County Council officials said the chosen route didn’t compromise any future growth of urban areas and welcomed the fact that it would provide people with an alternative power source.
Officials added that as the pipeline passed some areas of special conservation, works should be agreed in advance with Cork County Council and the National Parks & Wildlife Service to ensure minimum disruption to flora and fauna.
The county council also wants a €253,000 fund set up by Bord Gáis to provide communities with some form of compensation and to ensure the upkeep of local roads.
However, Mr Gordon said Bord Gáis had no difficulty setting aside some money under the ‘community gain’ programme, but the company was proposing to give 20 community councils along the route payments of €5,000 each.
South Tipperary County Council officials said the project would provide quality infrastructure that wouldn’t impact on amenities in their area.
Jervis Good, an environmental expert with the Department of the Environment, said he didn’t have an objection to the project if conditions were attached to pipe laying works, especially across the River Blackwater so it wouldn’t impact on aquatic life.
Bord Gáis experts envisage that a micro-tunnel would be built under the Blackwater to reduce any impact on the river.
The Commission for Energy Regulation has already received an application from Bord Gáis, but has said it will not make a ruling until after Bord Pleanála has made its decision.
Ministerial consent was granted under the Gas Act last August.
Bord Pleanála senior inspector Ann-Marie O’Connor is expected to make a decision on the application in December.
The hearing at the Midleton Park Hotel concludes today.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Gerry Keane, deputy managing director of Bord Gáis networks division, told the Bord Pleanála hearing that gas imported from Britain would be pumped through the country’s pipeline network and through the new 47km line, which will run from Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, to Midleton.
Bord Gáis wants to start construction next March, completing the pipeline within six months.
As part of the project the company is seeking access to land owned by about 120 people.
John Gordon, Bord Gáis’ senior counsel, told the hearing that 80 of those landowners had already agreed to provide wayleave access, but he was seeking a further 40 compulsory access orders under the 1976 Gas Act.
He said Bord Gáis had a very good 30-year track record in laying pipeline and to date had constructed 1,500km of underground pipeline throughout the country.
Nearly all the land involved is agricultural, although nearer Midleton, where the land becomes more urbanised, the 600mm wide pipeline will be reinforced and buried at a depth of 1.2 metres.
Reinforced pipeline will also be deployed at 51 road crossings and 16 river crossings, including the River Blackwater.
A total of 9,500 tonnes of steel pipeline will be laid along the route.
Cork County Council officials said the chosen route didn’t compromise any future growth of urban areas and welcomed the fact that it would provide people with an alternative power source.
Officials added that as the pipeline passed some areas of special conservation, works should be agreed in advance with Cork County Council and the National Parks & Wildlife Service to ensure minimum disruption to flora and fauna.
The county council also wants a €253,000 fund set up by Bord Gáis to provide communities with some form of compensation and to ensure the upkeep of local roads.
However, Mr Gordon said Bord Gáis had no difficulty setting aside some money under the ‘community gain’ programme, but the company was proposing to give 20 community councils along the route payments of €5,000 each.
South Tipperary County Council officials said the project would provide quality infrastructure that wouldn’t impact on amenities in their area.
Jervis Good, an environmental expert with the Department of the Environment, said he didn’t have an objection to the project if conditions were attached to pipe laying works, especially across the River Blackwater so it wouldn’t impact on aquatic life.
Bord Gáis experts envisage that a micro-tunnel would be built under the Blackwater to reduce any impact on the river.
The Commission for Energy Regulation has already received an application from Bord Gáis, but has said it will not make a ruling until after Bord Pleanála has made its decision.
Ministerial consent was granted under the Gas Act last August.
Bord Pleanála senior inspector Ann-Marie O’Connor is expected to make a decision on the application in December.
The hearing at the Midleton Park Hotel concludes today.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
‘A new beginning has been offered to the city’
LIMERICK’S Northside and Southside Regeneration agencies identified three key pillars around which the entire €3 billion plan will be formed — social, economic, and physical regeneration.
The authors state: “Social regeneration is ultimately about building key characteristics such as self-esteem, confidence, civic pride and motivation. These ingredients if developed throughout communities, heighten social standards, and lower disadvantage; they also break down external prejudices and build trust”
With unemployment running at over 80% in the Limerick estates identified, the authors say economic regeneration should include new government incentives to attract private sector investment.
“Job creation is greatly challenged by the education deficits in these areas. Currently there is a very high percentage of people in these areas with only basic primary education and creating an environment whereby young people are not alone encouraged, but want remain in education is also central to economic regeneration.”
Physical regeneration will be the most obvious part of the plan, given the number of houses to be demolished that will need to be replaced.
Replacement housing will be limited to the amount of houses needed to cater for families who wish to stay in their areas. All other housing beyond this will be private and/or affordable housing.
The authors add: “The physical regeneration element of the plan is, however, by no means exclusive to housing and will also include provision for retail, sporting, youth, educational and childcare infrastructure developments.”
One of the many exciting proposals provides for the development of a regional park on the site of an old landfill near Moyross.
The new Moyross will be divided into five distinctive estates with their own characteristic.
Local amenities will also include a central garda station, town park, train station linking to the nearby city centre-Ennis line and sports park.
Southill’s Fr Pat Hogan, a member of the southside regeneration board, said: “With the advent of Limerick Regeneration, a new beginning has been offered to the city. An opportunity is being given to build a new city and a new citizenry.”
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
The authors state: “Social regeneration is ultimately about building key characteristics such as self-esteem, confidence, civic pride and motivation. These ingredients if developed throughout communities, heighten social standards, and lower disadvantage; they also break down external prejudices and build trust”
With unemployment running at over 80% in the Limerick estates identified, the authors say economic regeneration should include new government incentives to attract private sector investment.
“Job creation is greatly challenged by the education deficits in these areas. Currently there is a very high percentage of people in these areas with only basic primary education and creating an environment whereby young people are not alone encouraged, but want remain in education is also central to economic regeneration.”
Physical regeneration will be the most obvious part of the plan, given the number of houses to be demolished that will need to be replaced.
Replacement housing will be limited to the amount of houses needed to cater for families who wish to stay in their areas. All other housing beyond this will be private and/or affordable housing.
The authors add: “The physical regeneration element of the plan is, however, by no means exclusive to housing and will also include provision for retail, sporting, youth, educational and childcare infrastructure developments.”
One of the many exciting proposals provides for the development of a regional park on the site of an old landfill near Moyross.
The new Moyross will be divided into five distinctive estates with their own characteristic.
Local amenities will also include a central garda station, town park, train station linking to the nearby city centre-Ennis line and sports park.
Southill’s Fr Pat Hogan, a member of the southside regeneration board, said: “With the advent of Limerick Regeneration, a new beginning has been offered to the city. An opportunity is being given to build a new city and a new citizenry.”
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
50,000 new homes lying empty in 'ghost' estates
AT LEAST 50,000 newly-built homes are lying empty in 'ghost' estates across the country because of the economic downturn.
Hard-pressed developers and estate agents are being forced to drop their asking prices by as much as 50pc in a desperate effort to shift unwanted homes dotted across the country.
An Irish Independent investigation has also found that hundreds of housing estates which should have been completed at least two years ago are still unfinished.
Figures from local authorities show that county councils will not take responsibility for maintaining roads and open spaces in at least 300 estates because they have not been finished to the standard required by the planning permission.
The glut of empty homes -- many built under tax break schemes -- shows the pressures now being faced by homebuilders in the economic downturn.
Warned
House completions are at their lowest level in years and builders are putting off starting new homes until the market improves.
Thousands of potential homebuyers have also been refused access to credit, with many others deciding not to buy in the hope that prices will fall further.
The Irish Independent has found:
l The situation is worst in the midlands, border counties and the west of Ireland. Many properties are in areas marketed as being close to Dublin and other major cities, but in fact are in rural areas.
l There is up to 12 months' supply of homes currently empty -- twice what would be expected in a 'normal' market.
l Rural villages, such as Rathcormac in Co Cork, are swamped with unsold real estate.
l One developer has slashed asking prices by 50pc in an effort to sell properties.
Earlier this month, a report by Goodbody Economic Consultations found that 50,000 units had been built but not sold. It estimated there was 19 months of supply of second-hand homes for sale in Ireland. It concluded there could be a vacant stock of homes in the country in the order of 100,000 units.
While estate agents say that the market favours buyers, the Construction Industry Federation has warned that further prices cuts were unlikely.
"Prices have reduced by 30pc, and there isn't much scope for more cuts. A lot depends on the return to normal financial arrangements," a spokesman said.
Friends of the Irish Environment director Tony Lowes said the glut of new homes had "virtually emptied" some rural villages. "This has produced a very strong social impact because people living in these villages find they have no neighbours any more," he said.
The situation was criticised by the Labour Party, which said the pace of development in rural areas was "never sustainable".
"These estates were built by developers who clearly set out to make a profit and the position has changed. There should be no intervention in the housing market in what we would see as a normalisation process," the party's housing spokesman Ciaran Lynch said yesterday.
"This is developer-led, it was never sustainable. There's a difference between building housing estates and building communities."
Meanwhile, new figures show thousands of people have shown interest in securing a Government-backed mortgage which allows people on salaries of at least €40,000 to borrow up to €285,000 -- a maximum of 92pc of the value of the property -- from local authorities.
In one week, 4,500 people visited the Homechoice Loan website, with 583 registering an interest in availing of the scheme.
Paul Melia, Stephen O'Farrell and Caitrina Cody
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Hard-pressed developers and estate agents are being forced to drop their asking prices by as much as 50pc in a desperate effort to shift unwanted homes dotted across the country.
An Irish Independent investigation has also found that hundreds of housing estates which should have been completed at least two years ago are still unfinished.
Figures from local authorities show that county councils will not take responsibility for maintaining roads and open spaces in at least 300 estates because they have not been finished to the standard required by the planning permission.
The glut of empty homes -- many built under tax break schemes -- shows the pressures now being faced by homebuilders in the economic downturn.
Warned
House completions are at their lowest level in years and builders are putting off starting new homes until the market improves.
Thousands of potential homebuyers have also been refused access to credit, with many others deciding not to buy in the hope that prices will fall further.
The Irish Independent has found:
l The situation is worst in the midlands, border counties and the west of Ireland. Many properties are in areas marketed as being close to Dublin and other major cities, but in fact are in rural areas.
l There is up to 12 months' supply of homes currently empty -- twice what would be expected in a 'normal' market.
l Rural villages, such as Rathcormac in Co Cork, are swamped with unsold real estate.
l One developer has slashed asking prices by 50pc in an effort to sell properties.
Earlier this month, a report by Goodbody Economic Consultations found that 50,000 units had been built but not sold. It estimated there was 19 months of supply of second-hand homes for sale in Ireland. It concluded there could be a vacant stock of homes in the country in the order of 100,000 units.
While estate agents say that the market favours buyers, the Construction Industry Federation has warned that further prices cuts were unlikely.
"Prices have reduced by 30pc, and there isn't much scope for more cuts. A lot depends on the return to normal financial arrangements," a spokesman said.
Friends of the Irish Environment director Tony Lowes said the glut of new homes had "virtually emptied" some rural villages. "This has produced a very strong social impact because people living in these villages find they have no neighbours any more," he said.
The situation was criticised by the Labour Party, which said the pace of development in rural areas was "never sustainable".
"These estates were built by developers who clearly set out to make a profit and the position has changed. There should be no intervention in the housing market in what we would see as a normalisation process," the party's housing spokesman Ciaran Lynch said yesterday.
"This is developer-led, it was never sustainable. There's a difference between building housing estates and building communities."
Meanwhile, new figures show thousands of people have shown interest in securing a Government-backed mortgage which allows people on salaries of at least €40,000 to borrow up to €285,000 -- a maximum of 92pc of the value of the property -- from local authorities.
In one week, 4,500 people visited the Homechoice Loan website, with 583 registering an interest in availing of the scheme.
Paul Melia, Stephen O'Farrell and Caitrina Cody
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Council to sell Moore Street sites
DUBLIN CITY Council has agreed to sell its properties on Moore Street to Chartered Land for €12 million, paving the way for the redevelopment of the former Carlton cinema site.
Chartered Land, the company behind the Dundrum shopping centre, has applied to the council for permission for a €1.2 billion development of apartments, shops and restaurants within a 5.5-acre block bounded by O'Connell Street, Parnell Street, Moore Street and Henry Street.
The site is centred on the former Carlton cinema and adjacent derelict site, which are owned by Chartered Land. However, the company, owned by Longford-born developer Joe O'Reilly, also requires council-owned properties to complete the scheme.
The lands are at 24 and 25 Moore Street and were formerly used for storage for the traders on Moore Street. The buildings are now vacant and the traders have been compensated for the loss. The compensation sum could not be disclosed for reasons of confidentiality, the council said.
The council has agreed to dispose of the just under 100sq m site for €12 million. However, the sale is contingent on Chartered Land being granted planning permission for the development.
The disposal cannot take place until it has been ratified by the city councillors. Councillors in the central area have already agreed to the proposal and it will go before the full city council next week. The council is likely to ratify the decision of the local councillors.
Despite having applied for planning permission for the development last April, Chartered Land is still waiting for a decision from the city council.
The council planners last June sought further information in relation to 14 aspects of the scheme including proposals for a sloping public park at roof level with panoramic views over the city. The developers have been asked to supply more details to address the "inherent design challenges" posed by the height of the public space and the need to ensure public access.
They have also been asked to address the concerns of the council's conservation officer in relation to the protected structures in and around the site. Chartered Land has until December to respond to the council.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Chartered Land, the company behind the Dundrum shopping centre, has applied to the council for permission for a €1.2 billion development of apartments, shops and restaurants within a 5.5-acre block bounded by O'Connell Street, Parnell Street, Moore Street and Henry Street.
The site is centred on the former Carlton cinema and adjacent derelict site, which are owned by Chartered Land. However, the company, owned by Longford-born developer Joe O'Reilly, also requires council-owned properties to complete the scheme.
The lands are at 24 and 25 Moore Street and were formerly used for storage for the traders on Moore Street. The buildings are now vacant and the traders have been compensated for the loss. The compensation sum could not be disclosed for reasons of confidentiality, the council said.
The council has agreed to dispose of the just under 100sq m site for €12 million. However, the sale is contingent on Chartered Land being granted planning permission for the development.
The disposal cannot take place until it has been ratified by the city councillors. Councillors in the central area have already agreed to the proposal and it will go before the full city council next week. The council is likely to ratify the decision of the local councillors.
Despite having applied for planning permission for the development last April, Chartered Land is still waiting for a decision from the city council.
The council planners last June sought further information in relation to 14 aspects of the scheme including proposals for a sloping public park at roof level with panoramic views over the city. The developers have been asked to supply more details to address the "inherent design challenges" posed by the height of the public space and the need to ensure public access.
They have also been asked to address the concerns of the council's conservation officer in relation to the protected structures in and around the site. Chartered Land has until December to respond to the council.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Councillors to vote on Dublin high rise plan
NEW PRINCIPLES for locating high-rise buildings in Dublin are to be put before city councillors for the first time tomorrow.
Council planners earlier this month published a review of densities and height in the city with details of 15 locations in the city and suburbs where high-rise buildings could be permitted.
The first step towards incorporating these locations and high-rise principles into the Dublin City Development Plan begins tomorrow, when the council's strategic planning committee will be asked to vote on a draft variation to the development plan.
The variation expands on the review document and lays out the specific criteria for developers seeking to build in each of the 15 locations identified for tall buildings.
Buildings of 16 or more storeys will be permitted in only five areas in the city. These are the Docklands; Connolly Station area; George's Quay including Tara Street and Hawkins House; the Digital Hub including Thomas Street/James's Street; and Heuston Station area.
A further 10 locations could accommodate buildings of eight to 15 storeys, the document says. These are Phibsborough; Grangegorman; the "north fringe" where the city meets Fingal on the Malahide Road near Darndale, Clonshaugh Industrial Estate; Ballymun; Pelletstown; the Dublin Industrial Estate near Cabra; Ballyfermot; Parkwest/ Cherry Orchard; and the Naas Road near the intersection of Long Mile Road.
The docklands will have the "greatest potential" to accommodate height, say the city planners, and is the area likely to have the tallest buildings. These should be concentrated on the northern side of the Poolbeg peninsula, but the plan says there should be some symmetry between the north and south banks of the Liffey.
The area likely to see the most significant change is around Tara Street. This is the closest point to the historic core of the city where a building of more than 16 storeys could be located. However, the planners state that any high-rise building must not "intrude" on the main square of Trinity College.
The planners make particular mention of the Hawkins House "site" although the 12-storey Department of Health building is still standing and there is no application for its demolition. The planners say this would be an appropriate location for a "mid-rise marker" of up to 16 storeys.
The criteria for the site of the former mental hospital at Grangegorman, which is to be the new DIT campus, includes several references to nearby Broadstone. The physical integration of Broadstone and Grangegorman will be "promoted", the planners state, and one or two mid-rise buildings at Broadstone/Constitution Hill should be considered.
The variation to the plan also puts strict new requirements on large developments. Any application for more than 200 residential units must include an audit of facilities in the area as well as plans for educational and childcare facilities, shops, social facilities and open space.
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan, chairman of the planning committee, said the variation to the development plan would eliminate the large number of inappropriate developments which come before the planning authority.
"Until now someone could apply for the Eiffel Tower in O'Connell Street and due process would have to be gone through. Under this change if a development does not meet the criteria, it can be thrown out immediately."
The change also brought certainty to communities, he said.
"You now know if a high-rise building is permissible in your area, and even in areas designated for high rise you know there will be very tight controls on what can be built, and you also know there will have to be a benefit to your community."
The reviewed high-rise strategy follows negative public reaction to the council's Maximising the City's Potential document, a draft of which was published last year.
Although that document was never ratified it had been used to justify planning applications for high-rise developments and was mentioned in several Bord Pleanála hearings including the recent hearing on the Jurys/Berkeley Court hotels development in Ballsbridge.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Council planners earlier this month published a review of densities and height in the city with details of 15 locations in the city and suburbs where high-rise buildings could be permitted.
The first step towards incorporating these locations and high-rise principles into the Dublin City Development Plan begins tomorrow, when the council's strategic planning committee will be asked to vote on a draft variation to the development plan.
The variation expands on the review document and lays out the specific criteria for developers seeking to build in each of the 15 locations identified for tall buildings.
Buildings of 16 or more storeys will be permitted in only five areas in the city. These are the Docklands; Connolly Station area; George's Quay including Tara Street and Hawkins House; the Digital Hub including Thomas Street/James's Street; and Heuston Station area.
A further 10 locations could accommodate buildings of eight to 15 storeys, the document says. These are Phibsborough; Grangegorman; the "north fringe" where the city meets Fingal on the Malahide Road near Darndale, Clonshaugh Industrial Estate; Ballymun; Pelletstown; the Dublin Industrial Estate near Cabra; Ballyfermot; Parkwest/ Cherry Orchard; and the Naas Road near the intersection of Long Mile Road.
The docklands will have the "greatest potential" to accommodate height, say the city planners, and is the area likely to have the tallest buildings. These should be concentrated on the northern side of the Poolbeg peninsula, but the plan says there should be some symmetry between the north and south banks of the Liffey.
The area likely to see the most significant change is around Tara Street. This is the closest point to the historic core of the city where a building of more than 16 storeys could be located. However, the planners state that any high-rise building must not "intrude" on the main square of Trinity College.
The planners make particular mention of the Hawkins House "site" although the 12-storey Department of Health building is still standing and there is no application for its demolition. The planners say this would be an appropriate location for a "mid-rise marker" of up to 16 storeys.
The criteria for the site of the former mental hospital at Grangegorman, which is to be the new DIT campus, includes several references to nearby Broadstone. The physical integration of Broadstone and Grangegorman will be "promoted", the planners state, and one or two mid-rise buildings at Broadstone/Constitution Hill should be considered.
The variation to the plan also puts strict new requirements on large developments. Any application for more than 200 residential units must include an audit of facilities in the area as well as plans for educational and childcare facilities, shops, social facilities and open space.
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan, chairman of the planning committee, said the variation to the development plan would eliminate the large number of inappropriate developments which come before the planning authority.
"Until now someone could apply for the Eiffel Tower in O'Connell Street and due process would have to be gone through. Under this change if a development does not meet the criteria, it can be thrown out immediately."
The change also brought certainty to communities, he said.
"You now know if a high-rise building is permissible in your area, and even in areas designated for high rise you know there will be very tight controls on what can be built, and you also know there will have to be a benefit to your community."
The reviewed high-rise strategy follows negative public reaction to the council's Maximising the City's Potential document, a draft of which was published last year.
Although that document was never ratified it had been used to justify planning applications for high-rise developments and was mentioned in several Bord Pleanála hearings including the recent hearing on the Jurys/Berkeley Court hotels development in Ballsbridge.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Waste operators to challenge local authorities
A CASE taken by waste management firm Panda against the control of Dublin’s waste collection by the local authorities begins today in the High Court.
The four Dublin local authorities earlier this year varied the Dublin waste management plan, adding a clause which would allow a local authority to put its waste collection service out to tender, or decide that waste would be collected by the local authority only.
The change, if implemented by a local authority, would end private firms’ freedom to operate anywhere in Dublin and could force them to bid for a contract to collect waste and work within the council’s terms and conditions.
Panda and rival waste firm Greenstar are taking separate High Court cases against the local authorities. The waste companies have alleged the councils are abusing their position as both regulator and competitor in the domestic waste collection market.
The Panda case will be heard first, followed by Greenstar. Dublin City Council, which is defending the case on behalf of the four local authorities, said it wants to stop private operators from moving in on the council’s waste-collection service.
However councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown said they want competition between private operators to continue in their local authority area and their county manager Owen Keegan has admitted that private firms are offering a better service.
More than half of the 66,000 homes in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown have switched to private collection. Fianna Fáil councillor Gerry Horkan said competition from the private sector had improved prices and service for the consumer.
“It would be very difficult to say to people who have switched to Panda, which is 20 per cent cheaper than the council, that you can’t use that service any more.”
Dublin City Council had argued that private waste operators didn’t provide services such as waivers for those on low incomes, but Mr Horkan said Panda had offered to collect from those with waivers in the Dún Laoghaire area.
“In theory the council should be able to operate cheaper than the private operators because there is no demand to make money, but it doesn’t. The old style public sector days are gone, the idea that Panda should no longer be able to collect waste is a throwback to the 1940s and 1950s,” he said.
While he was opposed to local authorities having a monopoly on waste collection, he also thought it was a bad idea for the service to be put out to tender to one operator. “I have no interest in turning a public monopoly into a private monopoly.” Former PD councillor Victor Boyhan said private collectors had kept council waste charges in check and said a waste management regulator should be introduced to stop local authorities form being service providers and regulators. Mr Keegan in a recent letter to councillors private operators offered “a significantly better service at lower cost to households”.
Fingal County Council is taking the same line as the city council and believes the local authority offers the best service. “We provide a better service than Panda, Greenstar or CityBin,” Fingal’s director of environment PJ Howell said.
South Dublin County Council were contacted for comment but did not respond.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The four Dublin local authorities earlier this year varied the Dublin waste management plan, adding a clause which would allow a local authority to put its waste collection service out to tender, or decide that waste would be collected by the local authority only.
The change, if implemented by a local authority, would end private firms’ freedom to operate anywhere in Dublin and could force them to bid for a contract to collect waste and work within the council’s terms and conditions.
Panda and rival waste firm Greenstar are taking separate High Court cases against the local authorities. The waste companies have alleged the councils are abusing their position as both regulator and competitor in the domestic waste collection market.
The Panda case will be heard first, followed by Greenstar. Dublin City Council, which is defending the case on behalf of the four local authorities, said it wants to stop private operators from moving in on the council’s waste-collection service.
However councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown said they want competition between private operators to continue in their local authority area and their county manager Owen Keegan has admitted that private firms are offering a better service.
More than half of the 66,000 homes in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown have switched to private collection. Fianna Fáil councillor Gerry Horkan said competition from the private sector had improved prices and service for the consumer.
“It would be very difficult to say to people who have switched to Panda, which is 20 per cent cheaper than the council, that you can’t use that service any more.”
Dublin City Council had argued that private waste operators didn’t provide services such as waivers for those on low incomes, but Mr Horkan said Panda had offered to collect from those with waivers in the Dún Laoghaire area.
“In theory the council should be able to operate cheaper than the private operators because there is no demand to make money, but it doesn’t. The old style public sector days are gone, the idea that Panda should no longer be able to collect waste is a throwback to the 1940s and 1950s,” he said.
While he was opposed to local authorities having a monopoly on waste collection, he also thought it was a bad idea for the service to be put out to tender to one operator. “I have no interest in turning a public monopoly into a private monopoly.” Former PD councillor Victor Boyhan said private collectors had kept council waste charges in check and said a waste management regulator should be introduced to stop local authorities form being service providers and regulators. Mr Keegan in a recent letter to councillors private operators offered “a significantly better service at lower cost to households”.
Fingal County Council is taking the same line as the city council and believes the local authority offers the best service. “We provide a better service than Panda, Greenstar or CityBin,” Fingal’s director of environment PJ Howell said.
South Dublin County Council were contacted for comment but did not respond.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Regeneration plan for Limerick estates unveiled
A draft plan for the regeneration of housing estates in Limerick has been unveiled this afternoon.
The Limerick Regeneration Agencies plan, which was announced at a meeting of Limerick City Council at 4pm, sets out a blueprint for the regeneration of public housing estates at Moyross, St Mary’s Park, and Southill/Ballinacurra Weston and adjacent lands on the north side and south side of Limerick City.
The draft plan estimates that the overall project for the three areas will require an investment of €1.6 billion.
The blueprint also outlines the opportunity of attracting private sector investment in the region of €1.4 billion, although Limerick Regeneration Agencies said the estimates are “very preliminary” and that an assessment of the investment required has to be carried out.
Referring to the plan, Limerick Regeneration Agencies chief executive Brendan Kenny said: “What we are setting out on here is a very ambitious, wide-ranging but ultimately achievable Limerick Regeneration project that will enhance the quality of life of and opportunity for all Limerick people.
“We will expend the vast majority of our efforts on building a future for the people of Moyross, Southill/Ballinacurra-Weston and St. Mary’s Park that is free from social exclusion, crime and disorder but we are also looking beyond that; at how we can play an adhesive role in building a better future for the greater Limerick area."
Noting that the plan was a “work in progress”, Mr Kenny added: “We are very conscious of the new economic environment . . . but we stress that the investment proposed will be required over a 10-year period and that ultimately a successful regeneration project will deliver considerable economic benefits and savings for the State.
Mr Kenny said he was confident of getting continued support from Government but that Government departments "will need to carefully assess all the implications of this draft plan".
Irishtimes.com
www.buckplanning.ie
The Limerick Regeneration Agencies plan, which was announced at a meeting of Limerick City Council at 4pm, sets out a blueprint for the regeneration of public housing estates at Moyross, St Mary’s Park, and Southill/Ballinacurra Weston and adjacent lands on the north side and south side of Limerick City.
The draft plan estimates that the overall project for the three areas will require an investment of €1.6 billion.
The blueprint also outlines the opportunity of attracting private sector investment in the region of €1.4 billion, although Limerick Regeneration Agencies said the estimates are “very preliminary” and that an assessment of the investment required has to be carried out.
Referring to the plan, Limerick Regeneration Agencies chief executive Brendan Kenny said: “What we are setting out on here is a very ambitious, wide-ranging but ultimately achievable Limerick Regeneration project that will enhance the quality of life of and opportunity for all Limerick people.
“We will expend the vast majority of our efforts on building a future for the people of Moyross, Southill/Ballinacurra-Weston and St. Mary’s Park that is free from social exclusion, crime and disorder but we are also looking beyond that; at how we can play an adhesive role in building a better future for the greater Limerick area."
Noting that the plan was a “work in progress”, Mr Kenny added: “We are very conscious of the new economic environment . . . but we stress that the investment proposed will be required over a 10-year period and that ultimately a successful regeneration project will deliver considerable economic benefits and savings for the State.
Mr Kenny said he was confident of getting continued support from Government but that Government departments "will need to carefully assess all the implications of this draft plan".
Irishtimes.com
www.buckplanning.ie
PROPOSED LOCAL AREA PLAN FOR CLANE
Kildare County Council proposes to prepare a Local Area Plan for Clane. Submissions must be made no later than 5pm on 3/12/08.
bps planning consultants is a firm of professional town planners who can make submissions on your behalf. Please call Brendan or Tony on 0404-66060 or email:
admin@buckplanning.ie. For further details of bps visit: www.buckplanning.ie
bps planning consultants is a firm of professional town planners who can make submissions on your behalf. Please call Brendan or Tony on 0404-66060 or email:
admin@buckplanning.ie. For further details of bps visit: www.buckplanning.ie
LOCAL AREA PLAN FOR DUNBOYNE/CLONEE/PACE
Meath County Council proposes to prepare a Local Area Plan for Dunboyne/Clonee/Pace.
Submissions must be made no later than 3.30pm on Monday 8th December 2008.
bps planning consultants is a firm of professional town planners who can make submissions on your behalf. Please call Brendan or Tony on 0404-66060 or email:
admin@buckplanning.ie. For further details about bps visit www.buckplanning.ie
Submissions must be made no later than 3.30pm on Monday 8th December 2008.
bps planning consultants is a firm of professional town planners who can make submissions on your behalf. Please call Brendan or Tony on 0404-66060 or email:
admin@buckplanning.ie. For further details about bps visit www.buckplanning.ie
Submissions to the New Ross Town and Environs Development Plan
Wexford County Council and New Ross Town Council intend to review the existing New Ross
Town and Environs Development Plan 2004 and prepare a new Development Plan for the area.
bps planning consultants is a firm of professional town planners who can make submissions on your behalf. Please call Brendan or Tony on 0404-66060 or email:
admin@buckplanning.ie. For further details visit: www.buckplanning.ie
Town and Environs Development Plan 2004 and prepare a new Development Plan for the area.
bps planning consultants is a firm of professional town planners who can make submissions on your behalf. Please call Brendan or Tony on 0404-66060 or email:
admin@buckplanning.ie. For further details visit: www.buckplanning.ie
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Development Plan Submission Deadline
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's final deadline for submissions is 5:00 p.m. on Monday 3rd November 2008. This is less than a week.
If you wish to discuss a submission or the planning processes involved in making a submission, please contact bps immediately on 0404-66060.
If you wish to discuss a submission or the planning processes involved in making a submission, please contact bps immediately on 0404-66060.
Deansgrange Local Area Plan deadline
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is preparing a Local Area Plan for Deansgrange. The County Council has invited any interested parties or individuals to make suggestions/observations with respect to the proposed Local Area Plan during the pre-draft consultation stage. Submissions may be made in writing during the six-week period from Friday 3rd October 2008 to Friday 14th November 2008 inclusive.
If you are interested in making a submission, contact bps on 0404-66060 and we can discuss the process involved.
www.buckplanning.ie
If you are interested in making a submission, contact bps on 0404-66060 and we can discuss the process involved.
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 27 October 2008
SEI denies shortage of assessors for energy ratings
Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) has strongly rejected claims from architects and the building sector that property sales will grind to a halt in the new year because no assessors have been trained to carryout energy ratings on secondhand buildings.
From January1, all existing dwellings and buildings must be assessed and rated for their energy-efficiency before they can be sold or leased.
While no assessors have been trained to carry out ratings on existing buildings to-date, SEI has said it is confident there will be enough assessors when the legislation is introduced in ten weeks’ time.
More than 800 assessors are registered with SEI to assess on new houses, but these can be carried out from the plans of the building. For assessments on existing buildings, the assessors require new training and must visit and examine the buildings.
Following a surge in demand for new training, SEI will release the methods for calculating energy ratings on existing buildings this week. This will enable 20 training providers across the country to devise courses, which must be approved by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council or the Vocational Education and Training Awards Council.
A spokesman for the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) said that some of the body’s members who had trained as assessors for new dwellings had been ‘‘looking anxiously for information about courses regarding the new regulations’’.
‘‘We hope there will be a big uptake of training when these become available, because these assessors are very much needed” - he said.
Carine Gachon, of the mechanical and industrial engineering department at Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, where more than 400 assessors have been trained, said she had been receiving daily enquiries about when the new courses would be available.
‘‘We hope it will be November, but there are a lot of things to put in place to comply with the certification of assessors. The new courses will be three-and-a-half days or one week long, depending on whether the candidate has done the previous course” - said Gachon.
www.buckplanning.ie
From January1, all existing dwellings and buildings must be assessed and rated for their energy-efficiency before they can be sold or leased.
While no assessors have been trained to carry out ratings on existing buildings to-date, SEI has said it is confident there will be enough assessors when the legislation is introduced in ten weeks’ time.
More than 800 assessors are registered with SEI to assess on new houses, but these can be carried out from the plans of the building. For assessments on existing buildings, the assessors require new training and must visit and examine the buildings.
Following a surge in demand for new training, SEI will release the methods for calculating energy ratings on existing buildings this week. This will enable 20 training providers across the country to devise courses, which must be approved by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council or the Vocational Education and Training Awards Council.
A spokesman for the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) said that some of the body’s members who had trained as assessors for new dwellings had been ‘‘looking anxiously for information about courses regarding the new regulations’’.
‘‘We hope there will be a big uptake of training when these become available, because these assessors are very much needed” - he said.
Carine Gachon, of the mechanical and industrial engineering department at Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, where more than 400 assessors have been trained, said she had been receiving daily enquiries about when the new courses would be available.
‘‘We hope it will be November, but there are a lot of things to put in place to comply with the certification of assessors. The new courses will be three-and-a-half days or one week long, depending on whether the candidate has done the previous course” - said Gachon.
www.buckplanning.ie
Bord Gáis Power Plant Project at Whitegate launched
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin TD, has officially launched the Bord Gáis Whitegate Power Plant project at its site in Co. Cork.
Construction of the €400m power plant is now underway and the plant is expected to be operational by June 2010. The 445MW output of the plant would power around half a million homes.
Speaking at the event, John Mullins, Chief Executive of Bord Gáis, said - “The Whitegate power plant project is a very significant development for Bord Gáis. It represents our first major investment in the Irish power generation sector, supporting our strategy in the retail electricity market and providing much needed power to meet growing national demand. Bord Gáis currently serves over 11,000 businesses with electricity and we plan to enter the residential electricity market in the near future, offering real choice and value to households across the country.”
The Bord Gáis Whitegate power plant is a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant, which is designed to operate on natural gas as the primary fuel. Located adjacent to the existing ConocoPhillips refinery, the plant is being constructed by a consortium of General Electric and GAMA Power Systems (GE-Gama). Between both companies, there is a wealth of international experience in constructing power generating plants. GE-Gama awarded the Civil Works contract to John Sisk & Sons and several local companies have been sub-contracted for works on the site. The project will employ over 600 people at peak construction.
Minister Martin said - “Cork Harbour - and, in particular, Whitegate - have traditionally provided very important energy facilities which have helped meet our national needs and provided vital local investment and jobs. I’m pleased to see a further €400m being invested in the area by Bord Gáis in constructing a modern, efficient power plant that will not only enhance the security of electricity supplies for the country, but also marks a significant new entrant in the power generation market in Ireland.”
Bord Gáis Networks is nearing completion of the 12km underground pipeline to supply natural gas to the Whitegate plant from the national network. Eirgrid is currently preparing to connect the Whitegate plant to the national electricity grid via underground cables. This work will significantly strengthen the electricity grid system in the east Cork area.
John Mullins of Bord Gáis added - “Bord Gáis greatly appreciates the co-operation and support it has received from Cork County Council, the Gardaí, our industrial neighbours and the local community, as we work to minimise disruption during the construction of the power plant.”
www.buckplanning.ie
Construction of the €400m power plant is now underway and the plant is expected to be operational by June 2010. The 445MW output of the plant would power around half a million homes.
Speaking at the event, John Mullins, Chief Executive of Bord Gáis, said - “The Whitegate power plant project is a very significant development for Bord Gáis. It represents our first major investment in the Irish power generation sector, supporting our strategy in the retail electricity market and providing much needed power to meet growing national demand. Bord Gáis currently serves over 11,000 businesses with electricity and we plan to enter the residential electricity market in the near future, offering real choice and value to households across the country.”
The Bord Gáis Whitegate power plant is a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant, which is designed to operate on natural gas as the primary fuel. Located adjacent to the existing ConocoPhillips refinery, the plant is being constructed by a consortium of General Electric and GAMA Power Systems (GE-Gama). Between both companies, there is a wealth of international experience in constructing power generating plants. GE-Gama awarded the Civil Works contract to John Sisk & Sons and several local companies have been sub-contracted for works on the site. The project will employ over 600 people at peak construction.
Minister Martin said - “Cork Harbour - and, in particular, Whitegate - have traditionally provided very important energy facilities which have helped meet our national needs and provided vital local investment and jobs. I’m pleased to see a further €400m being invested in the area by Bord Gáis in constructing a modern, efficient power plant that will not only enhance the security of electricity supplies for the country, but also marks a significant new entrant in the power generation market in Ireland.”
Bord Gáis Networks is nearing completion of the 12km underground pipeline to supply natural gas to the Whitegate plant from the national network. Eirgrid is currently preparing to connect the Whitegate plant to the national electricity grid via underground cables. This work will significantly strengthen the electricity grid system in the east Cork area.
John Mullins of Bord Gáis added - “Bord Gáis greatly appreciates the co-operation and support it has received from Cork County Council, the Gardaí, our industrial neighbours and the local community, as we work to minimise disruption during the construction of the power plant.”
www.buckplanning.ie
Dublin city centre traffic may be banned
Dublin City Council has warned that all through traffic may have to be banned from the city centre because of congestion and construction projects.
A consultation paper says the number of commuters is projected to nearly double and that there is no room for more cars on city centre streets.
The warning comes as the council prepares a new development plan for 2011. The planning department states that the number of commuters entering the city is projected to nearly double to 375,000 people by 2020.
It says there is no more capacity on the city's roads and that traffic modelling has shown that it may be necessary for through traffic to be removed to allow the city to function. This could mean access only for motorists in the city centre and with other traffic forced onto orbital routes.
The paper states that this proposal is particularly relevant because of Transport 21 construction projects - Metro North is due to start in two years' time.
The paper does not refer to the possible effects of the economic downturn on its projections.
www.buckplanning.ie
A consultation paper says the number of commuters is projected to nearly double and that there is no room for more cars on city centre streets.
The warning comes as the council prepares a new development plan for 2011. The planning department states that the number of commuters entering the city is projected to nearly double to 375,000 people by 2020.
It says there is no more capacity on the city's roads and that traffic modelling has shown that it may be necessary for through traffic to be removed to allow the city to function. This could mean access only for motorists in the city centre and with other traffic forced onto orbital routes.
The paper states that this proposal is particularly relevant because of Transport 21 construction projects - Metro North is due to start in two years' time.
The paper does not refer to the possible effects of the economic downturn on its projections.
www.buckplanning.ie
DART gets €900m fleet investment for 430 new carriages
IARNROD Eireann is to order almost €900m worth of new DART carriages as part of the biggest expansion of the company's fleet in its history.
The rail operator is to seek suppliers for 432 DART carriages to deliver increased capacity as part of its 'Transport 21' programme which will see new services, extensions to existing lines and higher capacity for commuters delivered over the coming years.
A list of suppliers has been prepared as part of a tender process to seek the new carriages which represent, by far, the largest carriage order ever made by the company.
Previous tenders for carriages have worked out at €2m each -- meaning the bill for this order could hit €864m.
The tender reflects the expansion of the electrified network planned under 'Transport 21' with DART extensions expected for Maynooth, the northern commuter line and Hazelhatch on the Kildare line.
Integrated
The DART Underground (interconnector) from Dublin Docklands to Heuston -- a 5.2km underground second DART line through the heart of the city centre -- will integrate all rail lines into one network, and will allow passengers to travel from Belfast to Cork without leaving Iarnrod Eireann property.
The company has already seen significant expansion of the DART fleet, which has doubled in size from 2000 to 2004 from 80 carriages to 154.
But with the network set to grow, and frequency improvements planned, the fleet size is now set to multiply.
In the Greater Dublin area alone, a range of projects are proposed which will see DART and commuter passenger numbers increase from over 33 million in 2006 to over 100 million by 2015.
The company plans to select a supplier in 2009, and it is envisaged that the 400-carriage order will be placed in two phases -- with the first phase to be delivered in 2011-12.
"One of the major benefits of a funding framework like 'Transport 21' is that we can align fleet orders to the development of the network," a company spokesman said.
"We can deliver capacity improvements to commuters, and optimise value for money for taxpayers in our investment programme. In addition, the extension of electrification across a wider Greater Dublin network will lead to considerable environmental benefits, as well as the economic gain from developing a high frequency, integrated network."
The company stresses that the money will be available for the carriages, despite the economic downturn.
Meanwhile, Bus Eireann is to use double-deck coaches on busy commuter routes, paving the way for more people to be carried on individual vehicles.
Buses
Within weeks, the company will take delivery of 90 buses, worth nearly €30m, which are earmarked for use on city and commuter services in Cork, Dublin, Sligo and Dundalk.
A total of 32 of the double-deck buses will be used in Leinster for medium to longer distance commuting routes in and out of Dublin. Another 10 will be used in Dublin and Cork for medium and longer distance commuter routes. And 48 single-deck buses will be earmarked for use in Cork city, Sligo and Dundalk.
The double-deck commuter coaches are likely to be used on the 109 Dublin-Cavan route serving Navan, Kells and Virginia and the 111 Granard- Dublin route serving Athboy and Trim.
Most will enter service early next year.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The rail operator is to seek suppliers for 432 DART carriages to deliver increased capacity as part of its 'Transport 21' programme which will see new services, extensions to existing lines and higher capacity for commuters delivered over the coming years.
A list of suppliers has been prepared as part of a tender process to seek the new carriages which represent, by far, the largest carriage order ever made by the company.
Previous tenders for carriages have worked out at €2m each -- meaning the bill for this order could hit €864m.
The tender reflects the expansion of the electrified network planned under 'Transport 21' with DART extensions expected for Maynooth, the northern commuter line and Hazelhatch on the Kildare line.
Integrated
The DART Underground (interconnector) from Dublin Docklands to Heuston -- a 5.2km underground second DART line through the heart of the city centre -- will integrate all rail lines into one network, and will allow passengers to travel from Belfast to Cork without leaving Iarnrod Eireann property.
The company has already seen significant expansion of the DART fleet, which has doubled in size from 2000 to 2004 from 80 carriages to 154.
But with the network set to grow, and frequency improvements planned, the fleet size is now set to multiply.
In the Greater Dublin area alone, a range of projects are proposed which will see DART and commuter passenger numbers increase from over 33 million in 2006 to over 100 million by 2015.
The company plans to select a supplier in 2009, and it is envisaged that the 400-carriage order will be placed in two phases -- with the first phase to be delivered in 2011-12.
"One of the major benefits of a funding framework like 'Transport 21' is that we can align fleet orders to the development of the network," a company spokesman said.
"We can deliver capacity improvements to commuters, and optimise value for money for taxpayers in our investment programme. In addition, the extension of electrification across a wider Greater Dublin network will lead to considerable environmental benefits, as well as the economic gain from developing a high frequency, integrated network."
The company stresses that the money will be available for the carriages, despite the economic downturn.
Meanwhile, Bus Eireann is to use double-deck coaches on busy commuter routes, paving the way for more people to be carried on individual vehicles.
Buses
Within weeks, the company will take delivery of 90 buses, worth nearly €30m, which are earmarked for use on city and commuter services in Cork, Dublin, Sligo and Dundalk.
A total of 32 of the double-deck buses will be used in Leinster for medium to longer distance commuting routes in and out of Dublin. Another 10 will be used in Dublin and Cork for medium and longer distance commuter routes. And 48 single-deck buses will be earmarked for use in Cork city, Sligo and Dundalk.
The double-deck commuter coaches are likely to be used on the 109 Dublin-Cavan route serving Navan, Kells and Virginia and the 111 Granard- Dublin route serving Athboy and Trim.
Most will enter service early next year.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Bono aims to raise the roof with radical elevation for his family's historic home
HE has, metaphorically, taken the roof off stadia all over the world. But now U2 frontman Bono is hoping to convince authorities that he will also be able to take the proposed new roof off his historic home.
In an effort to get around planning constraints associated with his Georgian property in Killiney in Dublin, the singer's architect has put forward plans for a "reversible" extension that can be removed at short notice.
The upper-floor extension, made from "a lightweight prefabricated structure", would cover the existing roof of the home on Vico Road. The shell-like structure would ensure that the original eaves and chimneys remain in place underneath.
"The removal of existing building fabric will be confined to the removal of roof slates and roof timbers only," the singer's architect, Colin Jennings, told Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council in a letter.
The massive 130 sqm roof extension -- which will house a master bedroom, a study, two ensuite bathrooms, two dressing rooms and storage space -- is, on its own, bigger than a typical three-bed family home. But Bono hopes that the Lego-like and easily removable extension will convince the planning authorities that he is not undermining the integrity of Temple Hill.
An Taisce has confirmed the house is not on the list of protected structures in the area but, because it is 150 years old, has architectural significance.
A spokeswoman added the height and size of the plans would be studied in the coming weeks.
Removed
She also noted that she had never come across a situation before whereby an architect argued that an extension didn't compromise a structure because it could be removed.
Mr Jennings added in the plans that only the roof slates and timbers would be removed from the property and that the extension would "allow for the reintroduction of the original pitched roof in the future". Also included in the planning application are plans to add a ground floor conservatory-type extension with a terrace overhead.
If permission is granted, the structure will be 7,800 sq ft in size, almost eight times the size of a typical family home.
Jason O'Brien
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
In an effort to get around planning constraints associated with his Georgian property in Killiney in Dublin, the singer's architect has put forward plans for a "reversible" extension that can be removed at short notice.
The upper-floor extension, made from "a lightweight prefabricated structure", would cover the existing roof of the home on Vico Road. The shell-like structure would ensure that the original eaves and chimneys remain in place underneath.
"The removal of existing building fabric will be confined to the removal of roof slates and roof timbers only," the singer's architect, Colin Jennings, told Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council in a letter.
The massive 130 sqm roof extension -- which will house a master bedroom, a study, two ensuite bathrooms, two dressing rooms and storage space -- is, on its own, bigger than a typical three-bed family home. But Bono hopes that the Lego-like and easily removable extension will convince the planning authorities that he is not undermining the integrity of Temple Hill.
An Taisce has confirmed the house is not on the list of protected structures in the area but, because it is 150 years old, has architectural significance.
A spokeswoman added the height and size of the plans would be studied in the coming weeks.
Removed
She also noted that she had never come across a situation before whereby an architect argued that an extension didn't compromise a structure because it could be removed.
Mr Jennings added in the plans that only the roof slates and timbers would be removed from the property and that the extension would "allow for the reintroduction of the original pitched roof in the future". Also included in the planning application are plans to add a ground floor conservatory-type extension with a terrace overhead.
If permission is granted, the structure will be 7,800 sq ft in size, almost eight times the size of a typical family home.
Jason O'Brien
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Councils won't run estates
THOUSANDS of homeowners are being forced to pay management company fees because county councils are not taking over the running of housing estates.
At least 400 housing estates which should have been completed at least two years ago have not been taken in charge by local authorities across the country, new figures obtained by the Irish Independent reveal.
And in one county alone --Donegal -- there is an estimated 699 private housing developments, comprising over 13,000 homes, where homeowners are forced to pay for the upkeep of roads, sewerage systems and public open spaces.
Yesterday An Taisce slammed the situation, saying that councils were reluctant to take over the running of estates which were not built to the proper standard.
"They (homeowners) can often feel very isolated and, coupled with that, local councils are reluctant to take over the maintenance of an area until the development has been completed," Ian Lumley said.
"That's understandable because they see it as the responsibility of the developer to bring the area up to the proper standard before they take over."
Each local authority in the country was asked by the Irish Independent to provide details on the number of housing estates it expected to take in charge this year, and to state how many estates were finished more than two years ago but not yet taken over. Just nine replied -- including Donegal.
Cavan County Council had 42 estates completed more than two years ago but not yet taken over, with 60 estates -- totalling 1,200-1,500 homes -- not completed to the required standard.
Kilkenny County Council said it had 19 estates with 895 homes not completed to the standard as outlined in the planning permission.
The Green Party's Cllr David Healy from north Co Dublin said the problem was "very worrying".
"This problem is very worrying for people living in these unfinished or partially unoccupied estates. In my local area, added to this is the pyrite problem (a mineral which affects the structure of a house) and many people have had to move out for some time until it is resolved," he said.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
At least 400 housing estates which should have been completed at least two years ago have not been taken in charge by local authorities across the country, new figures obtained by the Irish Independent reveal.
And in one county alone --Donegal -- there is an estimated 699 private housing developments, comprising over 13,000 homes, where homeowners are forced to pay for the upkeep of roads, sewerage systems and public open spaces.
Yesterday An Taisce slammed the situation, saying that councils were reluctant to take over the running of estates which were not built to the proper standard.
"They (homeowners) can often feel very isolated and, coupled with that, local councils are reluctant to take over the maintenance of an area until the development has been completed," Ian Lumley said.
"That's understandable because they see it as the responsibility of the developer to bring the area up to the proper standard before they take over."
Each local authority in the country was asked by the Irish Independent to provide details on the number of housing estates it expected to take in charge this year, and to state how many estates were finished more than two years ago but not yet taken over. Just nine replied -- including Donegal.
Cavan County Council had 42 estates completed more than two years ago but not yet taken over, with 60 estates -- totalling 1,200-1,500 homes -- not completed to the required standard.
Kilkenny County Council said it had 19 estates with 895 homes not completed to the standard as outlined in the planning permission.
The Green Party's Cllr David Healy from north Co Dublin said the problem was "very worrying".
"This problem is very worrying for people living in these unfinished or partially unoccupied estates. In my local area, added to this is the pyrite problem (a mineral which affects the structure of a house) and many people have had to move out for some time until it is resolved," he said.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Ambitious plan to build new airport in midlands
A NEW airport is planned for the midlands in the heart of Taoiseach Brian Cowen's constituency.
Midland Airport Development Ltd is proposing to build an airport in Co Offaly. If the ambitious plans go ahead, up to 1,000 jobs could be created in the region. Private developers are currently engaged in talks with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) about the project.
A group of 35 landowners in the Tubber area of Co Offaly, just a few miles from Clara where the Taoiseach was born, have been approached by the developers and an "optional agreement" has been reached.
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) entered talks with Midland Airport Development Ltd and it is understood an offer in the region of €40,000 per acre was made to landowners.
Talks are still at a "delicate stage". However, landowners in Tubber have said there is a lot of "goodwill" towards the project. A site opposite Tubber GAA grounds and running towards Horseleap has been earmarked for the development.
Architect and promoter of the airport, Patrick Little, said a study carried out by UK-based consultants confirmed that the concept of an airport in the midlands is "viable".
"Michael O'Leary has come out and publicly said there's not a hope in hell that it would happen but we're challenging that and hopefully he'll change his mind at some point in the future.
"We think it would have significant low-cost benefits. We're not looking at taking business away from Dublin Airport but we're looking at the way international practice is developing now where major airports would need a relief airport," he told the Irish Independent.
Mr Little has estimated that 1,000 jobs would be created during construction stages with a further 800 people employed at the facility in the long-term.
Consistent
"Midland Airport Development Ltd hopes to avoid delays in the planning process by applying directly to An Bord Pleanala under a fast-track planning procedure for strategic infrastructure," he added.
"We will still work closely with the county council but the traditional timeframe would be shortened and if we took that into account work could commence within about two years."
Offaly county manager Pat Gallagher said the plans for an airport were "consistent" with the county development plan.
"A submission was made by a group in consultation about an airport somewhere between Clara and Moate," he said.
"We did advise the promoters to submit site location details for further discussions with our planning staff. We'd be happy to discuss it with them once we get those details," he added.
Eimear Ni Bhraonain
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Midland Airport Development Ltd is proposing to build an airport in Co Offaly. If the ambitious plans go ahead, up to 1,000 jobs could be created in the region. Private developers are currently engaged in talks with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) about the project.
A group of 35 landowners in the Tubber area of Co Offaly, just a few miles from Clara where the Taoiseach was born, have been approached by the developers and an "optional agreement" has been reached.
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) entered talks with Midland Airport Development Ltd and it is understood an offer in the region of €40,000 per acre was made to landowners.
Talks are still at a "delicate stage". However, landowners in Tubber have said there is a lot of "goodwill" towards the project. A site opposite Tubber GAA grounds and running towards Horseleap has been earmarked for the development.
Architect and promoter of the airport, Patrick Little, said a study carried out by UK-based consultants confirmed that the concept of an airport in the midlands is "viable".
"Michael O'Leary has come out and publicly said there's not a hope in hell that it would happen but we're challenging that and hopefully he'll change his mind at some point in the future.
"We think it would have significant low-cost benefits. We're not looking at taking business away from Dublin Airport but we're looking at the way international practice is developing now where major airports would need a relief airport," he told the Irish Independent.
Mr Little has estimated that 1,000 jobs would be created during construction stages with a further 800 people employed at the facility in the long-term.
Consistent
"Midland Airport Development Ltd hopes to avoid delays in the planning process by applying directly to An Bord Pleanala under a fast-track planning procedure for strategic infrastructure," he added.
"We will still work closely with the county council but the traditional timeframe would be shortened and if we took that into account work could commence within about two years."
Offaly county manager Pat Gallagher said the plans for an airport were "consistent" with the county development plan.
"A submission was made by a group in consultation about an airport somewhere between Clara and Moate," he said.
"We did advise the promoters to submit site location details for further discussions with our planning staff. We'd be happy to discuss it with them once we get those details," he added.
Eimear Ni Bhraonain
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
York Street social housing
A new social housing scheme in the heart of the city is a triumph for eco-friendly design principles as well as scoring brownie points for the council's contracted developers, writes Valerie Shanley Charlie Long is exuberant at the prospect of a home in the new complex
The re-development of the old council flats on York Street is a transformation way beyond mere bricks and mortar. 'Social housing' in the past conjured up images of grim, Soviet-style blocks with basic amenities. The 66 brand-new homes that replace the original 97 flats are, according to deputy city architect Kieran Gallagher, of a better standard than some private schemes around the city.
In terms of sustainability and eco-credentials, York Street is quite something compared to its neighbouring stately buildings on St Stephen's Green. Massive solar panels, sedum-planted roofs to attract wildlife while absorbing and conserving rainwater, a state-of- the-art recycling centre, an allotment, and architectural salvage from the original tenements, all contribute to this being a flagship social housing project by the council.
However, it's the change in the lives of the council's original tenants – nearly all of whom are moving back into the new complex after being housed in alternative accommodation during the four year re-development – that marks the human transformation.
Charlie Long is one resident who lived on the street for close on three decades and he is exuberant – no other word for it – at the prospect of a home in the new complex. After returning from work in London in 1980, he fell on hard times and had to go on the council's homeless list. Although glad to get a flat on York Street, he remembers living conditions being consistently harsh.
"I worked in a hotel, returning very late at night – and I would be taking my life in my hands. The main doors into the flats would always be kicked open, anyone could come in from the street. Light bulbs would have been smashed and so I would be tripping over people slumped on the stairs, some of them maybe drunk or on drugs." Not surprisingly, a big plus for Charlie is the security of the new building. Each home has an intercom system with a camera, and there is also a 'talking' lift. The communal courtyard is also very secure, and the toddlers' playground is visible from every balcony.
The two feature Georgian door architraves, complete with classic columns, were salvaged from the original terrace of houses built on York Street in the mid 18th century, says the project's architect Seán Harrington.
The College of Surgeons still faces the development in an area that, in its heyday, was considered Dublin's Harley Street. After the Act of Union, the terrace of Georgian houses gradually declined into tenements, housing scores of families in slum conditions. The situation became so bad that Dublin City Council eventually demolished the street in 1949 and re-built the flats. But the living conditions behind the newly built, pastiche 'Georgian' façade, were far from adequate.
Up until four years ago, the York Street complex was a fire hazard; there was no fire escape, continual problems arose with damp, and bathrooms were non-existent. Tiny kitchens included a sink and toilet. Unsurprisingly, the residents wanted a say in how the re-development would improve living standards.
"The great thing about this project is that the community spirit is very together here, plus everyone is interested in eco issues," says Harrington. "The council trusted us to do something ambitious. It's a huge responsibility – you are given the trust to not only create homes, but also to create a building that sits comfortably within the city."
McNamara Construction – which last May pulled out of five public/private partnerships with Dublin City Council worth an estimated €900m due to 'adversely changed circumstances in the housing market' and new planning guidelines on scaled-up apartment sizes – was awarded the York Street contract four years ago to re-develop the site for €20m. Sustainable Energy Ireland contributed over €280,000 as part of its House of Tomorrow project. Design company Ventura (www.ventura.ie) styled two apartments to help tenants visualise how their homes could look.
"It was the first project I've ever worked on with Dublin City Council and I was delighted to have the experience
of working on such an unusual job, never mind the fantastic location," says Ventura's Arlene McIntyre, adding that the brief was to make the flats look and feel as spacious as possible.
Approximately half of the homes are one-bed apartments, with the balance split between two-bed apartments and three bed duplexes. The dual aspect light ensures the homes are warm and bright – unlike the old days when north facing flats were so dark the light had to stay on all day. Generously sized balconies function as additional rooms where the upper glass window panels fold right back to let in sunlight.
Recycling is a huge element in the design. Tony Gallagher, housing manager for the area, says everyone is excited about the state of the art 'digestor' in the recycling pavilion. "We are introducing a training programme for residents to show how leftover food waste converts to compost, and which can be used in the garden."
For Charlie, a big decision now is whether to get involved with the residents' gardening group. He's also bemused by the increased amount of offers from his sister who is really keen to stay in his swish new pad just off St Stephen's Green. "She's suggesting I go to her house for a holiday and she'll come here and mind the place!"
The council is hosting an open day for the public at the York Street development on Saturday, 8 November, from 1pm to 5pm
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The re-development of the old council flats on York Street is a transformation way beyond mere bricks and mortar. 'Social housing' in the past conjured up images of grim, Soviet-style blocks with basic amenities. The 66 brand-new homes that replace the original 97 flats are, according to deputy city architect Kieran Gallagher, of a better standard than some private schemes around the city.
In terms of sustainability and eco-credentials, York Street is quite something compared to its neighbouring stately buildings on St Stephen's Green. Massive solar panels, sedum-planted roofs to attract wildlife while absorbing and conserving rainwater, a state-of- the-art recycling centre, an allotment, and architectural salvage from the original tenements, all contribute to this being a flagship social housing project by the council.
However, it's the change in the lives of the council's original tenants – nearly all of whom are moving back into the new complex after being housed in alternative accommodation during the four year re-development – that marks the human transformation.
Charlie Long is one resident who lived on the street for close on three decades and he is exuberant – no other word for it – at the prospect of a home in the new complex. After returning from work in London in 1980, he fell on hard times and had to go on the council's homeless list. Although glad to get a flat on York Street, he remembers living conditions being consistently harsh.
"I worked in a hotel, returning very late at night – and I would be taking my life in my hands. The main doors into the flats would always be kicked open, anyone could come in from the street. Light bulbs would have been smashed and so I would be tripping over people slumped on the stairs, some of them maybe drunk or on drugs." Not surprisingly, a big plus for Charlie is the security of the new building. Each home has an intercom system with a camera, and there is also a 'talking' lift. The communal courtyard is also very secure, and the toddlers' playground is visible from every balcony.
The two feature Georgian door architraves, complete with classic columns, were salvaged from the original terrace of houses built on York Street in the mid 18th century, says the project's architect Seán Harrington.
The College of Surgeons still faces the development in an area that, in its heyday, was considered Dublin's Harley Street. After the Act of Union, the terrace of Georgian houses gradually declined into tenements, housing scores of families in slum conditions. The situation became so bad that Dublin City Council eventually demolished the street in 1949 and re-built the flats. But the living conditions behind the newly built, pastiche 'Georgian' façade, were far from adequate.
Up until four years ago, the York Street complex was a fire hazard; there was no fire escape, continual problems arose with damp, and bathrooms were non-existent. Tiny kitchens included a sink and toilet. Unsurprisingly, the residents wanted a say in how the re-development would improve living standards.
"The great thing about this project is that the community spirit is very together here, plus everyone is interested in eco issues," says Harrington. "The council trusted us to do something ambitious. It's a huge responsibility – you are given the trust to not only create homes, but also to create a building that sits comfortably within the city."
McNamara Construction – which last May pulled out of five public/private partnerships with Dublin City Council worth an estimated €900m due to 'adversely changed circumstances in the housing market' and new planning guidelines on scaled-up apartment sizes – was awarded the York Street contract four years ago to re-develop the site for €20m. Sustainable Energy Ireland contributed over €280,000 as part of its House of Tomorrow project. Design company Ventura (www.ventura.ie) styled two apartments to help tenants visualise how their homes could look.
"It was the first project I've ever worked on with Dublin City Council and I was delighted to have the experience
of working on such an unusual job, never mind the fantastic location," says Ventura's Arlene McIntyre, adding that the brief was to make the flats look and feel as spacious as possible.
Approximately half of the homes are one-bed apartments, with the balance split between two-bed apartments and three bed duplexes. The dual aspect light ensures the homes are warm and bright – unlike the old days when north facing flats were so dark the light had to stay on all day. Generously sized balconies function as additional rooms where the upper glass window panels fold right back to let in sunlight.
Recycling is a huge element in the design. Tony Gallagher, housing manager for the area, says everyone is excited about the state of the art 'digestor' in the recycling pavilion. "We are introducing a training programme for residents to show how leftover food waste converts to compost, and which can be used in the garden."
For Charlie, a big decision now is whether to get involved with the residents' gardening group. He's also bemused by the increased amount of offers from his sister who is really keen to stay in his swish new pad just off St Stephen's Green. "She's suggesting I go to her house for a holiday and she'll come here and mind the place!"
The council is hosting an open day for the public at the York Street development on Saturday, 8 November, from 1pm to 5pm
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
DCU to mirror Gateway expansion
Dublin City University is drawing up plans for a major expansion of the college campus which will mirror the Gateway scheme planned for University College Dublin on the southside.
Dublin City councillors were told by city manager John Tierney recently that the college is planning to develop office, hotel, retail and leisure space on part of its lands in Glasnevin as well as educational buildings.
The manager said these uses were allowed under its current Z12 zoning meaning the proposed developments fitted in with uses that are "normally permissible or open for consideration" on such sites and therefore the university would not need a variation of the city development plan to proceed with the scheme.
However, it would need to apply for planning permission and at that stage "the design, layout, height and massing would be assessed".
In 2000 DCU bought a 10 acre site on Griffith Avenue for €39.4m which had been owned by the Eustace family for nearly 150 years. Charlie Kenny's Clancourt Group had originally won the tender for the site but it flipped the site on to DCU at about cost price.
The Kenny family have strong links with DCU and Conor Kenny, who is the group's joint chief executive, is on DCU's Educational Trust board. Charlie Kenny had previously been a board member.
Clancourt's assets include Hibernian's headquarters on Hatch Street and Crescent shopping centre in Limerick.
DCU's main campus stretches from Collins Avenue to Ballymun Road and is about 50 acres. It owns another 35 acres at St Clare's on the west side of Ballymun Road which is used as the university's sports grounds.
Neil Callanan
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Dublin City councillors were told by city manager John Tierney recently that the college is planning to develop office, hotel, retail and leisure space on part of its lands in Glasnevin as well as educational buildings.
The manager said these uses were allowed under its current Z12 zoning meaning the proposed developments fitted in with uses that are "normally permissible or open for consideration" on such sites and therefore the university would not need a variation of the city development plan to proceed with the scheme.
However, it would need to apply for planning permission and at that stage "the design, layout, height and massing would be assessed".
In 2000 DCU bought a 10 acre site on Griffith Avenue for €39.4m which had been owned by the Eustace family for nearly 150 years. Charlie Kenny's Clancourt Group had originally won the tender for the site but it flipped the site on to DCU at about cost price.
The Kenny family have strong links with DCU and Conor Kenny, who is the group's joint chief executive, is on DCU's Educational Trust board. Charlie Kenny had previously been a board member.
Clancourt's assets include Hibernian's headquarters on Hatch Street and Crescent shopping centre in Limerick.
DCU's main campus stretches from Collins Avenue to Ballymun Road and is about 50 acres. It owns another 35 acres at St Clare's on the west side of Ballymun Road which is used as the university's sports grounds.
Neil Callanan
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Relocation of Bellanaboy site in Corrib project not an option, Shell says
SHELL EP Ireland has welcomed confirmation by a US pipeline expert that there are no serious technical obstacles to ensuring the safety of the Corrib gas refinery project in north Mayo.
However, it has said that moving the Bellanaboy gas terminal is “not an option”.
Shell, lead developer in the Corrib gas project, was responding to comments this week by Richard Kuprewicz of Accufacts Inc, an independent investigator of pipeline accidents and author of a review of the controversial gas pipeline, published in late 2005.
Mr Kuprewicz’s assertion in relation to relocation “shows a lack of understanding of Irish planning processes and the statutory scrutiny which underpins every application for major infrastructure”, Shell said.
Mr Kuprewicz participated in an event held by the Afri justice and peace organisation in Erris, Co Mayo, at the weekend.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Kuprewicz said he was “saddened” to see there had been no resolution of the Corrib gas controversy. He said the only obstacle was “trust” and Shell EP Ireland’s willingness to spend money on safe design of existing plans – or relocation of the gas refinery to a coastal site.
“It is not hard to move a gas plant – this is not an oil refinery. The only cost is money, which Shell is not short of,” he said.
His risk analysis on the Corrib gas onshore pipeline, commissioned by the former Centre for Public Inquiry and published in late 2005, noted that there was no fail-safe design for such a high-pressure pipeline.
It said the quantified risk assessment conducted was inappropriate for a “highly unique” high-pressure pipeline, which was “the first of its kind” on this island.
It recommended minimum safe distance from housing was 200-400m. Mr Kuprewicz’s analysis was described at the time as “highly speculative” by Shell, but was referred by the Government’s high-level advisory group on the project to its own consultants, Advantica. The Advantica report agreed with half of the points raised by Mr Kuprewicz, and recommended limiting pressure in the onshore section to 144 bar.
Mr Kuprewicz said he had seen plans to modify the pipeline route, but would like to see design details of Shell’s plan to limit pressure on the onshore section.
Shell has submitted an application for a modified onshore pipeline route to Bord Pleanála.
The appeals board requested additional information and is due to make a decision shortly on an oral hearing, which may be held before the end of the year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
However, it has said that moving the Bellanaboy gas terminal is “not an option”.
Shell, lead developer in the Corrib gas project, was responding to comments this week by Richard Kuprewicz of Accufacts Inc, an independent investigator of pipeline accidents and author of a review of the controversial gas pipeline, published in late 2005.
Mr Kuprewicz’s assertion in relation to relocation “shows a lack of understanding of Irish planning processes and the statutory scrutiny which underpins every application for major infrastructure”, Shell said.
Mr Kuprewicz participated in an event held by the Afri justice and peace organisation in Erris, Co Mayo, at the weekend.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Kuprewicz said he was “saddened” to see there had been no resolution of the Corrib gas controversy. He said the only obstacle was “trust” and Shell EP Ireland’s willingness to spend money on safe design of existing plans – or relocation of the gas refinery to a coastal site.
“It is not hard to move a gas plant – this is not an oil refinery. The only cost is money, which Shell is not short of,” he said.
His risk analysis on the Corrib gas onshore pipeline, commissioned by the former Centre for Public Inquiry and published in late 2005, noted that there was no fail-safe design for such a high-pressure pipeline.
It said the quantified risk assessment conducted was inappropriate for a “highly unique” high-pressure pipeline, which was “the first of its kind” on this island.
It recommended minimum safe distance from housing was 200-400m. Mr Kuprewicz’s analysis was described at the time as “highly speculative” by Shell, but was referred by the Government’s high-level advisory group on the project to its own consultants, Advantica. The Advantica report agreed with half of the points raised by Mr Kuprewicz, and recommended limiting pressure in the onshore section to 144 bar.
Mr Kuprewicz said he had seen plans to modify the pipeline route, but would like to see design details of Shell’s plan to limit pressure on the onshore section.
Shell has submitted an application for a modified onshore pipeline route to Bord Pleanála.
The appeals board requested additional information and is due to make a decision shortly on an oral hearing, which may be held before the end of the year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Dublin firm wins global architecture award
DUBLIN-BASED Grafton Architects, run by Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell, have scooped the first World Building of the Year award at the inaugural World Festival of Architecture for their new faculty building at Bocconi University in Milan.
The awards are the biggest and most wide-ranging architectural awards programme in the world, designed to "celebrate the work, concerns and aspirations of the international architectural community" according to its director, Paul Finch.
At a time when many architectural practices in Ireland - including Grafton - have been laying off staff due to the downturn in the building industry, the news from the festival in Barcelona was particularly welcome.
A total of 224 buildings in 17 categories from 43 countries made it on to the shortlist. Grafton had already won the premier award in the "learning" category for their mammoth Milan project and then went on to win the overall award.
They beat such luminaries as Foster + Partners, who won the "new and old" award for the Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and Zaha Hadid, whose Norpark Cable Railway in Austria won the transport award.
Other finalists included a women's health centre in Burkina Faso by Italian architects FAREstudio, a sheep stable in the Netherlands by 70F Architecture, and BMW Welt, a multi-functional "customer experience and exhibition centre" in Munich by Coop Himmelb(l)au.
The jury - chaired by Robert Stern, dean of Yale School of Architecture - included Cecil Balmond, of Ove Arup Partners; Ricky Burdett, professor of architecture at London School of Economics, critic Charles Jencks, and Suha Ozkan, of the XXI Architecture Centre in Ankara.
In a unanimous decision, the jury gave the World Building of the Year award to Grafton Architects, saying they had succeeded in "distilling the essence of the city" of Milan into a confident, contemporary form with a "magical subterranean realm".
Bocconi University's faculty building, which will be officially opened on Friday, includes offices for 1,000 teaching staff suspended above subterranean conference halls and lecture theatres, courtyards and concourses, all accessible to the public.
Mr Finch, who is editor of the London-based Architectural Review, said Grafton had "opened up the past of the city with a 21st century attitude" with a building that had "the capacity to make a profound difference to the lives of its users".
With allusions to Modernist megastructures, Prof Stern said "it's one of those great buildings that allows you to see a moment of the past in a totally fresh way", while Mr Balmond commented that its "3-D design" was "effortless, with no histrionics".
Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara were delighted to win such an accolade for their biggest-ever project.
"We were trying to make the university a miniature city where public realm connects with the rest of the city and the campus provides a window to Milan," they said in a joint statement.
Sean Ó Laoire, president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, said it was an "amazing and well-deserved recognition" and a "reminder to the Government that the quality of architecture and quality of education are intimately linked".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The awards are the biggest and most wide-ranging architectural awards programme in the world, designed to "celebrate the work, concerns and aspirations of the international architectural community" according to its director, Paul Finch.
At a time when many architectural practices in Ireland - including Grafton - have been laying off staff due to the downturn in the building industry, the news from the festival in Barcelona was particularly welcome.
A total of 224 buildings in 17 categories from 43 countries made it on to the shortlist. Grafton had already won the premier award in the "learning" category for their mammoth Milan project and then went on to win the overall award.
They beat such luminaries as Foster + Partners, who won the "new and old" award for the Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and Zaha Hadid, whose Norpark Cable Railway in Austria won the transport award.
Other finalists included a women's health centre in Burkina Faso by Italian architects FAREstudio, a sheep stable in the Netherlands by 70F Architecture, and BMW Welt, a multi-functional "customer experience and exhibition centre" in Munich by Coop Himmelb(l)au.
The jury - chaired by Robert Stern, dean of Yale School of Architecture - included Cecil Balmond, of Ove Arup Partners; Ricky Burdett, professor of architecture at London School of Economics, critic Charles Jencks, and Suha Ozkan, of the XXI Architecture Centre in Ankara.
In a unanimous decision, the jury gave the World Building of the Year award to Grafton Architects, saying they had succeeded in "distilling the essence of the city" of Milan into a confident, contemporary form with a "magical subterranean realm".
Bocconi University's faculty building, which will be officially opened on Friday, includes offices for 1,000 teaching staff suspended above subterranean conference halls and lecture theatres, courtyards and concourses, all accessible to the public.
Mr Finch, who is editor of the London-based Architectural Review, said Grafton had "opened up the past of the city with a 21st century attitude" with a building that had "the capacity to make a profound difference to the lives of its users".
With allusions to Modernist megastructures, Prof Stern said "it's one of those great buildings that allows you to see a moment of the past in a totally fresh way", while Mr Balmond commented that its "3-D design" was "effortless, with no histrionics".
Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara were delighted to win such an accolade for their biggest-ever project.
"We were trying to make the university a miniature city where public realm connects with the rest of the city and the campus provides a window to Milan," they said in a joint statement.
Sean Ó Laoire, president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, said it was an "amazing and well-deserved recognition" and a "reminder to the Government that the quality of architecture and quality of education are intimately linked".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Dunne seeks to get rival's building flattened
DEVELOPER Sean Dunne is pursuing a High Court bid requiring rival developer Liam Carroll to pull down an €83m office block on Dublin's north quays which the courts have ruled is an unauthorised development.
Mr Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company are seeking an injunction following a court ruling earlier this month that the office block was not exempted development.
The High Court found the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) acted outside its powers in certifying in July 2007 that the development by Mr Carroll's company, North Quay Investments Ltd (NQI), did not require planning permission.
The DDDA, which may yet be faced with multi-million euro compensation claims from NQI, has yet to indicate if it is appealing the court's ruling.
The development at issue is intended as a new headquarters for Anglo-Irish Bank and is part of a larger €200m development by NQI on the former Brooks Thomas site at North Wall Quay.
The injunction application will be resisted by NQI, counsel for NQI told the court yesterday when the case was mentioned before Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan. Garrett Simons, counsel for Mr Dunne, said the NQI development was an unauthorised structure and should be removed.
Michael Collins, for NQI, said the court should not make final orders based on the successful proceedings by Mr Dunne against the DDDA.
The court, Mr Collins said, should first determine NQI's claim that a certificate of exemption granted by the DDDA for the NQI development should be treated as "voidable" rather than "void".
Exempt
If the certificate was treated as voidable, the building constructed to date would have the benefit of being considered exempt development, counsel argued.
The certificate of exempt development was valid on its face when it was granted and should not be retrospectively quashed as €83m had been spent on the building, counsel said.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan remarked there must be the possibility of seeking retention permission for the development. Mr Collins said his side would do that if nothing else could be done. The case was adjourned until next month.
Tim Healy
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Mr Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company are seeking an injunction following a court ruling earlier this month that the office block was not exempted development.
The High Court found the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) acted outside its powers in certifying in July 2007 that the development by Mr Carroll's company, North Quay Investments Ltd (NQI), did not require planning permission.
The DDDA, which may yet be faced with multi-million euro compensation claims from NQI, has yet to indicate if it is appealing the court's ruling.
The development at issue is intended as a new headquarters for Anglo-Irish Bank and is part of a larger €200m development by NQI on the former Brooks Thomas site at North Wall Quay.
The injunction application will be resisted by NQI, counsel for NQI told the court yesterday when the case was mentioned before Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan. Garrett Simons, counsel for Mr Dunne, said the NQI development was an unauthorised structure and should be removed.
Michael Collins, for NQI, said the court should not make final orders based on the successful proceedings by Mr Dunne against the DDDA.
The court, Mr Collins said, should first determine NQI's claim that a certificate of exemption granted by the DDDA for the NQI development should be treated as "voidable" rather than "void".
Exempt
If the certificate was treated as voidable, the building constructed to date would have the benefit of being considered exempt development, counsel argued.
The certificate of exempt development was valid on its face when it was granted and should not be retrospectively quashed as €83m had been spent on the building, counsel said.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan remarked there must be the possibility of seeking retention permission for the development. Mr Collins said his side would do that if nothing else could be done. The case was adjourned until next month.
Tim Healy
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Docklands authority will accept north quays ruling
THE DUBLIN Docklands Development Authority has told the Commercial Court it is not appealing against a court decision that it acted outside its powers in granting "fast-track" permission for a €200 million development on Dublin's north quays.
There is speculation that the decision not to appeal against Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan's judgment earlier this month means it may yet be exposed to multimillion-euro compensation claims from developers.
The judgment could also affect the dockland authority's plans to create a high-rise quarter jutting out into the Liffey along North Wall Quay, east of Spencer Dock.
This scheme would have been facilitated by North Quay Investments Ltd ceding land, free of charge.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan on October 3rd upheld developer Seán Dunne's challenge to the granting of permission for a rival development by North Quay Investments Ltd, owned by Liam Carroll, on the former Brooks Thomas site at North Wall Quay.
The judgment has implications for a separate challenge by the Spencer Dock Development Company related to the same north quays development.
The judge ruled there was "a direct relationship" between the docklands authority decision to grant approval for the North Quay development under section 25 of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act 1997 and the company giving part of the site to the authority for public space.
The nature of a confidential agreement reached in May 2007 between the docklands authority and Mr Carroll's company before the exemption was issued in July 2007 gave rise to a "reasonable apprehension of bias" by Dublin Docklands in reaching its decision, she ruled.
When the Spencer Dock proceedings were mentioned at the Commercial Court yesterday, Ms Emily Egan, for the docklands authority, told Mr Justice Peter Kelly there would be no appeal against the decision upholding Seán Dunne's challenge.
Discovery applications in the Spencer Dock proceedings were adjourned to next month.
In its action, the Spencer Dock Development Company has claimed there was a "covert contract" between the docklands authority and North Quay Investments relating to the development on the north quays which had created an uneven playing pitch among developers in the docklands.
The Spencer Dock company which controls extensive development lands over 29 acres claims the docklands authority "seriously compromised itself" in relation to alleged commitments to North Quay Investments under the agreement and had given North Quay "a considerable commercial advantage".
The docklands authority may be liable for millions in losses to Spencer Dock Development Company as a result of the agreement as North Quay Investments had effectively secured a "re-writing of the planning scheme" to ensure "the maximum benefit" for the lands owned by it, Spencer Dock claims.
Meanwhile, Mr Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company are pursuing their application for a High Court injunction requiring North Quay to "remove" an €83 million office block development constructed as part of the overall North Quay development following the High Court ruling.
They say they are entitled to the order following the High Court's decision that the docklands authority acted outside its powers.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
There is speculation that the decision not to appeal against Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan's judgment earlier this month means it may yet be exposed to multimillion-euro compensation claims from developers.
The judgment could also affect the dockland authority's plans to create a high-rise quarter jutting out into the Liffey along North Wall Quay, east of Spencer Dock.
This scheme would have been facilitated by North Quay Investments Ltd ceding land, free of charge.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan on October 3rd upheld developer Seán Dunne's challenge to the granting of permission for a rival development by North Quay Investments Ltd, owned by Liam Carroll, on the former Brooks Thomas site at North Wall Quay.
The judgment has implications for a separate challenge by the Spencer Dock Development Company related to the same north quays development.
The judge ruled there was "a direct relationship" between the docklands authority decision to grant approval for the North Quay development under section 25 of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act 1997 and the company giving part of the site to the authority for public space.
The nature of a confidential agreement reached in May 2007 between the docklands authority and Mr Carroll's company before the exemption was issued in July 2007 gave rise to a "reasonable apprehension of bias" by Dublin Docklands in reaching its decision, she ruled.
When the Spencer Dock proceedings were mentioned at the Commercial Court yesterday, Ms Emily Egan, for the docklands authority, told Mr Justice Peter Kelly there would be no appeal against the decision upholding Seán Dunne's challenge.
Discovery applications in the Spencer Dock proceedings were adjourned to next month.
In its action, the Spencer Dock Development Company has claimed there was a "covert contract" between the docklands authority and North Quay Investments relating to the development on the north quays which had created an uneven playing pitch among developers in the docklands.
The Spencer Dock company which controls extensive development lands over 29 acres claims the docklands authority "seriously compromised itself" in relation to alleged commitments to North Quay Investments under the agreement and had given North Quay "a considerable commercial advantage".
The docklands authority may be liable for millions in losses to Spencer Dock Development Company as a result of the agreement as North Quay Investments had effectively secured a "re-writing of the planning scheme" to ensure "the maximum benefit" for the lands owned by it, Spencer Dock claims.
Meanwhile, Mr Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company are pursuing their application for a High Court injunction requiring North Quay to "remove" an €83 million office block development constructed as part of the overall North Quay development following the High Court ruling.
They say they are entitled to the order following the High Court's decision that the docklands authority acted outside its powers.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Legal move to make developer pay €7.5m adjourned
A LEGAL action to compel developer Bernard McNamara to pay €7.5 million to three businessmen, a tax consultant and a banker for their shareholdings in a property company has been adjourned at the Commercial Court after indications the matter may be resolved.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday agreed to adjourn proceedings after being told by Michael Cush SC, for the plaintiffs, that the matter may not trouble the court. The case was adjourned to December 8th next.
The proceedings relate to Novorstan Ltd, with offices at Clanwilliam Court, Dublin 2. Its shareholders are Mr McNamara, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4; Gary Smith, Hazelhatch, Newcastle, Co Dublin; Ivor Dougan, Booterstown, Co Dublin; Paschal Taggart, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin; Terry Cooney, a tax consultant, of Fitz-william Square, Dublin; and Shane Taggart, a banker, with an address at Brompton Road, London.
The shareholders came together in 2004 to acquire properties within a site adjacent to Grafton Street, Dublin, in order to carry out a major commercial development on the site.
Mr McNamara is now being sued by the other five arising from an option deed of September 2004 under which the plaintiffs claim they granted Mr McNamara the option to require them to sell shares in Novorstan and other specified companies for a price in accordance with the deed.
They claim the minimum amount due to them is €7.5 million and Mr McNamara has no bona fide defence to their claim for that amount. They claim Mr McNamara in September 2006 exercised his option requiring them to sell their shares, but they expressed dissatisfaction with a valuation on the properties and an independent valuation was secured between the sides.
They claim they notified Mr McNamara in August 2008 that they were accepting €7.5 million as the option price for the purpose of the option deed. Mr McNamara's solicitors replied that the plaintiffs could not unilaterally vary procedures set down in the option deeds. The plaintiffs' solicitors responded that if the shares were not purchased by September 26th last, proceedings would be served on Mr McNamara.
It is claimed some €3.17 million is due to Mr Smith and also to Mr Dougan, and €385,000 to Paschal Taggart, while Mr Cooney and Shane Taggart each claim to be owed €384,750.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday agreed to adjourn proceedings after being told by Michael Cush SC, for the plaintiffs, that the matter may not trouble the court. The case was adjourned to December 8th next.
The proceedings relate to Novorstan Ltd, with offices at Clanwilliam Court, Dublin 2. Its shareholders are Mr McNamara, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4; Gary Smith, Hazelhatch, Newcastle, Co Dublin; Ivor Dougan, Booterstown, Co Dublin; Paschal Taggart, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin; Terry Cooney, a tax consultant, of Fitz-william Square, Dublin; and Shane Taggart, a banker, with an address at Brompton Road, London.
The shareholders came together in 2004 to acquire properties within a site adjacent to Grafton Street, Dublin, in order to carry out a major commercial development on the site.
Mr McNamara is now being sued by the other five arising from an option deed of September 2004 under which the plaintiffs claim they granted Mr McNamara the option to require them to sell shares in Novorstan and other specified companies for a price in accordance with the deed.
They claim the minimum amount due to them is €7.5 million and Mr McNamara has no bona fide defence to their claim for that amount. They claim Mr McNamara in September 2006 exercised his option requiring them to sell their shares, but they expressed dissatisfaction with a valuation on the properties and an independent valuation was secured between the sides.
They claim they notified Mr McNamara in August 2008 that they were accepting €7.5 million as the option price for the purpose of the option deed. Mr McNamara's solicitors replied that the plaintiffs could not unilaterally vary procedures set down in the option deeds. The plaintiffs' solicitors responded that if the shares were not purchased by September 26th last, proceedings would be served on Mr McNamara.
It is claimed some €3.17 million is due to Mr Smith and also to Mr Dougan, and €385,000 to Paschal Taggart, while Mr Cooney and Shane Taggart each claim to be owed €384,750.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Putting Dublin Mountains on the map
DUBLIN BUS is being urged to organise its services to allow greater access to the Dublin Mountains as part of a new initiative to improve the recreation potential of public lands there.
Minister for Natural Resources Eamon Ryan said he would be asking the company to explore the issue as part of the Dublin Mountains Partnership, which he officially launched in Tibradden Woods yesterday.
The Dublin Mountains Partnership involves Coillte, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the Dublin Mountains Initiative, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and South County Dublin County Council.
One of its first initiatives, the Minister said, was to establish a walking trail from Tallaght to Dún Laoghaire over the mountains. This trail was under construction, he said.
"I would like to see public transport linking into this so people could have more access to the mountains which are one of the greatest treasures of our city," he added.
"It would be wonderful to be able to get a bus into the mountains at Tallaght and be able to get one back from Dún Laoghaire at the end of a good day's walking."
The Minister said no other capital city he had ever lived in had a wonderful bay on one side and yet, within 30 minutes, one could be in the mountains.
Under a 10-year action plan, the partnership will develop access routes, new trails, signage, a website and a recreational user's maps of the area.
The partnership will also be bringing forward a recruitment campaign to develop a volunteer ranger scheme to support the work of the partnership and to have an "on the ground" presence especially at the weekends.
A recreation manager has also been appointed by the partnership which will be supporting a "leave no trace" programme to promote responsible behaviour by visitors.
More information is available at www.dublinmountains.ie
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Minister for Natural Resources Eamon Ryan said he would be asking the company to explore the issue as part of the Dublin Mountains Partnership, which he officially launched in Tibradden Woods yesterday.
The Dublin Mountains Partnership involves Coillte, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the Dublin Mountains Initiative, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and South County Dublin County Council.
One of its first initiatives, the Minister said, was to establish a walking trail from Tallaght to Dún Laoghaire over the mountains. This trail was under construction, he said.
"I would like to see public transport linking into this so people could have more access to the mountains which are one of the greatest treasures of our city," he added.
"It would be wonderful to be able to get a bus into the mountains at Tallaght and be able to get one back from Dún Laoghaire at the end of a good day's walking."
The Minister said no other capital city he had ever lived in had a wonderful bay on one side and yet, within 30 minutes, one could be in the mountains.
Under a 10-year action plan, the partnership will develop access routes, new trails, signage, a website and a recreational user's maps of the area.
The partnership will also be bringing forward a recruitment campaign to develop a volunteer ranger scheme to support the work of the partnership and to have an "on the ground" presence especially at the weekends.
A recreation manager has also been appointed by the partnership which will be supporting a "leave no trace" programme to promote responsible behaviour by visitors.
More information is available at www.dublinmountains.ie
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Over 1,050 homes for Balbriggan
CRESCENT PARK Properties has been granted permission by Fingal County Council for over 1,050 apartments and houses in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.
The plan for the 90-acre site south of Flemington Lane is for a scheme of two to four storeys with 296 apartments, over 300 duplexes and 394 houses.
David and Karl Pierce, the directors of the firm, have also got permission for a landscaped open space to include a public park. A 1.8-hectare site is being reserved for a primary school.
Meanwhile, Manor Park Homebuilders has been granted permission by Fingal County Council for 284 apartments and houses at Ongar village in the Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) as well as for shops, pub, takeaway, restaurant, off- licence, playground and village green with sports facilities.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The plan for the 90-acre site south of Flemington Lane is for a scheme of two to four storeys with 296 apartments, over 300 duplexes and 394 houses.
David and Karl Pierce, the directors of the firm, have also got permission for a landscaped open space to include a public park. A 1.8-hectare site is being reserved for a primary school.
Meanwhile, Manor Park Homebuilders has been granted permission by Fingal County Council for 284 apartments and houses at Ongar village in the Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) as well as for shops, pub, takeaway, restaurant, off- licence, playground and village green with sports facilities.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Airport plans granted
FINGAL COUNTY Council has granted permission for two developments at Dublin Airport. One is a ground and first floor extension to the south-west end of the Pier D link building incorporating a new lift and escalator and a new circulation route on to the ground floor giving access from the new lift into the Garda Immigration Hall.
The Dublin Airport Authority has also got permission for a development at the Garda National Immigration building to include a single storey flat roof extension on the ground floor of the link building comprising of an additional queuing area to the immigration hall.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The Dublin Airport Authority has also got permission for a development at the Garda National Immigration building to include a single storey flat roof extension on the ground floor of the link building comprising of an additional queuing area to the immigration hall.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Planning and Development
An Bord Pelanála
APPEALS
Location: former Irish Cone and Wafer premises, Kilmainham, Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish on-site structures for a mixed-use scheme comprising 58 apartments. Applicant: Henry Farrell and Brendan Lawless. Appellant(s): Siobhan Couser, Henry Farrell and Brendan Lawless.
Location: Bewleys Hotel, Simmonscourt Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 (protected structure). Proposed development: use of Thomas Prior Hall as a hotel function room with ancillary private bar, satellite kitchen and toilet facilities. Applicant: Thomas Prior Ballsbridge Ltd. Appellant(s): V M O'Shea.
Location: 27 29 Dunville Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6. Proposed development: demolish retail unit and apartment for a mixed-use scheme comprising one duplex apartment, retail and site works. Applicant: John A Kavanagh. Appellant(s): Belgrave Residents Association.
Location: 108 Rathgar Road and 70 Rathgar Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6. Proposed development: part demolition of public house for a mixed-use scheme comprising five apartments, public house and site works. Applicant: Bartlett Inns Ltd. Appellant(s): Rathgar Residents Association.
Location: South Strand, Skerries, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 11 apartments and site works. Applicant: Golden South Strand Partnership. Appellant(s): St Vincent de Paul Society and others, Robert McLaughlin.
Location: Bunnyconnellan East (Chaffhill), Drumsheen, Ballina, Co Mayo. Proposed development: wind farm comprising 12 wind turbines. Applicant: Michael Mullarkey and others. Appellant(s): Michael Egan, Chris Moran and others, An Taisce.
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: lands bounded by Conyngham Road (north), River Liffey (south), Dublin Bus Depot (east), Longmeadow Apartments (west), Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish all structures on site for a mixed-use scheme of 81 residential units, commercial, offices, crèche and site works. Applicant: Petrogas Engineering Ltd.
Location: Unit 4-6 Stillorgan Industrial Park, Birch Avenue, Sandyford, Dublin 18. Proposed development: mixed-use scheme comprising 178 residential units, crèche, café, car-parking and site works. Applicant: Oceanscape Ltd.
Location: former Asahi site, Tawnnaghmore Upper, Killala, Ballina, Co Mayo. Proposed development: 100-megawatt electricity power generating station, site works and services. Applicant: Mayo Power Ltd.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: The White House, 21 Dalkey Avenue, Dalkey, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish house for four three-storey five-bedroom detached dwellings with roof-mounted solar collectors on each dwelling, off-street car-parking, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Iris OMalley.
Dublin City Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: 14.5-acre site bounded by Balcurris Road/Silloge to the west, Ballymun Main Street (also known as Ballymun Road) to the east, Silloge Road and part of the James Connolly Tower complex to the south and part of the Thomas Clarke Tower complex to the north, at Ballymun, Dublin 11. Proposed development: demolish all structures within the shopping centre site, including Ballymun shopping centre, Garda Station, AIB Bank, swimming pool, health centre and two public houses (Towers Public House and Penthouse Public House). New scheme to consist of 250,831sq m (2.67 million sq ft) of mixed-use space in eight blocks comprising 367 apartments (28 one-beds, 291 two-beds and 48 three-beds); 60,293sq m (648,988sq ft) of retail floorspace; 11,189sq m (120,437sq ft) of leisure space including an 11-screen cinema, bowling alley, family entertainment centre and child drop-in centre; 27,883sq m (300,130sq ft) of office space, including own-door offices and office suites; crèche of 365sq m (3,929sq ft); and 2,111sq m (22,723sq ft) of civic space to comprise of a public library. Provision of 2,185 car-parking spaces (50 at grade and 2,135 at basement level) and 795 cycle-parking spaces. The scheme ranges from four to seven storeys. Applicant: Ballymun Shopping Centre Ltd.
Location: on lands (2.22 hectares) at 1-3 East Road, Dublin 3. The land is bounded by East Road to the west, East Quay Rail Yard to the south and Merchants Square to the east. Proposed development: demolish structures on site for a mixed-use scheme of 95,360sq m (1.026 million sq ft) comprising an hotel, offices, retail, gym and pool, healthcare centre and café/restaurant in four blocks from four to 17 storeys. Block A: six-storey building with a gym and pool at basement level; 149-bedroom hotel with restaurant, bar, meeting rooms, conference room and reception area. Block B: 17-storey building with retail floor space, café facilities, office reception area and restaurant. Block C: 12-storey building incorporating a healthcare centre, office reception area, auditorium, staff canteen and office accommodation. Block D: four to six storeys with a reception area and office accommodation. The four blocks will be above a shared three-storey basement car-park with 1,044 car-parking spaces and 580 cycle spaces. Access to the development is from East Road. Permission is also sought for a linear park from north-to-south on the site and for all site works and landscaping. Applicant: JP Ryan Sons (Properties) Ltd.
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: Convent lands between Sean McDermott Street, Railway Street and Gloucester Lane, Dublin 1. Proposed development: demolish 77 Sean McDermott Street Lower. Erect Block A: eight/nine-storey apartment block fronting Railway Street with 70 units (seven one-beds, 35 two-beds, 27 three-beds and one four-bed). Block B: eight/nine-storey apartment block with terraces and balconies fronting Railway Street and 73 units (12 one-beds, 22 two-beds and 28 three-beds) and a two-storey Crinan Project of 216.1sq m (2,326sq ft) of office/workshop space. Block C: six-storey apartment block with 23 units (10 two-beds, 12 three-beds and one four-bed). Block D: six storeys with 13 units (six two-beds, seven three-beds). Refurbish Convent Building (Block E) into apartments consisting of 18 units (eight one-beds, five two-beds, four three-beds and one four-bed). Block F: three/five-storey building bordering Gloucester Lane to provide Dublin City Council with a civic centre/one stop shop. Block G: four-storey office building incorporating the portico of the former Scots Presbyterian Church (protected structure). Provision of 181 car-parking spaces, site works and landscaping. Applicant: Kimtor Ltd.
Location: Franklin House, 140-142 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish four-storey commercial building for office block of four to eight storeys. The offices will be in two blocks at both Pembroke Road and Shelbourne Lane which will be linked by a central glazed atrium. The lower ground floor level will have office accommodation and two sunken gardens, landscaping and site works. Applicant: David Daly.
Location: 10-12 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish three-storey office building for office block from one to six storeys with offices at lower ground floor level through to fifth floor level. Provision of 15 car-parking spaces at basement level; courtyard at ground floor level and sunken courtyard at lower ground level; site and landscaping works. Applicant: Irish Property Unit Management Services.
Location: Hilton Hotel and McConnell House, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2. Proposed development: mixed-use development including offices, café, hotel extension and conference facility. Demolish five-storey office building (McConnell House) for a part eight-storey building of 6,719sq m (72,323sq ft) of office space with one café at ground floor. Works to the six-storey hotel include provision of an additional floor of 18 hotel bedrooms. The revised hotel building facing onto Charlemont Place to comprise eight storeys; all external windows and glazed doors to the hotel to be replaced; new seven-storey extension to the rear (north) of the hotel to comprise two conference/function rooms, five meeting rooms, bars, lounges, foyer, gallery, and ancillary areas at basement, ground and first floor; 34 hotel bedrooms with health club, executive lounge and ancillary areas at third to sixth floors; increase in number of hotel bedrooms from 193 to 245 rooms. Applicant: Grattenlane Ltd.
South Dublin
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: former Gallagher's site at junction of Airton Road and Greenhills Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Proposed development: demolish three buildings for Block A (three single storey retail warehouse units and an external garden centre), Block B (two single storey car showrooms, security office and bin store), 229 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Tabmaz Partnership.
Fingal
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: north of Naul Road, south of Flemington Lane, east of Clonard-Bridgefoot Road, west of Moylaragh, Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 1,057 dwelling units with five development areas on a site of 90.2 acres. The scheme is to be two, three and four storeys and will comprise four one-bed apartments, 292 two-bed apartments, 30 two-bed duplex units, 22 two-bed houses, 58 three-bed apartments, 234 three-bed duplex units, 85 three-bed houses, 45 four-bed duplex units, 206 four-bed houses and 81 five-bed houses. Provision of 1,999 car-parking spaces, landscaped open spaces, including public park, and site works. Applicant: Crescent Park Properties.
Location: Mountgorry, Swords, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish dwelling for 16 residential units consisting of seven three-bed duplex units over nine two-bedroom own-door apartments with underground car-parking and landscaping. Applicant: P K OBrien.
Location: Barnhill Road to the west, Ongar Village and Ongar Road to north, Hansfield Road and St Joseph's Hospital to east, in the townlands of Hansfield and Phibblestown and Barberstown and Phibblestown, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. Proposed development: 284 dwellings; 2,291sq m (24,660sq ft) of commercial floor space and a village green of two hectares. The scheme will be in a range of two, three, four and five-storey buildings. The residential element will contain two one-bed units, 143 two-bed units, 124 three-bed units and 15 four-bed units. The commercial development will provide four retail units, two crèches, hot food units, off-license, public house and restaurant. The village green of two hectares will have a playground, two tennis courts, multi-games area and informal recreation space. Provision of 552 surface car-parking spaces. Applicant: Manor Park Homebuilders Ltd.
Location: ground floor and first floor, Pier D, Link Building, Dublin Airport, Collinstown, Co Dublin. Proposed development: a ground floor and first floor extension to the south-west end of the Pier D Link Building incorporating a new lift, lift shaft and a new escalator. The extension also includes a new circulation route on the ground floor giving access from the new lift into the Garda Immigration Hall. All external finishes will match the Pier D Link Building and the north-east elevation will be finished with full height curtain walling. Applicant: Dublin Airport Authority Plc.
Compiled by Mary Hetherington
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
APPEALS
Location: former Irish Cone and Wafer premises, Kilmainham, Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish on-site structures for a mixed-use scheme comprising 58 apartments. Applicant: Henry Farrell and Brendan Lawless. Appellant(s): Siobhan Couser, Henry Farrell and Brendan Lawless.
Location: Bewleys Hotel, Simmonscourt Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 (protected structure). Proposed development: use of Thomas Prior Hall as a hotel function room with ancillary private bar, satellite kitchen and toilet facilities. Applicant: Thomas Prior Ballsbridge Ltd. Appellant(s): V M O'Shea.
Location: 27 29 Dunville Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6. Proposed development: demolish retail unit and apartment for a mixed-use scheme comprising one duplex apartment, retail and site works. Applicant: John A Kavanagh. Appellant(s): Belgrave Residents Association.
Location: 108 Rathgar Road and 70 Rathgar Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6. Proposed development: part demolition of public house for a mixed-use scheme comprising five apartments, public house and site works. Applicant: Bartlett Inns Ltd. Appellant(s): Rathgar Residents Association.
Location: South Strand, Skerries, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 11 apartments and site works. Applicant: Golden South Strand Partnership. Appellant(s): St Vincent de Paul Society and others, Robert McLaughlin.
Location: Bunnyconnellan East (Chaffhill), Drumsheen, Ballina, Co Mayo. Proposed development: wind farm comprising 12 wind turbines. Applicant: Michael Mullarkey and others. Appellant(s): Michael Egan, Chris Moran and others, An Taisce.
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: lands bounded by Conyngham Road (north), River Liffey (south), Dublin Bus Depot (east), Longmeadow Apartments (west), Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish all structures on site for a mixed-use scheme of 81 residential units, commercial, offices, crèche and site works. Applicant: Petrogas Engineering Ltd.
Location: Unit 4-6 Stillorgan Industrial Park, Birch Avenue, Sandyford, Dublin 18. Proposed development: mixed-use scheme comprising 178 residential units, crèche, café, car-parking and site works. Applicant: Oceanscape Ltd.
Location: former Asahi site, Tawnnaghmore Upper, Killala, Ballina, Co Mayo. Proposed development: 100-megawatt electricity power generating station, site works and services. Applicant: Mayo Power Ltd.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: The White House, 21 Dalkey Avenue, Dalkey, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish house for four three-storey five-bedroom detached dwellings with roof-mounted solar collectors on each dwelling, off-street car-parking, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Iris OMalley.
Dublin City Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: 14.5-acre site bounded by Balcurris Road/Silloge to the west, Ballymun Main Street (also known as Ballymun Road) to the east, Silloge Road and part of the James Connolly Tower complex to the south and part of the Thomas Clarke Tower complex to the north, at Ballymun, Dublin 11. Proposed development: demolish all structures within the shopping centre site, including Ballymun shopping centre, Garda Station, AIB Bank, swimming pool, health centre and two public houses (Towers Public House and Penthouse Public House). New scheme to consist of 250,831sq m (2.67 million sq ft) of mixed-use space in eight blocks comprising 367 apartments (28 one-beds, 291 two-beds and 48 three-beds); 60,293sq m (648,988sq ft) of retail floorspace; 11,189sq m (120,437sq ft) of leisure space including an 11-screen cinema, bowling alley, family entertainment centre and child drop-in centre; 27,883sq m (300,130sq ft) of office space, including own-door offices and office suites; crèche of 365sq m (3,929sq ft); and 2,111sq m (22,723sq ft) of civic space to comprise of a public library. Provision of 2,185 car-parking spaces (50 at grade and 2,135 at basement level) and 795 cycle-parking spaces. The scheme ranges from four to seven storeys. Applicant: Ballymun Shopping Centre Ltd.
Location: on lands (2.22 hectares) at 1-3 East Road, Dublin 3. The land is bounded by East Road to the west, East Quay Rail Yard to the south and Merchants Square to the east. Proposed development: demolish structures on site for a mixed-use scheme of 95,360sq m (1.026 million sq ft) comprising an hotel, offices, retail, gym and pool, healthcare centre and café/restaurant in four blocks from four to 17 storeys. Block A: six-storey building with a gym and pool at basement level; 149-bedroom hotel with restaurant, bar, meeting rooms, conference room and reception area. Block B: 17-storey building with retail floor space, café facilities, office reception area and restaurant. Block C: 12-storey building incorporating a healthcare centre, office reception area, auditorium, staff canteen and office accommodation. Block D: four to six storeys with a reception area and office accommodation. The four blocks will be above a shared three-storey basement car-park with 1,044 car-parking spaces and 580 cycle spaces. Access to the development is from East Road. Permission is also sought for a linear park from north-to-south on the site and for all site works and landscaping. Applicant: JP Ryan Sons (Properties) Ltd.
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: Convent lands between Sean McDermott Street, Railway Street and Gloucester Lane, Dublin 1. Proposed development: demolish 77 Sean McDermott Street Lower. Erect Block A: eight/nine-storey apartment block fronting Railway Street with 70 units (seven one-beds, 35 two-beds, 27 three-beds and one four-bed). Block B: eight/nine-storey apartment block with terraces and balconies fronting Railway Street and 73 units (12 one-beds, 22 two-beds and 28 three-beds) and a two-storey Crinan Project of 216.1sq m (2,326sq ft) of office/workshop space. Block C: six-storey apartment block with 23 units (10 two-beds, 12 three-beds and one four-bed). Block D: six storeys with 13 units (six two-beds, seven three-beds). Refurbish Convent Building (Block E) into apartments consisting of 18 units (eight one-beds, five two-beds, four three-beds and one four-bed). Block F: three/five-storey building bordering Gloucester Lane to provide Dublin City Council with a civic centre/one stop shop. Block G: four-storey office building incorporating the portico of the former Scots Presbyterian Church (protected structure). Provision of 181 car-parking spaces, site works and landscaping. Applicant: Kimtor Ltd.
Location: Franklin House, 140-142 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish four-storey commercial building for office block of four to eight storeys. The offices will be in two blocks at both Pembroke Road and Shelbourne Lane which will be linked by a central glazed atrium. The lower ground floor level will have office accommodation and two sunken gardens, landscaping and site works. Applicant: David Daly.
Location: 10-12 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish three-storey office building for office block from one to six storeys with offices at lower ground floor level through to fifth floor level. Provision of 15 car-parking spaces at basement level; courtyard at ground floor level and sunken courtyard at lower ground level; site and landscaping works. Applicant: Irish Property Unit Management Services.
Location: Hilton Hotel and McConnell House, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2. Proposed development: mixed-use development including offices, café, hotel extension and conference facility. Demolish five-storey office building (McConnell House) for a part eight-storey building of 6,719sq m (72,323sq ft) of office space with one café at ground floor. Works to the six-storey hotel include provision of an additional floor of 18 hotel bedrooms. The revised hotel building facing onto Charlemont Place to comprise eight storeys; all external windows and glazed doors to the hotel to be replaced; new seven-storey extension to the rear (north) of the hotel to comprise two conference/function rooms, five meeting rooms, bars, lounges, foyer, gallery, and ancillary areas at basement, ground and first floor; 34 hotel bedrooms with health club, executive lounge and ancillary areas at third to sixth floors; increase in number of hotel bedrooms from 193 to 245 rooms. Applicant: Grattenlane Ltd.
South Dublin
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: former Gallagher's site at junction of Airton Road and Greenhills Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Proposed development: demolish three buildings for Block A (three single storey retail warehouse units and an external garden centre), Block B (two single storey car showrooms, security office and bin store), 229 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Tabmaz Partnership.
Fingal
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: north of Naul Road, south of Flemington Lane, east of Clonard-Bridgefoot Road, west of Moylaragh, Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 1,057 dwelling units with five development areas on a site of 90.2 acres. The scheme is to be two, three and four storeys and will comprise four one-bed apartments, 292 two-bed apartments, 30 two-bed duplex units, 22 two-bed houses, 58 three-bed apartments, 234 three-bed duplex units, 85 three-bed houses, 45 four-bed duplex units, 206 four-bed houses and 81 five-bed houses. Provision of 1,999 car-parking spaces, landscaped open spaces, including public park, and site works. Applicant: Crescent Park Properties.
Location: Mountgorry, Swords, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish dwelling for 16 residential units consisting of seven three-bed duplex units over nine two-bedroom own-door apartments with underground car-parking and landscaping. Applicant: P K OBrien.
Location: Barnhill Road to the west, Ongar Village and Ongar Road to north, Hansfield Road and St Joseph's Hospital to east, in the townlands of Hansfield and Phibblestown and Barberstown and Phibblestown, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. Proposed development: 284 dwellings; 2,291sq m (24,660sq ft) of commercial floor space and a village green of two hectares. The scheme will be in a range of two, three, four and five-storey buildings. The residential element will contain two one-bed units, 143 two-bed units, 124 three-bed units and 15 four-bed units. The commercial development will provide four retail units, two crèches, hot food units, off-license, public house and restaurant. The village green of two hectares will have a playground, two tennis courts, multi-games area and informal recreation space. Provision of 552 surface car-parking spaces. Applicant: Manor Park Homebuilders Ltd.
Location: ground floor and first floor, Pier D, Link Building, Dublin Airport, Collinstown, Co Dublin. Proposed development: a ground floor and first floor extension to the south-west end of the Pier D Link Building incorporating a new lift, lift shaft and a new escalator. The extension also includes a new circulation route on the ground floor giving access from the new lift into the Garda Immigration Hall. All external finishes will match the Pier D Link Building and the north-east elevation will be finished with full height curtain walling. Applicant: Dublin Airport Authority Plc.
Compiled by Mary Hetherington
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Bord rejects two mixed-use south Dublin developments
AN BORD Pleanála has refused planning permission for two south Dublin residential developments and is considering the fate of a third.
The baord has turned down a proposal by developer PJ Hegarty to build 166 residential units, a café, 14,494sq m (156,012sq ft) of offices and a crèche at the former Atlantic Homecare store in Stillorgan Industrial Park near Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford, Dublin 18.
The reason given for refusal by the planning board was similar to a spate of recent refusals in the area. It was that the development would be premature because of the deficiency in public transport facilities, recreational amenities and the road network.
An Bord Pleanála also rejected a proposal by Petrogas Ltd for a residential development at Conyngham Road, Dublin 8 beside the Dublin Bus depot. The board overturned permission granted by Dublin City Council and has ruled against an office and residential development.
Petrogas Engineering Ltd, formerly a petrol station and now a car sales garage, was looking to build 81 apartments, six retail and commercial units, 2,524sq m (27,168sq ft) of offices and a crèche in four blocks ranging from six to nine storeys.
Dublin Bus was one of three parties to appeal the development saying an apartment and office development would adversely affect the operation and function of the depot and garage.
It said the height and scale of the development to the boundary of the depot site would impact on the bus depot workshop by blocking daylight.
Martin O'Meara, a resident of the Longmeadow apartment complex, said the development would seriously affect the residential amenity of residents by overlooking and overshadowing their property.
In June 2005 An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for a previous proposal by Petrogas for the site that included 143 residential units, 1,222sq m (13,152sq ft) of offices, and three commercial units in three blocks rising to nine storeys.
The board didn't mention Dublin Bus's appeal in its decision rejecting the development saying that, as a result of the location of the site on the banks of the Liffey and the fact that it is in the Heuston Framework Development Area, it considered the height on both river and road frontage and scale would interfere with a view of Special Amenity Value and impact on the adjacent Longmeadow apartment development due to overshadowing.
Meanwhile, also in Dublin 8, two appeals have been submitted against a proposal for a seven-storey residential development of 58 apartments at the former Irish Cone and Wafer premises in Kilmainham.
One of the appellants, a resident of Auburn Terrace, a row of redbrick houses built 100 years ago on Old Kilmainham Road, says a five-storey block will be seven metres from her rear garden wall.
She says the development will not only dominate Auburn Terrace but also be visible from Kilmainham Road.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The baord has turned down a proposal by developer PJ Hegarty to build 166 residential units, a café, 14,494sq m (156,012sq ft) of offices and a crèche at the former Atlantic Homecare store in Stillorgan Industrial Park near Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford, Dublin 18.
The reason given for refusal by the planning board was similar to a spate of recent refusals in the area. It was that the development would be premature because of the deficiency in public transport facilities, recreational amenities and the road network.
An Bord Pleanála also rejected a proposal by Petrogas Ltd for a residential development at Conyngham Road, Dublin 8 beside the Dublin Bus depot. The board overturned permission granted by Dublin City Council and has ruled against an office and residential development.
Petrogas Engineering Ltd, formerly a petrol station and now a car sales garage, was looking to build 81 apartments, six retail and commercial units, 2,524sq m (27,168sq ft) of offices and a crèche in four blocks ranging from six to nine storeys.
Dublin Bus was one of three parties to appeal the development saying an apartment and office development would adversely affect the operation and function of the depot and garage.
It said the height and scale of the development to the boundary of the depot site would impact on the bus depot workshop by blocking daylight.
Martin O'Meara, a resident of the Longmeadow apartment complex, said the development would seriously affect the residential amenity of residents by overlooking and overshadowing their property.
In June 2005 An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for a previous proposal by Petrogas for the site that included 143 residential units, 1,222sq m (13,152sq ft) of offices, and three commercial units in three blocks rising to nine storeys.
The board didn't mention Dublin Bus's appeal in its decision rejecting the development saying that, as a result of the location of the site on the banks of the Liffey and the fact that it is in the Heuston Framework Development Area, it considered the height on both river and road frontage and scale would interfere with a view of Special Amenity Value and impact on the adjacent Longmeadow apartment development due to overshadowing.
Meanwhile, also in Dublin 8, two appeals have been submitted against a proposal for a seven-storey residential development of 58 apartments at the former Irish Cone and Wafer premises in Kilmainham.
One of the appellants, a resident of Auburn Terrace, a row of redbrick houses built 100 years ago on Old Kilmainham Road, says a five-storey block will be seven metres from her rear garden wall.
She says the development will not only dominate Auburn Terrace but also be visible from Kilmainham Road.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Future of Sean McDermott scheme uncertain
DUBLIN CITY Council is considering its options regarding the redevelopment of the 19th century Scots Presbyterian Church on Sean McDermott Street, Dublin 1.
Although developer Bernard McNamara's proposal for the historic site has just been granted planning permission by Dublin City Council, he pulled out of the project earlier this year and the future of the development is currently in limbo.
While the council is saying it may put the site back on the market when market conditions improve, a spokesperson says it doesn't know at this point whether it will be sold with the current planning permission attached.
The planning permission granted by Dublin City Council was to develop a four-storey office block using the Greek-style portico of the former Scots Presbyterian Church as a façade.
The protected structure, built circa 1830 to the design of a Scottish architect, has a four-columned Doric granite portico.
It was abandoned in the 20th century and later used as a store before being burned down in the 1980s leaving only the front.
The planning permission also allows for 179 apartments on former convent lands between Sean McDermott Street and Railway Street and Gloucester Lane.
The apartments would be arranged in five blocks up to nine storeys, one of which is the refurbished main convent building with 18 apartments.
A three to five-storey block would provide Dublin City Council with a civic centre/one-stop-shop.
The Sean McDermott Street contract was one of five awarded to Mr McNamara as part of a public private partnership (PPP) deal.
Three were to redevelop three local authority flat complexes and two were for inner city regeneration projects - one of which was the development at Sean McDermott Street.
Mr McNamara subsequently pulled out of the deals saying he couldn't get planning permission for the number of units he wanted, following a change in regulations on apartment size.
A mediation agreement is believed to stipulate that McNamara relinquished any claims to the land and pay the council €1.5 million in compensation. It is understood that the council agreed not to take legal action against him.
However, Dublin City Council says it may put the site back on the market but "is holding off for the moment and looking at the best time to put it back on the market".
They said it remains to be seen whether the site will go back on the market with the current planning permission or if any new developer will go back to the drawing board with a new planning application.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Although developer Bernard McNamara's proposal for the historic site has just been granted planning permission by Dublin City Council, he pulled out of the project earlier this year and the future of the development is currently in limbo.
While the council is saying it may put the site back on the market when market conditions improve, a spokesperson says it doesn't know at this point whether it will be sold with the current planning permission attached.
The planning permission granted by Dublin City Council was to develop a four-storey office block using the Greek-style portico of the former Scots Presbyterian Church as a façade.
The protected structure, built circa 1830 to the design of a Scottish architect, has a four-columned Doric granite portico.
It was abandoned in the 20th century and later used as a store before being burned down in the 1980s leaving only the front.
The planning permission also allows for 179 apartments on former convent lands between Sean McDermott Street and Railway Street and Gloucester Lane.
The apartments would be arranged in five blocks up to nine storeys, one of which is the refurbished main convent building with 18 apartments.
A three to five-storey block would provide Dublin City Council with a civic centre/one-stop-shop.
The Sean McDermott Street contract was one of five awarded to Mr McNamara as part of a public private partnership (PPP) deal.
Three were to redevelop three local authority flat complexes and two were for inner city regeneration projects - one of which was the development at Sean McDermott Street.
Mr McNamara subsequently pulled out of the deals saying he couldn't get planning permission for the number of units he wanted, following a change in regulations on apartment size.
A mediation agreement is believed to stipulate that McNamara relinquished any claims to the land and pay the council €1.5 million in compensation. It is understood that the council agreed not to take legal action against him.
However, Dublin City Council says it may put the site back on the market but "is holding off for the moment and looking at the best time to put it back on the market".
They said it remains to be seen whether the site will go back on the market with the current planning permission or if any new developer will go back to the drawing board with a new planning application.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Here comes energy rating
The building energy ratings (BER) steam roller is gathering pace and in just over two months the same energy ratings which have applied to new homes since the start of the year will apply to all existing homes and buildings.
Earlier this week Sustainable Energy Ireland published details of how new homes have been faring under the new system.
So far over 2,500 new homes have been assessed and only 8 per cent have achieved an A certificate, 82 per cent have received B ratings and 10 per cent secured C ratings.
Simply told, BER is similar to the energy label on a fridge and carries a scale from A to G, with A being the most efficient. Anyone selling or letting a new home has to have a BER cert at hand. The same will apply to anyone selling or renting existing homes from next year.
SEI reckons that the majority of existing Irish homes will have a D1 rating when they come to be assessed.
The BER makes the energy performance of a home visible to prospective buyers and tenants and gives them a simple way of judging the energy credentials of a home before buying.
The simplest way of assessing any BER claims being made by a developer or vendor is to get the BER number from them and check it out on the national BER register on SEI's website at www.sei.ie/ber.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Earlier this week Sustainable Energy Ireland published details of how new homes have been faring under the new system.
So far over 2,500 new homes have been assessed and only 8 per cent have achieved an A certificate, 82 per cent have received B ratings and 10 per cent secured C ratings.
Simply told, BER is similar to the energy label on a fridge and carries a scale from A to G, with A being the most efficient. Anyone selling or letting a new home has to have a BER cert at hand. The same will apply to anyone selling or renting existing homes from next year.
SEI reckons that the majority of existing Irish homes will have a D1 rating when they come to be assessed.
The BER makes the energy performance of a home visible to prospective buyers and tenants and gives them a simple way of judging the energy credentials of a home before buying.
The simplest way of assessing any BER claims being made by a developer or vendor is to get the BER number from them and check it out on the national BER register on SEI's website at www.sei.ie/ber.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Shannon explosives plant hearing goes ahead
A SENIOR official with the Department of Justice said yesterday that no information had been withheld on security grounds in relation to a planning application for a €10 million explosives plant on the Shannon estuary.
The senior government inspector of explosives, JK Coates, was responding to a question from planning inspector Conor McGrath on the second day of the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing into a proposal by Shannon Explosives Ltd to build an explosives plant at Cahercon, Kildysart.
The hearing yesterday proceeded in the absence of third-party objectors to the plan who withdrew on the first day in relation to a procedural issue, telling the hearing that they would be going to the High Court yesterday to put a stay on the proceedings and seek a determination on the procedural issue.
However, the hearing yesterday continued uninterrupted as experts advanced the case for Shannon Explosives on all aspects of the development.
On behalf of the applicant, planning consultant Patricia Slowey said 45 people would be employed at the facility against the background of a 40 per cent increase in numbers on the live register in the local area between September 2007 and September 2008.
Outlining the need for the development, Ms Slowey said: “There is only one manufacturing plant of this nature in Ireland, located in Enfield, Co Meath. The proposed development at Cahercon constitutes an important commercial venture for this area of west Clare.
“It will provide for the manufacture of an important product. This facility will constitute an alternative and competitive supply of explosives to the Irish explosives market as well as export market.”
Counsel for Shannon Explosives Ltd, Desmond Keane SC, said the proposal was “a very exceptional development”, stating that alternatives were considered, while the managing director of Shannon Explosives Ltd, Bob Morhard, said that Cahercon pier would be used mainly for the export of explosives.
In response to a question from Mr McGrath on authorised developments within the proposed development site, county solicitor John Shaw said that submissions had been received by Clare County Council from third parties that works had taken place, but the council had deemed that they be exempt development.
Senior inspector with the Health and Safety Authority Patrick Conneely said in a submission that the authority did not advise against the granting of planning permission for the explosives plant in the context of major accident hazards.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The senior government inspector of explosives, JK Coates, was responding to a question from planning inspector Conor McGrath on the second day of the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing into a proposal by Shannon Explosives Ltd to build an explosives plant at Cahercon, Kildysart.
The hearing yesterday proceeded in the absence of third-party objectors to the plan who withdrew on the first day in relation to a procedural issue, telling the hearing that they would be going to the High Court yesterday to put a stay on the proceedings and seek a determination on the procedural issue.
However, the hearing yesterday continued uninterrupted as experts advanced the case for Shannon Explosives on all aspects of the development.
On behalf of the applicant, planning consultant Patricia Slowey said 45 people would be employed at the facility against the background of a 40 per cent increase in numbers on the live register in the local area between September 2007 and September 2008.
Outlining the need for the development, Ms Slowey said: “There is only one manufacturing plant of this nature in Ireland, located in Enfield, Co Meath. The proposed development at Cahercon constitutes an important commercial venture for this area of west Clare.
“It will provide for the manufacture of an important product. This facility will constitute an alternative and competitive supply of explosives to the Irish explosives market as well as export market.”
Counsel for Shannon Explosives Ltd, Desmond Keane SC, said the proposal was “a very exceptional development”, stating that alternatives were considered, while the managing director of Shannon Explosives Ltd, Bob Morhard, said that Cahercon pier would be used mainly for the export of explosives.
In response to a question from Mr McGrath on authorised developments within the proposed development site, county solicitor John Shaw said that submissions had been received by Clare County Council from third parties that works had taken place, but the council had deemed that they be exempt development.
Senior inspector with the Health and Safety Authority Patrick Conneely said in a submission that the authority did not advise against the granting of planning permission for the explosives plant in the context of major accident hazards.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Energy rating cert will cost up to €500
OWNERS wishing to sell or rent residential property will have to pay an estimated fee of €300-€500 to comply with new building regulations from next year.
From January 1 next, a Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate will be compulsory for all homes being sold or rented.
The BER system, which will rate the energy performance of a home on a scale of A-G, similar to the rating system for refrigerators, is being introduced as part of an EU directive designed to improve energy efficiency.
Anyone who fails to comply with the regulations can face a potential fine of up to €5,000 or three months in jail.
Announcing details of the scheme yesterday, Sustainable Energy Ireland — the state energy agency, which is overseeing its introduction — claims that a BER assessment will cost on average €300-€500, depending on age, size and location of the property.
“There is no set fee and people are advised to shop around for a number of quotes to get the best price,” said agency spokesman Kevin O’Rourke.
Each BER certificate, which also contains information on the associated CO2 emissions, will be valid for a period of 10 years providing there is no material change to the building. New homes offered for sale off the plans will be issued with a provisional BER certificate based on design drawings and building specifications.
Property owners will also receive an advisory note with their certificate which will inform them how they can improve the energy performance of their home.
Mr O’Rourke said more than 800 BER assessors out of more than 3,200 qualified personnel across the country had already been registered to carry out assessments on properties.
More than 80 different measurements, including a building’s dimensions, orientation, level of insulation and ventilation, as well as the type of lighting and use of hot water systems and boilers, will be used by a standardised software package to calculate an energy rating for the property.
The energy agency claims 82% of new homes have achieved a BER rating of B or higher. Under legislation, BER certificates have already been obligatory for all new homes for which planning permission was sought after January 2007.
Mr O’Rourke said it was anticipated the majority of Irish homes built during the 1980s will have a rating of D1 — the 10th best rating of 15 different levels.
However, he declined to comment on what impact different BER ratings might have on property prices.
“Location will still be the most important factor but we believe the requirement for BER certificates will increase the importance of energy efficiency as a factor,” said Mr O’Rourke.
“It is clear that a home with a better BER will be superior, all other things being equal. People will realise that it is a much more comfortable home to live in.”
The agency estimates the annual average energy cost of a standard family home built in the 1970s or earlier is €2,280, compared with €725 for one built in 2008.
Similarly, the energy costs of a two-bed apartment constructed pre-1980 averages €1,600 per annum compared with just €500 for a modern flat.
* More information on the BER system from the SEI website on www.sei.ie.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
From January 1 next, a Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate will be compulsory for all homes being sold or rented.
The BER system, which will rate the energy performance of a home on a scale of A-G, similar to the rating system for refrigerators, is being introduced as part of an EU directive designed to improve energy efficiency.
Anyone who fails to comply with the regulations can face a potential fine of up to €5,000 or three months in jail.
Announcing details of the scheme yesterday, Sustainable Energy Ireland — the state energy agency, which is overseeing its introduction — claims that a BER assessment will cost on average €300-€500, depending on age, size and location of the property.
“There is no set fee and people are advised to shop around for a number of quotes to get the best price,” said agency spokesman Kevin O’Rourke.
Each BER certificate, which also contains information on the associated CO2 emissions, will be valid for a period of 10 years providing there is no material change to the building. New homes offered for sale off the plans will be issued with a provisional BER certificate based on design drawings and building specifications.
Property owners will also receive an advisory note with their certificate which will inform them how they can improve the energy performance of their home.
Mr O’Rourke said more than 800 BER assessors out of more than 3,200 qualified personnel across the country had already been registered to carry out assessments on properties.
More than 80 different measurements, including a building’s dimensions, orientation, level of insulation and ventilation, as well as the type of lighting and use of hot water systems and boilers, will be used by a standardised software package to calculate an energy rating for the property.
The energy agency claims 82% of new homes have achieved a BER rating of B or higher. Under legislation, BER certificates have already been obligatory for all new homes for which planning permission was sought after January 2007.
Mr O’Rourke said it was anticipated the majority of Irish homes built during the 1980s will have a rating of D1 — the 10th best rating of 15 different levels.
However, he declined to comment on what impact different BER ratings might have on property prices.
“Location will still be the most important factor but we believe the requirement for BER certificates will increase the importance of energy efficiency as a factor,” said Mr O’Rourke.
“It is clear that a home with a better BER will be superior, all other things being equal. People will realise that it is a much more comfortable home to live in.”
The agency estimates the annual average energy cost of a standard family home built in the 1970s or earlier is €2,280, compared with €725 for one built in 2008.
Similarly, the energy costs of a two-bed apartment constructed pre-1980 averages €1,600 per annum compared with just €500 for a modern flat.
* More information on the BER system from the SEI website on www.sei.ie.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Opponents walk out of hearing on explosives site
OPPONENTS OF plans to locate a €10 million explosives plant on the Shannon estuary are expected to apply to the High Court today to halt an An Bord Pleanála oral hearing under way in Ennis into the proposal.
Representatives of An Taisce, Cáirde Chill an Disirt Teo (CCDT) and three other individual appellants dramatically walked out on the first day of the oral hearing yesterday before any substantive evidence was heard.
The appellants are seeking to have Clare County Council’s decision to grant planning permission to Shannon Explosives for an explosives factory at Cahercon, Kildysart, overturned.
Counsel for CCDT Oisín Collins said he had no option but to withdraw and go to the High Court after the board refused to outline the scope of the hearing.
Mr Collins said that the hearing was either an appeal under Irish planning law or a review under an EU directive. He said he would now seek a determination in the High Court and would also apply for a stay on the proceedings and a determination by the board on the appeal.
Mr Collins said that the fault lay with the Government in not properly transposing an EU environmental directive into Irish law.
Representing An Taisce, planning consultant Peter Sweetman said: “I can’t continue. I cannot go out on to a football pitch and don’t know if we are playing rugby or soccer. That is the position the board has left us in. An Taisce will be withdrawing from this hearing, because it is absolutely farcical.”
Mr Collins, along with the other appellants’ representatives, requested that board inspector Conor McGrath adjourn the hearing in order for the board to go to the High Court and obtain clarification on procedures.
After taking legal advice from the board’s headquarters Mr McGrath said that he would not adjourn.
Counsel for Shannon Explosives Desmond Keane SC told the hearing: “There is no basis whatsoever for the adjournment of this matter. If the objectors walk out, that is a matter purely made by themselves, it is not in any necessitated or brought about by a decision that you have made.”
He added: “Forty to 50 people will be employed at the plant and the objectors cannot hold those people to ransom by virtue of deciding at the very, very last moment to raise this issue, which should have been raised a significant period of time ago.”
Mr Collins, Mr Sweetman and solicitor Michael Nolan walked out at 3.30pm yesterday along with the objectors after Mr McGrath said that he would not adjourn.
The planning saga has been going on for eight years. The company was previously refused planning permission for the proposal in February 2003.
Without a sod being turned on the scheme, the parent company of Shannon Explosives, the Whelan Group, has already spent €7 million on the project.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Representatives of An Taisce, Cáirde Chill an Disirt Teo (CCDT) and three other individual appellants dramatically walked out on the first day of the oral hearing yesterday before any substantive evidence was heard.
The appellants are seeking to have Clare County Council’s decision to grant planning permission to Shannon Explosives for an explosives factory at Cahercon, Kildysart, overturned.
Counsel for CCDT Oisín Collins said he had no option but to withdraw and go to the High Court after the board refused to outline the scope of the hearing.
Mr Collins said that the hearing was either an appeal under Irish planning law or a review under an EU directive. He said he would now seek a determination in the High Court and would also apply for a stay on the proceedings and a determination by the board on the appeal.
Mr Collins said that the fault lay with the Government in not properly transposing an EU environmental directive into Irish law.
Representing An Taisce, planning consultant Peter Sweetman said: “I can’t continue. I cannot go out on to a football pitch and don’t know if we are playing rugby or soccer. That is the position the board has left us in. An Taisce will be withdrawing from this hearing, because it is absolutely farcical.”
Mr Collins, along with the other appellants’ representatives, requested that board inspector Conor McGrath adjourn the hearing in order for the board to go to the High Court and obtain clarification on procedures.
After taking legal advice from the board’s headquarters Mr McGrath said that he would not adjourn.
Counsel for Shannon Explosives Desmond Keane SC told the hearing: “There is no basis whatsoever for the adjournment of this matter. If the objectors walk out, that is a matter purely made by themselves, it is not in any necessitated or brought about by a decision that you have made.”
He added: “Forty to 50 people will be employed at the plant and the objectors cannot hold those people to ransom by virtue of deciding at the very, very last moment to raise this issue, which should have been raised a significant period of time ago.”
Mr Collins, Mr Sweetman and solicitor Michael Nolan walked out at 3.30pm yesterday along with the objectors after Mr McGrath said that he would not adjourn.
The planning saga has been going on for eight years. The company was previously refused planning permission for the proposal in February 2003.
Without a sod being turned on the scheme, the parent company of Shannon Explosives, the Whelan Group, has already spent €7 million on the project.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Action needed to help threatened birds across the island of Ireland
A new report published by RSPB Northern Ireland and BirdWatch Ireland has identified alarming declines in a number of bird populations across the island of Ireland.
Of 199 species assessed, 25 have been allocated to the ‘Red List’, which names bird populations that require urgent action to secure their future on the island.
The wildlife organisations have published - ‘Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland: 2008-2013’ - in the scientific journal Irish Birds - their second review of the state of native bird populations across the island of Ireland (the first was published in 1999).
The ‘traffic light’ system makes it easy to identify those birds most in need of conservation action. Using information collected by professionals and amateur birdwatchers, scientists from the two organisations have allocated bird species to Red, Amber or Green Lists. The ‘Red List’ includes bird populations that have declined by over 70% and those that are threatened across the world.
Action across the island tends to be focused on those species that benefit from direct conservation intervention, such as the corncrake and lapwing. For others, such as the quail, other measures are taken to help often very small populations.
Commenting, a co-author of the report, Dr James Robinson from the RSPB, said - “This report confirms that we must redouble our efforts to secure the future for many of our most threatened birds. Most of the birds that appear on the ‘Red List’ have suffered from long-term changes to or loss of the habitats they need to survive.
“However, for some migratory birds, we believe milder winters on the continent are reducing the numbers that visit the island of Ireland in the colder months of the year. This is the first time that changes in climate have been identified as a factor leading to appearance on the ‘Red List’."
Dr. Stephen Newton, co-author of the report from BirdWatch Ireland, added - “Since our last report in 1999, the situation has worsened for many of Ireland’s birds. Twenty-five species are now allocated to the Red List, with seven added in the time since 1999. We will lose many of these birds from our shores if concerted and immediate action is not taken. It is only a few short years since the corn bunting went extinct as a breeding species here. Many others are now in danger of following suit.
“Of particular concern are our seabirds, migratory waterfowl and farmland birds. Iconic species such as the barn owl, corncrake, curlew and yellowhammer all face an uncertain future. However, action to help many of these birds is being put in place by BirdWatch Ireland, the RSPB and government agencies. We believe that by working together across this island, the problems faced by our most threatened birds can be overcome to allow recovery."
The news is not all bad. Both the roseate tern and hen harrier have moved from the ‘Red List’ to the ‘Amber List’, demonstrating that nature conservation can work. Both species have benefited from the work of RSPB Northern Ireland, BirdWatch Ireland and the government bodies that are charged with protecting our environment. Others, such as the corncrake and yellowhammer, should follow suit as work continues to improve their fortunes.
www.buckplanning.ie
Of 199 species assessed, 25 have been allocated to the ‘Red List’, which names bird populations that require urgent action to secure their future on the island.
The wildlife organisations have published - ‘Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland: 2008-2013’ - in the scientific journal Irish Birds - their second review of the state of native bird populations across the island of Ireland (the first was published in 1999).
The ‘traffic light’ system makes it easy to identify those birds most in need of conservation action. Using information collected by professionals and amateur birdwatchers, scientists from the two organisations have allocated bird species to Red, Amber or Green Lists. The ‘Red List’ includes bird populations that have declined by over 70% and those that are threatened across the world.
Action across the island tends to be focused on those species that benefit from direct conservation intervention, such as the corncrake and lapwing. For others, such as the quail, other measures are taken to help often very small populations.
Commenting, a co-author of the report, Dr James Robinson from the RSPB, said - “This report confirms that we must redouble our efforts to secure the future for many of our most threatened birds. Most of the birds that appear on the ‘Red List’ have suffered from long-term changes to or loss of the habitats they need to survive.
“However, for some migratory birds, we believe milder winters on the continent are reducing the numbers that visit the island of Ireland in the colder months of the year. This is the first time that changes in climate have been identified as a factor leading to appearance on the ‘Red List’."
Dr. Stephen Newton, co-author of the report from BirdWatch Ireland, added - “Since our last report in 1999, the situation has worsened for many of Ireland’s birds. Twenty-five species are now allocated to the Red List, with seven added in the time since 1999. We will lose many of these birds from our shores if concerted and immediate action is not taken. It is only a few short years since the corn bunting went extinct as a breeding species here. Many others are now in danger of following suit.
“Of particular concern are our seabirds, migratory waterfowl and farmland birds. Iconic species such as the barn owl, corncrake, curlew and yellowhammer all face an uncertain future. However, action to help many of these birds is being put in place by BirdWatch Ireland, the RSPB and government agencies. We believe that by working together across this island, the problems faced by our most threatened birds can be overcome to allow recovery."
The news is not all bad. Both the roseate tern and hen harrier have moved from the ‘Red List’ to the ‘Amber List’, demonstrating that nature conservation can work. Both species have benefited from the work of RSPB Northern Ireland, BirdWatch Ireland and the government bodies that are charged with protecting our environment. Others, such as the corncrake and yellowhammer, should follow suit as work continues to improve their fortunes.
www.buckplanning.ie
Wind association welcomes 40pc renewables target
The National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland (NOW Ireland) has welcomed the announcement of a new 40pc renewable energy target by Ministers Eamon Ryan and John Gormley in the Carbon Budget.
The association said, however, that while this figure was achievable, it was possible to hit the 40pc target only if the generating capacity available from the deployment of larger offshore wind projects is harnessed.
Irish offshore wind developers are currently planning to roll-out in excess of 3000MW of offshore wind energy within the coming years, with projects likely to come on stream from 2012.
NOW Ireland spokesperson, Arno Verbeek claimed that "the Minister's announcement was a logical follow-on from important research - such as the All Ireland Grid Study and the Indecon Report on Offshore Wind. These reports indicate that the Irish grid could accommodate a roll-out of renewable energy in excess of 40pc and that, in the case of offshore wind, that deployment of renewable energy gives a positive economic benefit to the Irish economy".
"Offshore wind will be crucial to meeting our objectives and offers a higher load factor and larger scale than other renewable energy technologies currently deployable. Five projects in Irish waters would generate in excess of 3000MW, allowing greater certainty and greater efficiency in terms of meeting the 2020 goals."
www.buckplanning.ie
The association said, however, that while this figure was achievable, it was possible to hit the 40pc target only if the generating capacity available from the deployment of larger offshore wind projects is harnessed.
Irish offshore wind developers are currently planning to roll-out in excess of 3000MW of offshore wind energy within the coming years, with projects likely to come on stream from 2012.
NOW Ireland spokesperson, Arno Verbeek claimed that "the Minister's announcement was a logical follow-on from important research - such as the All Ireland Grid Study and the Indecon Report on Offshore Wind. These reports indicate that the Irish grid could accommodate a roll-out of renewable energy in excess of 40pc and that, in the case of offshore wind, that deployment of renewable energy gives a positive economic benefit to the Irish economy".
"Offshore wind will be crucial to meeting our objectives and offers a higher load factor and larger scale than other renewable energy technologies currently deployable. Five projects in Irish waters would generate in excess of 3000MW, allowing greater certainty and greater efficiency in terms of meeting the 2020 goals."
www.buckplanning.ie
Inventors' village and sustainable housing planned for pilot ecopark
An inventors’ village, an environmental visitors centre, sustainable housing and an eco-lodge are all features of an innovative project.
The project is the brainchild of Dunhill Rural Enterprise Ltd in rural Waterford.
It is hoped the project will create dozens of jobs and be a tourist attraction, while becoming a template for regeneration throughout Ireland and Europe.
As part of Phase 3 of the Dunhill Ecopark - which has just begun - the Copper Coast Eco-Lodge can provide community-owned accommodation for individuals, groups and schools visiting the area. Supported by Waterford Leader Partnership, the eco-lodge will be the first of its kind in the country and is due to open late next year.
Dunhill already hosts the Equality and Diversity Unit, supported by FÁS, which provides disability awareness training to help organisations and companies include disabled people in their workforces, while the multi-education centre provides a range of courses on an affordable, accessible basis.
The enterprise centre is home to 26 firms employing 85 people, but the existing 3,000 square metres of space will be complemented by an additional 7,000sq m enterprise building.
Among the innovations is an inventors’ village - 12 units of living and working space at initial rent discounts of up to 100% - to encourage inventors to turn their ideas into sustainable businesses.
Dunhill secretary, Dr Senan Cooke said the project should be an example to the rest of the country. “It’s about jobs, it’s about getting more from less, it’s about getting a real return on investment. This is the kind of thing the Government should be looking at if they want to find a better way to help communities.”
Other projects include the restoration of Dunhill Castle and six surrounding areas, landscaping of a sensory garden, a heritage trail and trees of honour commemorating people who emigrated from the south-east to Newfoundland, artistic festivals, walking routes and housing aimed at active retirees.
Mayor of County Waterford, Cllr Tom Higgins said the Ecopark represented a community response to the declining rural population and the difficult economic climate of the early 90s. “The Ecopark will be recognised as a pilot model for economic, environmental, educational and social regeneration of rural communities across Europe and elsewhere.”
www.buckplanning.ie
The project is the brainchild of Dunhill Rural Enterprise Ltd in rural Waterford.
It is hoped the project will create dozens of jobs and be a tourist attraction, while becoming a template for regeneration throughout Ireland and Europe.
As part of Phase 3 of the Dunhill Ecopark - which has just begun - the Copper Coast Eco-Lodge can provide community-owned accommodation for individuals, groups and schools visiting the area. Supported by Waterford Leader Partnership, the eco-lodge will be the first of its kind in the country and is due to open late next year.
Dunhill already hosts the Equality and Diversity Unit, supported by FÁS, which provides disability awareness training to help organisations and companies include disabled people in their workforces, while the multi-education centre provides a range of courses on an affordable, accessible basis.
The enterprise centre is home to 26 firms employing 85 people, but the existing 3,000 square metres of space will be complemented by an additional 7,000sq m enterprise building.
Among the innovations is an inventors’ village - 12 units of living and working space at initial rent discounts of up to 100% - to encourage inventors to turn their ideas into sustainable businesses.
Dunhill secretary, Dr Senan Cooke said the project should be an example to the rest of the country. “It’s about jobs, it’s about getting more from less, it’s about getting a real return on investment. This is the kind of thing the Government should be looking at if they want to find a better way to help communities.”
Other projects include the restoration of Dunhill Castle and six surrounding areas, landscaping of a sensory garden, a heritage trail and trees of honour commemorating people who emigrated from the south-east to Newfoundland, artistic festivals, walking routes and housing aimed at active retirees.
Mayor of County Waterford, Cllr Tom Higgins said the Ecopark represented a community response to the declining rural population and the difficult economic climate of the early 90s. “The Ecopark will be recognised as a pilot model for economic, environmental, educational and social regeneration of rural communities across Europe and elsewhere.”
www.buckplanning.ie
Nuns seek for 32.5 acres to be zoned residential
A RELIGIOUS order has applied to Clare County Council to have 32.5 acres rezoned for housing.
In the submission, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Wood, based at Carrigoran, Newmarket- on-Fergus, are seeking that a sizeable portion of their land at Carrigoran be rezoned for residential use. Since 1974 the order has operated a 116-bed retirement centre, including a 20-bed dementia unit, at Carrigoran.
The centre is run on a not-for-profit basis and receives no direct State funding. With the Newmarket-on-Fergus bypass, the lands at Carrigoran have been cut in two. The nuns are seeking for a large proportion of their lands on the Newmarket side of the land bank to be rezoned.
The submission says the nuns own 95 acres including 22 acres of Lough Gash and they are seeking that 32.5 acres be rezoned for housing and 40 acres for open space.
The order has employed architects Murray Ó Laoire to lodge a comprehensive submission, noting that the 72 acres of land on the Newmarket side of the bypass was zoned for community use without the nuns having been consulted.
The submission states this was done “apparently at the behest of a third party who had no proprietary interest in the land but who had an interest in developing portion of the lands for community use”.
It argues: “The area zoned community use is clearly disproportionate to the scale of Newmarket and way beyond planned or projected need, as is evident from the existing local area plan map. The zoning also places a grossly unfair burden on the owner to provide such a disproportionate area of community zoned land for the benefit of community.”
The submission states that the proposed rezoning allows for 55 per cent of the site to be zoned as “open space” and protected woodlands and preserved as a natural amenity for the enjoyment of the entire community.
“These lands, if zoned as residential and open space, have the opportunity to help Newmarket- on-Fergus attract the critical mass of population required within the gateway corridor and to allow the town to grow commercially, socially and within a sustainable framework.”
In a blow to the nuns’ prospects, council planners have opted to retain “community zoning” in the draft plan presented to the council. A decision is expected before the end of the year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
In the submission, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Wood, based at Carrigoran, Newmarket- on-Fergus, are seeking that a sizeable portion of their land at Carrigoran be rezoned for residential use. Since 1974 the order has operated a 116-bed retirement centre, including a 20-bed dementia unit, at Carrigoran.
The centre is run on a not-for-profit basis and receives no direct State funding. With the Newmarket-on-Fergus bypass, the lands at Carrigoran have been cut in two. The nuns are seeking for a large proportion of their lands on the Newmarket side of the land bank to be rezoned.
The submission says the nuns own 95 acres including 22 acres of Lough Gash and they are seeking that 32.5 acres be rezoned for housing and 40 acres for open space.
The order has employed architects Murray Ó Laoire to lodge a comprehensive submission, noting that the 72 acres of land on the Newmarket side of the bypass was zoned for community use without the nuns having been consulted.
The submission states this was done “apparently at the behest of a third party who had no proprietary interest in the land but who had an interest in developing portion of the lands for community use”.
It argues: “The area zoned community use is clearly disproportionate to the scale of Newmarket and way beyond planned or projected need, as is evident from the existing local area plan map. The zoning also places a grossly unfair burden on the owner to provide such a disproportionate area of community zoned land for the benefit of community.”
The submission states that the proposed rezoning allows for 55 per cent of the site to be zoned as “open space” and protected woodlands and preserved as a natural amenity for the enjoyment of the entire community.
“These lands, if zoned as residential and open space, have the opportunity to help Newmarket- on-Fergus attract the critical mass of population required within the gateway corridor and to allow the town to grow commercially, socially and within a sustainable framework.”
In a blow to the nuns’ prospects, council planners have opted to retain “community zoning” in the draft plan presented to the council. A decision is expected before the end of the year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
New planning and house building figures
THE NUMBER of houses being built across the State has hit a new low with construction starting on two-thirds fewer houses in the first nine months of this year than in the same period last year, according to the Department of the Environment.
The latest figures from the department show further declines in house prices nationally, but more particularly in Dublin, and a fall of more than 20 per cent in the number of home loans being approved by banks.
The fall-off in residential building is most noticeable in Dublin, where construction began on 5,079 houses and apartments in the first nine months of this year, a reduction of just under 50 per cent on the same period last year.
However the rate of decline, while smaller in numbers, is actually greater in parts of rural Ireland, with Roscommon experiencing an 80 per cent decline in new house registrations with just 68 houses built to the end of September this year.
House prices, figures for which are given for the first six months of the year, are also continuing to slide. The average price of a new house, according to the department, stood at €313,678 at the end of June last, a fall of 5.5 per cent on the same period last year.
Second-hand house prices had taken an even greater fall with houses costing €356,638, a 7.8 per cent drop on the first six months of 2007. However, the biggest falls were in Dublin.
The price of a new house in the capital was €390,544 at the end of June this year, a fall of 8.5 per cent. The drop in price in second-hand houses was greater still with a reduction of 10.3 per cent on the first six months of 2007, bringing prices at the end of June to €455,142.
Fewer mortgages are being approved. Lenders gave out 19,823 loans nationally, a drop of 21.4 per cent. The fall in house prices means that the value of these loans is lower with €5,529.5 million worth of loans approved, down 18.6 per cent on the first six months of 2007.
The number of houses ready for sale has declined, although not yet as dramatically as the numbers starting construction. House completions nationally were down just under 30 per cent on the first nine months of the year to 39,986.
However, more dramatic falls were found in the Co Dublin local authority areas of Fingal, where completions were down 60 per cent, and south Dublin, where the number of finished houses was 45 per cent lower than the first nine months of last year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The latest figures from the department show further declines in house prices nationally, but more particularly in Dublin, and a fall of more than 20 per cent in the number of home loans being approved by banks.
The fall-off in residential building is most noticeable in Dublin, where construction began on 5,079 houses and apartments in the first nine months of this year, a reduction of just under 50 per cent on the same period last year.
However the rate of decline, while smaller in numbers, is actually greater in parts of rural Ireland, with Roscommon experiencing an 80 per cent decline in new house registrations with just 68 houses built to the end of September this year.
House prices, figures for which are given for the first six months of the year, are also continuing to slide. The average price of a new house, according to the department, stood at €313,678 at the end of June last, a fall of 5.5 per cent on the same period last year.
Second-hand house prices had taken an even greater fall with houses costing €356,638, a 7.8 per cent drop on the first six months of 2007. However, the biggest falls were in Dublin.
The price of a new house in the capital was €390,544 at the end of June this year, a fall of 8.5 per cent. The drop in price in second-hand houses was greater still with a reduction of 10.3 per cent on the first six months of 2007, bringing prices at the end of June to €455,142.
Fewer mortgages are being approved. Lenders gave out 19,823 loans nationally, a drop of 21.4 per cent. The fall in house prices means that the value of these loans is lower with €5,529.5 million worth of loans approved, down 18.6 per cent on the first six months of 2007.
The number of houses ready for sale has declined, although not yet as dramatically as the numbers starting construction. House completions nationally were down just under 30 per cent on the first nine months of the year to 39,986.
However, more dramatic falls were found in the Co Dublin local authority areas of Fingal, where completions were down 60 per cent, and south Dublin, where the number of finished houses was 45 per cent lower than the first nine months of last year.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Council is sued in €40m building row
DEVELOPER Bernard McNamara has claimed that Dublin city councillors were guilty of negligence when they decided to protect a number of early 19th century properties, which effectively halted his €40m development at Merrion Road in Dublin.
In a separate unrelated case, Mr McNamara is facing legal proceedings to compel him to pay €7.5m to five businessmen for their shareholdings in property company Novorstan Ltd.
It is claimed that Novorstan Ltd, with offices at Clanwilliam Court, Dublin 2, was formed in 2004 to acquire properties within a site adjacent to Grafton Street. It aimed to carry out a major commercial development on the site.
Mr McNamara is being sued by the other five shareholders arising from an option deed of September 2004. They claim the minimum amount due to them under the deed is €7.5m.
The shareholders were: Mr McNamara, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4; Gary Smith, Hazelhatch, Newcastle, Co Dublin; Ivor Dougan, Booterstown, Co Dublin; Paschal Taggart, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin; Terry Cooney, a tax consultant of Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin; and Shane Taggart, a banker with an address at Brompton Road, London.
It is claimed €3.17m is due to Mr Smith with the same amount due to Mr Dougan. Paschal Taggart claims to be owed €85,000 while Terry Cooney and Shane Taggart each claim to be owed €384,750.
That case was adjourned to next Friday for mention.
Meanwhile, in his case against the city council, Mr McNamara and his company Radora Developments Ltd say councillors made an "unjustifiable" decision to list properties at 207-223 Merrion Road as protected structures.
The judge adjourned the case to November 17.
Tim Healy
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
In a separate unrelated case, Mr McNamara is facing legal proceedings to compel him to pay €7.5m to five businessmen for their shareholdings in property company Novorstan Ltd.
It is claimed that Novorstan Ltd, with offices at Clanwilliam Court, Dublin 2, was formed in 2004 to acquire properties within a site adjacent to Grafton Street. It aimed to carry out a major commercial development on the site.
Mr McNamara is being sued by the other five shareholders arising from an option deed of September 2004. They claim the minimum amount due to them under the deed is €7.5m.
The shareholders were: Mr McNamara, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4; Gary Smith, Hazelhatch, Newcastle, Co Dublin; Ivor Dougan, Booterstown, Co Dublin; Paschal Taggart, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin; Terry Cooney, a tax consultant of Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin; and Shane Taggart, a banker with an address at Brompton Road, London.
It is claimed €3.17m is due to Mr Smith with the same amount due to Mr Dougan. Paschal Taggart claims to be owed €85,000 while Terry Cooney and Shane Taggart each claim to be owed €384,750.
That case was adjourned to next Friday for mention.
Meanwhile, in his case against the city council, Mr McNamara and his company Radora Developments Ltd say councillors made an "unjustifiable" decision to list properties at 207-223 Merrion Road as protected structures.
The judge adjourned the case to November 17.
Tim Healy
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
North and south united by bridge over troubled water
The design of the first bridge across the border between the Republic and the North was revealed yesterday.
The 280-metre-long cable-stayed bridge will link Narrow Water near Warrenpoint in Co Down with Cornamucklagh in Omeath, Co Louth, and has been designed so it is safe for cyclists and pedestrians.
It is nearly 29 years since Narrow Water became synonymous with the single worst loss of life of British soldiers in the Troubles when two IRA bombs killed 18 soldiers. One civilian was also killed.
The bridge has a tower at each end. The higher 100-metre-tall one is on the southern side, which will have the Cooley and Mourne mountains as a backdrop; while the lower tower at 30 metres will be on the northern end and will compliment the Drumlin topography there.
Tony Dempsey, from consultant engineers Roughan O'Donovan, told councillors at meetings in Dundalk and Newry the criteria for selecting the bridge design included the impact on the environment and ecology as well as on the landscape and heritage.
He said it was designed as a 'tourist bridge' and cyclists, pedestrians, cars and coaches can use it, but heavy-goods vehicles will be discouraged.
A section of the bridge closest to Narrow Water will lift to let boats, including tall ships and other water traffic, pass by. It will span the Clanrye river as it prepares to flow into Carlingford Lough. Images of the bridge and full details of what is proposed will be on display in Warrenpoint and Omeath this week for feedback from the public.
Elaine Keogh
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The 280-metre-long cable-stayed bridge will link Narrow Water near Warrenpoint in Co Down with Cornamucklagh in Omeath, Co Louth, and has been designed so it is safe for cyclists and pedestrians.
It is nearly 29 years since Narrow Water became synonymous with the single worst loss of life of British soldiers in the Troubles when two IRA bombs killed 18 soldiers. One civilian was also killed.
The bridge has a tower at each end. The higher 100-metre-tall one is on the southern side, which will have the Cooley and Mourne mountains as a backdrop; while the lower tower at 30 metres will be on the northern end and will compliment the Drumlin topography there.
Tony Dempsey, from consultant engineers Roughan O'Donovan, told councillors at meetings in Dundalk and Newry the criteria for selecting the bridge design included the impact on the environment and ecology as well as on the landscape and heritage.
He said it was designed as a 'tourist bridge' and cyclists, pedestrians, cars and coaches can use it, but heavy-goods vehicles will be discouraged.
A section of the bridge closest to Narrow Water will lift to let boats, including tall ships and other water traffic, pass by. It will span the Clanrye river as it prepares to flow into Carlingford Lough. Images of the bridge and full details of what is proposed will be on display in Warrenpoint and Omeath this week for feedback from the public.
Elaine Keogh
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 20 October 2008
Wicklow Way change 'unlinked' to sale
COILLTE HAS defended its sale of prime forest and recreational land along the State's busiest walking route in south Dublin to a private landowner.
The State-owned forestry company said the sale of six hectares of land at Kilmashogue last year was unrelated to the rerouting of the Wicklow Way in the area shortly before.
The rerouting of the way, which has seen the existing narrow switchback track in the Dublin mountains replaced by a broad gravelled highway, has dismayed walking groups. The lands by which the walking route formerly passed have recently been fenced off and planted with trees.
A company spokesman confirmed that the fenced-off land was sold to a private landowner in the area in September 2007, but denied this was the reason for rerouting the Wicklow Way.
He said a short section of the way had been rerouted "as part of the planned upgrading of the forest road network in the area". However, much of the forestry in the area has already matured and been felled by machinery using the existing tracks.
"The Wicklow Way is clearly signposted along this new route and full access along it has been maintained at all times," the spokesman added.
He said the sale was conducted in accordance with the company's normal sale procedures after the landowner made an approach. The spokesman declined to state the purchase price, citing commercial reasons.
The landowner, Mark Turley, said he knew nothing about the rerouting of the Wicklow Way. His family has purchased the mountain land in order to protect the trees from Coillte's clear-felling policy in the area and give shelter to his house below. However, the trees, which had matured, fell down, knocked over fences and his herd of deer had escaped.
He had since fenced off the land and planted native Irish broadleafs rather than the conifers favoured by Coillte.
Coillte's action has angered walking groups in advance of the high-profile launch by Minister for Natural Resources Eamonn Ryan next week of the Dublin Mountains Partnership, a new management group for the mountains comprising Coillte, two local county councils, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Dublin Mountains Initiative.
The new organisation plans to improve access to the hills and develop walking, cycling and horseriding trails.
"Just when we should be opening the mountains up to public use, a State body sells off publicly-owned land on the most widely trafficked walking route in the country and a landowner fences off the land," one source told The Irish Times.
The Coillte spokesman said the company owned 445,000 hectares around the State. Its practice was to sell, lease or develop a limited area of land for purposes other than forestry. "Most sales are made in response to local demand and typically comprise house sites, isolated dwelling houses, sections of recently acquired farms, small outlying forest properties and gravel pits."
Coillte has sold about 12,000 hectares of land since 1989 and purchased 52,000 hectares. The company had done a lot of work in recent years upgrading trails and signs and improving walking and biking trails, its spokesman stated.
The Wicklow Way runs for 127km over mountains from south Dublin to Clonegal in Co Carlow.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The State-owned forestry company said the sale of six hectares of land at Kilmashogue last year was unrelated to the rerouting of the Wicklow Way in the area shortly before.
The rerouting of the way, which has seen the existing narrow switchback track in the Dublin mountains replaced by a broad gravelled highway, has dismayed walking groups. The lands by which the walking route formerly passed have recently been fenced off and planted with trees.
A company spokesman confirmed that the fenced-off land was sold to a private landowner in the area in September 2007, but denied this was the reason for rerouting the Wicklow Way.
He said a short section of the way had been rerouted "as part of the planned upgrading of the forest road network in the area". However, much of the forestry in the area has already matured and been felled by machinery using the existing tracks.
"The Wicklow Way is clearly signposted along this new route and full access along it has been maintained at all times," the spokesman added.
He said the sale was conducted in accordance with the company's normal sale procedures after the landowner made an approach. The spokesman declined to state the purchase price, citing commercial reasons.
The landowner, Mark Turley, said he knew nothing about the rerouting of the Wicklow Way. His family has purchased the mountain land in order to protect the trees from Coillte's clear-felling policy in the area and give shelter to his house below. However, the trees, which had matured, fell down, knocked over fences and his herd of deer had escaped.
He had since fenced off the land and planted native Irish broadleafs rather than the conifers favoured by Coillte.
Coillte's action has angered walking groups in advance of the high-profile launch by Minister for Natural Resources Eamonn Ryan next week of the Dublin Mountains Partnership, a new management group for the mountains comprising Coillte, two local county councils, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Dublin Mountains Initiative.
The new organisation plans to improve access to the hills and develop walking, cycling and horseriding trails.
"Just when we should be opening the mountains up to public use, a State body sells off publicly-owned land on the most widely trafficked walking route in the country and a landowner fences off the land," one source told The Irish Times.
The Coillte spokesman said the company owned 445,000 hectares around the State. Its practice was to sell, lease or develop a limited area of land for purposes other than forestry. "Most sales are made in response to local demand and typically comprise house sites, isolated dwelling houses, sections of recently acquired farms, small outlying forest properties and gravel pits."
Coillte has sold about 12,000 hectares of land since 1989 and purchased 52,000 hectares. The company had done a lot of work in recent years upgrading trails and signs and improving walking and biking trails, its spokesman stated.
The Wicklow Way runs for 127km over mountains from south Dublin to Clonegal in Co Carlow.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Eyre Square renovation could now cost city €20m
THE CONTROVERSIAL Eyre Square project in Galway could cost up to €20 million as a result of a High Court ruling, the city's mayor has predicted.
Mayor of Galway Cllr Pádraig Conneely says that it is time to "seriously question" Galway City Council's professional management abilities" following the High Court judgment.
The judgment, issued on Friday, rejected the city council's legal efforts to overturn an arbitrator's finding that it had behaved unreasonably towards a construction company hired to renovate Eyre Square.
Mr Justice Bryan McMahon upheld all the arbitrator's findings.
The contractor, Samuel Kingston Construction (SKC), ceased work on the site on June 27th, 2005, some 17 months after it had started the refurbishment project at Eyre Square.
Three weeks before, on June 4th, 2005, the city council had withdrawn all sums paid to the company under an acceleration agreement.
Mr Conneely said that the project, quoted at costing €9.6 million by Galway City Council, could now cost an extra €10 million.
"We have never got the accounts for this project, which had to be completed by another contractor.
"But once compensation is paid to SKC and legal costs are met, we could well be talking about a total of €20 million," Mr Conneely said.
"My stance in relation to the management of this has been totally vindicated," he said.
"If this was the private sector, heads would roll," said the mayor.
Galway City Council is understood to be studying the judgment before commenting further.
In a related development, NUI Galway writer-in-residence Mary O'Malley has warned that she believes the city to be at a "tipping point" due to the dramatic "consumption" of its own civic space by development.
"The issue of civic space, from public allotments and parks, to hospitals and railway stations, has become increasingly urgent as such space is privatised," said Ms O'Malley, who has initiated a series of public discussions on the issue at the university.
Film-maker and mountaineer Dermot Somers will address the theme of Wilderness in the City at NUI Galway's Arts Millennium building tomorrow.
Other participants in the series include human geographer, Valerie Ledwith, playwright Marina Carr; poets Sinéad Morrissey and Maurice Riordan, and writer Peter Sirr.
The sessions will be chaired by Ms O'Malley and NUI Galway's Dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies Prof Kevin Barry.
The discussions are open to the public.
Further information is available by calling 091-495610.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Mayor of Galway Cllr Pádraig Conneely says that it is time to "seriously question" Galway City Council's professional management abilities" following the High Court judgment.
The judgment, issued on Friday, rejected the city council's legal efforts to overturn an arbitrator's finding that it had behaved unreasonably towards a construction company hired to renovate Eyre Square.
Mr Justice Bryan McMahon upheld all the arbitrator's findings.
The contractor, Samuel Kingston Construction (SKC), ceased work on the site on June 27th, 2005, some 17 months after it had started the refurbishment project at Eyre Square.
Three weeks before, on June 4th, 2005, the city council had withdrawn all sums paid to the company under an acceleration agreement.
Mr Conneely said that the project, quoted at costing €9.6 million by Galway City Council, could now cost an extra €10 million.
"We have never got the accounts for this project, which had to be completed by another contractor.
"But once compensation is paid to SKC and legal costs are met, we could well be talking about a total of €20 million," Mr Conneely said.
"My stance in relation to the management of this has been totally vindicated," he said.
"If this was the private sector, heads would roll," said the mayor.
Galway City Council is understood to be studying the judgment before commenting further.
In a related development, NUI Galway writer-in-residence Mary O'Malley has warned that she believes the city to be at a "tipping point" due to the dramatic "consumption" of its own civic space by development.
"The issue of civic space, from public allotments and parks, to hospitals and railway stations, has become increasingly urgent as such space is privatised," said Ms O'Malley, who has initiated a series of public discussions on the issue at the university.
Film-maker and mountaineer Dermot Somers will address the theme of Wilderness in the City at NUI Galway's Arts Millennium building tomorrow.
Other participants in the series include human geographer, Valerie Ledwith, playwright Marina Carr; poets Sinéad Morrissey and Maurice Riordan, and writer Peter Sirr.
The sessions will be chaired by Ms O'Malley and NUI Galway's Dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies Prof Kevin Barry.
The discussions are open to the public.
Further information is available by calling 091-495610.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Capel Street to be revamped under city council initiative
NEON SIGNS, visible sex-shop paraphernalia and gaudy shopfront displays are to be banned from Dublin's Capel Street under a new city council initiative to revamp the area.
The council intends to clean up to street by giving it special conservation status to protect the heritage, architecture and character of the area.
The Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) designation means that there will be much tighter planning controls in relation to properties on Capel Street.
Owners will not be allowed to make any material changes to their buildings without seeking permission and will also have to obtain permission for advertising signs both projecting and flat against the buildings.
The council will seek the reinstatement of architectural features; illuminated signs or scrolling illuminated signs will not be permitted except in exceptional circumstance; "inappropriate or garish colours" will not be allowed; there can be no amplified announcements from shops; and goods or advertising structures will not be allowed on the footpath.
The council will also refuse to allow satellite dishes on the front of buildings and alarm boxes, wiring and TV aerials will have to be discretely located to comply with the designation.
About 30 per cent of the buildings on Capel Street are already on the Record of Protected Structures. The ACA designation will give the rest of the street similar status.
While the designation does not allow the council to remove sex shops and other undesirable establishments from the street, garish or provocative frontages will not be permitted.
Capel Street merits ACA designation because of its historical and architectural significance and because of the damage and dereliction it suffered in the 20th century, the council said.
The street was laid out in the 17th century by Sir Humphrey Jervis. In 1676 Essex Bridge was built across the Liffey and Capel Street became the primary thoroughfare between the north and south of the city until O'Connell bridge was built in 1794. It was one of the most fashionable addresses in Dublin in the late 17th and throughout the 18th century.
While its appearance declined significantly in the last century plastic fascia boards hide "impressive original shop fronts", the council said. Most of the buildings date from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
"It is one of the most intact commercial streets in Dublin. Most building plots remain unaltered from the middle of the nineteenth century."
Local labour councillor Emer Costello said she hoped Capel Street would be returned to its former glory and attract high-end retailers.
The council's plans will be available for public consultation in the civic offices in Wood Quay from October 29th to November 25th.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The council intends to clean up to street by giving it special conservation status to protect the heritage, architecture and character of the area.
The Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) designation means that there will be much tighter planning controls in relation to properties on Capel Street.
Owners will not be allowed to make any material changes to their buildings without seeking permission and will also have to obtain permission for advertising signs both projecting and flat against the buildings.
The council will seek the reinstatement of architectural features; illuminated signs or scrolling illuminated signs will not be permitted except in exceptional circumstance; "inappropriate or garish colours" will not be allowed; there can be no amplified announcements from shops; and goods or advertising structures will not be allowed on the footpath.
The council will also refuse to allow satellite dishes on the front of buildings and alarm boxes, wiring and TV aerials will have to be discretely located to comply with the designation.
About 30 per cent of the buildings on Capel Street are already on the Record of Protected Structures. The ACA designation will give the rest of the street similar status.
While the designation does not allow the council to remove sex shops and other undesirable establishments from the street, garish or provocative frontages will not be permitted.
Capel Street merits ACA designation because of its historical and architectural significance and because of the damage and dereliction it suffered in the 20th century, the council said.
The street was laid out in the 17th century by Sir Humphrey Jervis. In 1676 Essex Bridge was built across the Liffey and Capel Street became the primary thoroughfare between the north and south of the city until O'Connell bridge was built in 1794. It was one of the most fashionable addresses in Dublin in the late 17th and throughout the 18th century.
While its appearance declined significantly in the last century plastic fascia boards hide "impressive original shop fronts", the council said. Most of the buildings date from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
"It is one of the most intact commercial streets in Dublin. Most building plots remain unaltered from the middle of the nineteenth century."
Local labour councillor Emer Costello said she hoped Capel Street would be returned to its former glory and attract high-end retailers.
The council's plans will be available for public consultation in the civic offices in Wood Quay from October 29th to November 25th.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Incentives clear way for relocation of Dublin Port
The government has cleared the way in the budget for the relocation of Dublin Port by announcing that it plans to introduce tax incentives to "facilitate the removal and relocation of Seveso-listed industrial facilities which hinder the residential and commercial regeneration of docklands in urban brownfield areas".
Subject to approval by the European Commission, the tax incentives will allow the removal of storage facilities for fuel and chemicals in the port, freeing up the land for development. This in turn will fund the relocation of the port away from the city centre.
Senior sources said that Irish Continental Group (ICG), which is at the centre of a takeover battle between One51 and Liam Carroll, would also benefit despite the fact that its 33-acre site is outside the Seveso area.
A source said that when the petrol tanks are relocated it will allow sequential development along the port and eventually as far as the ICG site. The Irish Takeover Panel is currently inquiring into an alleged link between the One51-led investment vehicle Moonduster and the British-based Arkaga fund regarding share buying in ICG last year.
CIE is also set to be a beneficiary, as the Health & Safety Authority raised concerns about the proximity of its proposed €1bn development of 14 acres at the CIE station in Galway to the Topaz oil storage facility and the Cold Chon tarmac facility. Their removal would free up development of that site and a Bus Eireann maintenance garage site.
In Cork, there are three Seveso sites in the docklands which are owned by Topaz, the National Oil Reserves Agency and Gouldings Fertiliser which is owned by Origin Enterprises. That means those lands can be developed by their owners while also freeing up other land in the area for development.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Subject to approval by the European Commission, the tax incentives will allow the removal of storage facilities for fuel and chemicals in the port, freeing up the land for development. This in turn will fund the relocation of the port away from the city centre.
Senior sources said that Irish Continental Group (ICG), which is at the centre of a takeover battle between One51 and Liam Carroll, would also benefit despite the fact that its 33-acre site is outside the Seveso area.
A source said that when the petrol tanks are relocated it will allow sequential development along the port and eventually as far as the ICG site. The Irish Takeover Panel is currently inquiring into an alleged link between the One51-led investment vehicle Moonduster and the British-based Arkaga fund regarding share buying in ICG last year.
CIE is also set to be a beneficiary, as the Health & Safety Authority raised concerns about the proximity of its proposed €1bn development of 14 acres at the CIE station in Galway to the Topaz oil storage facility and the Cold Chon tarmac facility. Their removal would free up development of that site and a Bus Eireann maintenance garage site.
In Cork, there are three Seveso sites in the docklands which are owned by Topaz, the National Oil Reserves Agency and Gouldings Fertiliser which is owned by Origin Enterprises. That means those lands can be developed by their owners while also freeing up other land in the area for development.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
State slashes PPP target by a quarter amid funding chaos
THE GOVERNMENT has slashed its forecast for public-private partnership (PPP) investment in infrastructure up to 2012 by over 25% amid a rapid deterioration in finance availability for PPP schemes.
According to Mathias Pahlke, the head of European infrastructure at leading PPP player Nord/LB, it has become almost impossible to raise finance for schemes worth more than €100 million.
His comments raise the prospect that Irish PPP schemes such as Metro North, the rail interconnector and the school building programme may be hampered by the ongoing banking crisis.
"Large projects have got problems because they now need banks more than in the past. Because of the current situation, the number of banks willing to lend is limited and the syndication methods for spreading risk among banks have stalled," said Pahlke.
Pahlke said that were funding was available, it was considerably more expensive than previously, meaning projects were costing more and were missing affordability targets.
"The spreads are risen. Previously, you could get funding for 70-80 basis points above Libor, now its more likely to be 170-180 basis points," he said.
Pahlke said that he was confident the market would recover within five years but said that the cost of funding would remain high.
However, some industry sources have indicated that the €2.3 billion cut in PPP forecasts, which was made last week, may also have been down to planning and procurement delays to specific projects.
But one source said that finance could soon become an issue as there were serious doubts about the availability of long-term funding for major projects throughout Europe.
"Once the banks start lending again though, public infrastructure projects will be the sort of opportunities they will be looking for but the lending terms may never be as good as before".
Bank of Ireland, which has supported Irish PPP bidders in the past, said that it believed that PPPs remained a "very strong asset class".
A bank spokeswoman said, however, that it was clear that PPPs "will not remain fully insulated from the general tightening of credit markets".
She indicated that the bank believed that the protracted procurement processes involved for some PPPs would "increase the challenges associated with certainty of funding, and the terms and pricing of that funding".
The Department of Finance declined to comment.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
According to Mathias Pahlke, the head of European infrastructure at leading PPP player Nord/LB, it has become almost impossible to raise finance for schemes worth more than €100 million.
His comments raise the prospect that Irish PPP schemes such as Metro North, the rail interconnector and the school building programme may be hampered by the ongoing banking crisis.
"Large projects have got problems because they now need banks more than in the past. Because of the current situation, the number of banks willing to lend is limited and the syndication methods for spreading risk among banks have stalled," said Pahlke.
Pahlke said that were funding was available, it was considerably more expensive than previously, meaning projects were costing more and were missing affordability targets.
"The spreads are risen. Previously, you could get funding for 70-80 basis points above Libor, now its more likely to be 170-180 basis points," he said.
Pahlke said that he was confident the market would recover within five years but said that the cost of funding would remain high.
However, some industry sources have indicated that the €2.3 billion cut in PPP forecasts, which was made last week, may also have been down to planning and procurement delays to specific projects.
But one source said that finance could soon become an issue as there were serious doubts about the availability of long-term funding for major projects throughout Europe.
"Once the banks start lending again though, public infrastructure projects will be the sort of opportunities they will be looking for but the lending terms may never be as good as before".
Bank of Ireland, which has supported Irish PPP bidders in the past, said that it believed that PPPs remained a "very strong asset class".
A bank spokeswoman said, however, that it was clear that PPPs "will not remain fully insulated from the general tightening of credit markets".
She indicated that the bank believed that the protracted procurement processes involved for some PPPs would "increase the challenges associated with certainty of funding, and the terms and pricing of that funding".
The Department of Finance declined to comment.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Greens spend €2.2m on 14 studies
The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has spent a total of €2.2m to date this year on 14 studies and reviews, including around €225,000 on a review of the security of Ireland's access to commercial oil supplies, the Sunday Tribune has learned.
Figures released by Green Party minister Eamon Ryan also reveal that his department has spent some €123,000 on a study examining the pros and cons of controversial overhead power lines as opposed to underground power lines.
Elsewhere, it has 'bought in' outside advice on issues such as broadband, a review of the RTÉ licence fee and various other energy related topics.
But by far the department's single biggest expenditure was some €710,000 spent on a feasibility study of the Avoca mine site.
In a follow-up response to a Labour Party parliamentary question on the subject, Ryan said the cost of the studies and reviews was €2.2m, with five of the studies still ongoing.
The department spent €47,000, excluding VAT, on consultancy advice on a next generation broadband policy paper as well as €35,000 on holding an international advisory forum on the issue.
It also commissioned advice worth €45,000, excluding VAT, on a review of the public service benefits of postcodes in Ireland, and €171,000 on the RTÉ licence fee adjustment review 2006, undertaken by Indecon.
An all-island grid study, jointly commissioned by the department and the Northern Irish government, cost €218,000, while a "second strategic environmental assessment for oil and gas activity" in Ireland's offshore Atlantic waters, completed in October of last year, cost the taxpayer some €240,000.
An environmental report into the Rockall basin had a price tag of some €300,000 in consultancy and review fees, while an evaluation of the seabed mapping programme INFOMAR – including recommendations on its future ? cost €50,000.
Other spending by the department in the past year includes a €58,000 economic study of the geosciences sector in Ireland.
Labour Party spokeswoman on Environment and Heritage, who received the response from minister Ryan, questioned whether his department should be spending millions of euro buying in outside expertise, particularly when it has significant staff numbers of its own.
"The Greens are very big into studies and reviews," she said. "Obviously lots of money and time is being spent on this. It all appears to be about deferred action, it seems like they are keeping a green feasibility industry going."
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Figures released by Green Party minister Eamon Ryan also reveal that his department has spent some €123,000 on a study examining the pros and cons of controversial overhead power lines as opposed to underground power lines.
Elsewhere, it has 'bought in' outside advice on issues such as broadband, a review of the RTÉ licence fee and various other energy related topics.
But by far the department's single biggest expenditure was some €710,000 spent on a feasibility study of the Avoca mine site.
In a follow-up response to a Labour Party parliamentary question on the subject, Ryan said the cost of the studies and reviews was €2.2m, with five of the studies still ongoing.
The department spent €47,000, excluding VAT, on consultancy advice on a next generation broadband policy paper as well as €35,000 on holding an international advisory forum on the issue.
It also commissioned advice worth €45,000, excluding VAT, on a review of the public service benefits of postcodes in Ireland, and €171,000 on the RTÉ licence fee adjustment review 2006, undertaken by Indecon.
An all-island grid study, jointly commissioned by the department and the Northern Irish government, cost €218,000, while a "second strategic environmental assessment for oil and gas activity" in Ireland's offshore Atlantic waters, completed in October of last year, cost the taxpayer some €240,000.
An environmental report into the Rockall basin had a price tag of some €300,000 in consultancy and review fees, while an evaluation of the seabed mapping programme INFOMAR – including recommendations on its future ? cost €50,000.
Other spending by the department in the past year includes a €58,000 economic study of the geosciences sector in Ireland.
Labour Party spokeswoman on Environment and Heritage, who received the response from minister Ryan, questioned whether his department should be spending millions of euro buying in outside expertise, particularly when it has significant staff numbers of its own.
"The Greens are very big into studies and reviews," she said. "Obviously lots of money and time is being spent on this. It all appears to be about deferred action, it seems like they are keeping a green feasibility industry going."
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Boston may hold answer to city's housing woes
A delegation of Dublin City councillors and officials will travel to Boston next month with a view to radically redesigning the type of public housing the council provides in the capital.
The officials will view Harbor Point, a mixed-income rental complex mooted as the template to replace the aborted reconstruction agreements with developer Bernard McNamara in two of Dublin's public-private partnership projects. Both ran aground last May.
An invitation to visit the Harbor Point complex was extended to Dublin City Council by US developer Corcoran Jennison, which is jointly negotiating with Irish construction companies Bennett and Pierse, as the original under-bidders to McNamara, for the Dominick Street and St Michael's Estate projects.
Harbor Point, which was built in 1990, comprises 1,283 apartments occupied by both public and private tenants on an equal footing. Its $250m (€183m) redevelopment cost was financed by a package of private and public loans and private equity, including tax credits.
The complex is managed by elected residents and Corcoran Jennison, which is proposing the same equal-status rental blueprint for Dublin.
Final proposals for the redevelopment of St Michael's Estate and Dominick Street were submitted to Dublin City Council by Bennett/Corcoran Jennison and Pierse/Corcoran Jennison on Friday 10 October.
"We intend to visit their projects as part of our examination of delivering social and affordable housing in the five (PPP) projects and in the wider sense of delivering social and affordable housing throughout the city," according to a statement from Dublin City Council.
Plans for O'Devaney Gardens beside the Phoenix Park, where four blocks of flats are due to be demolished imminently, have, however, been scrapped.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The officials will view Harbor Point, a mixed-income rental complex mooted as the template to replace the aborted reconstruction agreements with developer Bernard McNamara in two of Dublin's public-private partnership projects. Both ran aground last May.
An invitation to visit the Harbor Point complex was extended to Dublin City Council by US developer Corcoran Jennison, which is jointly negotiating with Irish construction companies Bennett and Pierse, as the original under-bidders to McNamara, for the Dominick Street and St Michael's Estate projects.
Harbor Point, which was built in 1990, comprises 1,283 apartments occupied by both public and private tenants on an equal footing. Its $250m (€183m) redevelopment cost was financed by a package of private and public loans and private equity, including tax credits.
The complex is managed by elected residents and Corcoran Jennison, which is proposing the same equal-status rental blueprint for Dublin.
Final proposals for the redevelopment of St Michael's Estate and Dominick Street were submitted to Dublin City Council by Bennett/Corcoran Jennison and Pierse/Corcoran Jennison on Friday 10 October.
"We intend to visit their projects as part of our examination of delivering social and affordable housing in the five (PPP) projects and in the wider sense of delivering social and affordable housing throughout the city," according to a statement from Dublin City Council.
Plans for O'Devaney Gardens beside the Phoenix Park, where four blocks of flats are due to be demolished imminently, have, however, been scrapped.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Dun Laoghaire baths plan 'a waste of money'
COUNCIL officials in charge of the controversial redevelopment plans for the Dun Laoghaire Baths in south Dublin have been accused of wasting public money on the project before securing guarantees that substantial development is even possible.
It has been claimed that any redevelopment at the seafront area in Dun Laoghaire could run into problems as there are significant "restrictions" attached to leases covering the area.
The revelation has caused disquiet amongst local politicians who claim management at Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council have spent thousands of euro of tax payers' money on both consultancy fees and the marketing of two proposed developments for the seafront area.
Both of these schemes – which involve a major rejuvenation of the seafront area and the now defunct public baths – are in public consultation phase. Plans for a major development on the coastline sparked local objections which reached fever pitch in 2005 with public marches and demonstrations.
The leases on the shoreline are held by the Department of the Marine, which entered into discussions with council officials to amend the paperwork in 2001, to pave the way for future works.
However, the Sunday Tribune has learned that these discussions were never finalised and restrictions on development remain in place.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council confirmed it took part in "negotiations with the relevant government departments but the negotiations were not concluded".
The council also confirmed that the two schemes proposed for the seafront now undergoing public consultation "have not been examined in light of these old leases as no decision has been made by the council at this stage to proceed with any scheme".
However, it would not shed light on the nature of the restrictions and said it was not possible to estimate the money spent on planning and promoting the two schemes.
"The council is not in a position to give an estimate as work is ongoing and final invoices have not been submitted," said Bernie Gilligan, senior executive officer at the economic development and planning department. However, while confirming that the "restrictions" on the leases have not yet been addressed despite discussions with government seven years ago, Gilligan said: "We are confident that any difficulties associated with these restrictions can be overcome".
Over 1,000 submissions have been received in relation to the two proposed developments and a report on the consultation process is expected by the end of the year. At that stage, the council's elected members will decide the future of the project. However, the council's spending public money on producing the concepts before ensuring the lease restrictions were amended has proved controversial.
"I think it's a bad way to handle public money and people have told the council they don't want this fantastic 'Disneyfication' of the sea front," said local Green councillor Gene Feighery.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
It has been claimed that any redevelopment at the seafront area in Dun Laoghaire could run into problems as there are significant "restrictions" attached to leases covering the area.
The revelation has caused disquiet amongst local politicians who claim management at Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council have spent thousands of euro of tax payers' money on both consultancy fees and the marketing of two proposed developments for the seafront area.
Both of these schemes – which involve a major rejuvenation of the seafront area and the now defunct public baths – are in public consultation phase. Plans for a major development on the coastline sparked local objections which reached fever pitch in 2005 with public marches and demonstrations.
The leases on the shoreline are held by the Department of the Marine, which entered into discussions with council officials to amend the paperwork in 2001, to pave the way for future works.
However, the Sunday Tribune has learned that these discussions were never finalised and restrictions on development remain in place.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council confirmed it took part in "negotiations with the relevant government departments but the negotiations were not concluded".
The council also confirmed that the two schemes proposed for the seafront now undergoing public consultation "have not been examined in light of these old leases as no decision has been made by the council at this stage to proceed with any scheme".
However, it would not shed light on the nature of the restrictions and said it was not possible to estimate the money spent on planning and promoting the two schemes.
"The council is not in a position to give an estimate as work is ongoing and final invoices have not been submitted," said Bernie Gilligan, senior executive officer at the economic development and planning department. However, while confirming that the "restrictions" on the leases have not yet been addressed despite discussions with government seven years ago, Gilligan said: "We are confident that any difficulties associated with these restrictions can be overcome".
Over 1,000 submissions have been received in relation to the two proposed developments and a report on the consultation process is expected by the end of the year. At that stage, the council's elected members will decide the future of the project. However, the council's spending public money on producing the concepts before ensuring the lease restrictions were amended has proved controversial.
"I think it's a bad way to handle public money and people have told the council they don't want this fantastic 'Disneyfication' of the sea front," said local Green councillor Gene Feighery.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Thornton Hall may be delayed over €80m
The development of the super-prison at Thornton Hall will be delayed by at least 18 months if the developers continue to insist they cannot proceed without another €80 million from government.
The Léargas consortium of developers has told the state it will have to contribute an extra €80 million to the north Dublin project, which is being built as a public private partnership (PPP), if it is to go ahead. This would bring the cost of building the prison to €480 million.
The consortium, which includes Bernard McNamara, Barclays Private Equity and GSL, the international prison operator, was selected as the preferred bidder nearly a year ago after submitting an original budget of €400m.
It is in negotiations with the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) over details of the prison's construction but has now insisted it needs another €80 million to go ahead.
It has blamed the credit crisis on the rising cost, saying banks that were willing to fund the development are no longer willing to extend credit. However, prison service sources say there is "no more money available".
The consortium is insisting that, to stay within the original €400 million budget, plans for the prison would have to be radically scaled back.
If negotiations break down, the prison service will have to re-tender for a firm to design, build, finance and maintain the new jail. This would delay the project by 18 months. Thornton Hall was scheduled to open before the end of 2010.
Formal contracts between the government and Léargas have yet to be signed but negotiations are at an advanced stage. Under the provisional deal, Léargas will design, finance and build the prison and then receive fixed payments from the state over 25 years.
In June, the Dáil passed a bill to allow for the building of a new prison at Thornton Hall to replace Mountjoy jail.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The Léargas consortium of developers has told the state it will have to contribute an extra €80 million to the north Dublin project, which is being built as a public private partnership (PPP), if it is to go ahead. This would bring the cost of building the prison to €480 million.
The consortium, which includes Bernard McNamara, Barclays Private Equity and GSL, the international prison operator, was selected as the preferred bidder nearly a year ago after submitting an original budget of €400m.
It is in negotiations with the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) over details of the prison's construction but has now insisted it needs another €80 million to go ahead.
It has blamed the credit crisis on the rising cost, saying banks that were willing to fund the development are no longer willing to extend credit. However, prison service sources say there is "no more money available".
The consortium is insisting that, to stay within the original €400 million budget, plans for the prison would have to be radically scaled back.
If negotiations break down, the prison service will have to re-tender for a firm to design, build, finance and maintain the new jail. This would delay the project by 18 months. Thornton Hall was scheduled to open before the end of 2010.
Formal contracts between the government and Léargas have yet to be signed but negotiations are at an advanced stage. Under the provisional deal, Léargas will design, finance and build the prison and then receive fixed payments from the state over 25 years.
In June, the Dáil passed a bill to allow for the building of a new prison at Thornton Hall to replace Mountjoy jail.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Distillery planned for Dingle
The Porterhouse pub chain has applied for planning permission for an €8 million distillery in Dingle, Co Kerry.
If the project gets the go-ahead, the distillery will produce ‘‘super premium’’ whiskey and gin, using water from a 120-foot well and spring. A former creamery building just outside the centre of the town would house the distillery and a visitors’ centre.
Jerry O’Sullivan, a Dingle auctioneer and managing director of Southbound Properties, which sold the creamery, is investing in the scheme with the Porterhouse group. The group, headed by Oliver Hughes, already brews its own beers and has bars in Ireland and Britain.
It has 250 staff and revenues of about €27.5 million. The former head distiller of Laphroaig scotch, John McDougal, will be a consultant to the distillery project, and Jaime Jurado, an American master distiller, will be responsible for the finished product. Equipment will be imported from Forsyth’s still-makers in Scotland.
Hughes said he had been visiting Dingle on holidays for 25 years and had often considered opening a distillery there.
‘‘About 60 new distilleries have opened in the United States and Scotland in the past few years. The example of companies like Anchor Steam, which opened a micro-distillery in the United States five or six years ago, got me thinking,” he said.
‘‘The one thing you need for whiskey is provenance, and we have a wonderful tradition of poitín-making in this country. The new distillery will be aiming very much at the top end of the market, which is currently growing at around 15 per cent per annum.
‘‘We’ll be producing handcrafted, triple-distilled whiskey, using oak vats which were previously used to store port and American bourbon.”
The project will create 18 to 20 jobs, between the distillery and the visitors’ centre. Whiskey production should begin towards the end of next year. The Dingle distillery would be the fifth operational distillery on the island of Ireland.
The largest is Irish Distillers’ Jameson Experience in Midleton, Co Cork, which produces Jameson, Tullamore Dew, Powers, Paddy and Redbreast. Businessman John Teeling owns the Cooley distillery in Co Louth, which makes Kilbeggan whiskey, Tyrconnell single malt and Connemara peated single malt.
Cooley also owns Locke’s Distillery in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, which matures most oft he Cooley produce and operates its own pot-still making malt whiskey. Diageo’s distillery in Bushmills, Co Antrim, produces one oft he world’s top-selling whiskeys.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
If the project gets the go-ahead, the distillery will produce ‘‘super premium’’ whiskey and gin, using water from a 120-foot well and spring. A former creamery building just outside the centre of the town would house the distillery and a visitors’ centre.
Jerry O’Sullivan, a Dingle auctioneer and managing director of Southbound Properties, which sold the creamery, is investing in the scheme with the Porterhouse group. The group, headed by Oliver Hughes, already brews its own beers and has bars in Ireland and Britain.
It has 250 staff and revenues of about €27.5 million. The former head distiller of Laphroaig scotch, John McDougal, will be a consultant to the distillery project, and Jaime Jurado, an American master distiller, will be responsible for the finished product. Equipment will be imported from Forsyth’s still-makers in Scotland.
Hughes said he had been visiting Dingle on holidays for 25 years and had often considered opening a distillery there.
‘‘About 60 new distilleries have opened in the United States and Scotland in the past few years. The example of companies like Anchor Steam, which opened a micro-distillery in the United States five or six years ago, got me thinking,” he said.
‘‘The one thing you need for whiskey is provenance, and we have a wonderful tradition of poitín-making in this country. The new distillery will be aiming very much at the top end of the market, which is currently growing at around 15 per cent per annum.
‘‘We’ll be producing handcrafted, triple-distilled whiskey, using oak vats which were previously used to store port and American bourbon.”
The project will create 18 to 20 jobs, between the distillery and the visitors’ centre. Whiskey production should begin towards the end of next year. The Dingle distillery would be the fifth operational distillery on the island of Ireland.
The largest is Irish Distillers’ Jameson Experience in Midleton, Co Cork, which produces Jameson, Tullamore Dew, Powers, Paddy and Redbreast. Businessman John Teeling owns the Cooley distillery in Co Louth, which makes Kilbeggan whiskey, Tyrconnell single malt and Connemara peated single malt.
Cooley also owns Locke’s Distillery in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, which matures most oft he Cooley produce and operates its own pot-still making malt whiskey. Diageo’s distillery in Bushmills, Co Antrim, produces one oft he world’s top-selling whiskeys.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
SEI denies shortage of assessors for energy ratings
Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) has rejected claims from architects and the building sector that property sales will grind to a halt in the new year because no assessors have been trained to carryout energy ratings on secondhand buildings.
From January1 , all existing dwellings and buildings must be assessed and rated for their energy-efficiency before they can be sold or leased.
While no assessors have been trained to carry out ratings on existing buildings to date, SEI has said it is confident there will be enough assessors when the legislation is introduced in ten weeks’ time.
More than 800 assessors are registered with SEI to assess on new houses, but these can be carried out from the plans of the building. For assessments on existing buildings, the assessors require new training and must visit and examine the buildings.
Following a surge in demand for new training, SEI will release the methods for calculating energy ratings on existing buildings this week.
This will enable 20 training providers across the country to devise courses, which must be approved by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council or the Vocational Education and Training Awards Council.
A spokesman for the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) said that some of the body’s members who had trained as assessors for new dwellings had been ‘‘looking anxiously for information about courses regarding the new regulations’’.
‘‘We hope there will be a big uptake of training when these become available, because these assessors are very much needed,” he said.
Martin Lynch, a Dublin architect who runs his own practice, accused SEI of ‘‘inefficiency’’ and said there would not be enough assessors to ‘‘cope with the landslide in January’’.
‘‘A solicitor cannot sign off on a sale or a lease without the building energy regulations (BER) cert.
‘‘SEI were aware this was on the way and should have acted earlier,” he said.
Carine Gachon, of the mechanical and industrial engineering department at Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, where more than 400 assessors have been trained, said she had been receiving daily enquiries about when the new courses would be available.
‘‘We hope it will be November, but there are a lot of things to put in place to comply with the certification of assessors. The new courses will be three-and-a-half days or one week long, depending on whether the candidate has done the previous course,” said Gachon.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
From January1 , all existing dwellings and buildings must be assessed and rated for their energy-efficiency before they can be sold or leased.
While no assessors have been trained to carry out ratings on existing buildings to date, SEI has said it is confident there will be enough assessors when the legislation is introduced in ten weeks’ time.
More than 800 assessors are registered with SEI to assess on new houses, but these can be carried out from the plans of the building. For assessments on existing buildings, the assessors require new training and must visit and examine the buildings.
Following a surge in demand for new training, SEI will release the methods for calculating energy ratings on existing buildings this week.
This will enable 20 training providers across the country to devise courses, which must be approved by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council or the Vocational Education and Training Awards Council.
A spokesman for the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) said that some of the body’s members who had trained as assessors for new dwellings had been ‘‘looking anxiously for information about courses regarding the new regulations’’.
‘‘We hope there will be a big uptake of training when these become available, because these assessors are very much needed,” he said.
Martin Lynch, a Dublin architect who runs his own practice, accused SEI of ‘‘inefficiency’’ and said there would not be enough assessors to ‘‘cope with the landslide in January’’.
‘‘A solicitor cannot sign off on a sale or a lease without the building energy regulations (BER) cert.
‘‘SEI were aware this was on the way and should have acted earlier,” he said.
Carine Gachon, of the mechanical and industrial engineering department at Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, where more than 400 assessors have been trained, said she had been receiving daily enquiries about when the new courses would be available.
‘‘We hope it will be November, but there are a lot of things to put in place to comply with the certification of assessors. The new courses will be three-and-a-half days or one week long, depending on whether the candidate has done the previous course,” said Gachon.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
NRA may freeze all new road projects for four years
The National Roads Authority (NRA) may not start any new road projects until 2011 or 2012 because of financial constraints.
The Sunday Business Post understands that more than 90 per cent of the authority’s €1.4 billion budget for next year will be spent on the five inter-urban motorways connecting Dublin with Belfast, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. All projects in the planning stage will be postponed.
The NRA’s budget has been cut by €157 million next year, and six major road projects will be postponed as a result. It is now likely that these projects will be shelved for two to three years, and that other projects will face lengthy delays.
The NRA is working on more than 140 projects, which are at various stages from planning to completion.
NRA chief executive Fred Barry recently informed the relevant bodies that ongoing projects would be completed, but that no new road projects would begin for the foreseeable future, according to a senior source in the transport sector.
‘‘Anything that has started will basically be finished, but there will be no new starts until things pick up in 2011 or 2012,” the source said.
NRA spokesman Seán O’Neill confirmed that no new projects would go ahead next year, and said the six projects postponed last week were ‘‘either in planning, or the government were not under obligation to fund them as yet.
‘‘They were not part of the inter-urban corridor, which has the highest volumes of traffic and is a central transport network,” he said. ‘‘These are significant for the future of the economy. The bad news is that smaller projects may not go ahead next year due to financial constraints, but the focus will remain on the large - and necessary - road projects.”
There was concern that road grants for regional and local authorities - which amounted to almost €620million last year – would be cut.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey will not announce next year’s allocation until early 2009, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Transport.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
The Sunday Business Post understands that more than 90 per cent of the authority’s €1.4 billion budget for next year will be spent on the five inter-urban motorways connecting Dublin with Belfast, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. All projects in the planning stage will be postponed.
The NRA’s budget has been cut by €157 million next year, and six major road projects will be postponed as a result. It is now likely that these projects will be shelved for two to three years, and that other projects will face lengthy delays.
The NRA is working on more than 140 projects, which are at various stages from planning to completion.
NRA chief executive Fred Barry recently informed the relevant bodies that ongoing projects would be completed, but that no new road projects would begin for the foreseeable future, according to a senior source in the transport sector.
‘‘Anything that has started will basically be finished, but there will be no new starts until things pick up in 2011 or 2012,” the source said.
NRA spokesman Seán O’Neill confirmed that no new projects would go ahead next year, and said the six projects postponed last week were ‘‘either in planning, or the government were not under obligation to fund them as yet.
‘‘They were not part of the inter-urban corridor, which has the highest volumes of traffic and is a central transport network,” he said. ‘‘These are significant for the future of the economy. The bad news is that smaller projects may not go ahead next year due to financial constraints, but the focus will remain on the large - and necessary - road projects.”
There was concern that road grants for regional and local authorities - which amounted to almost €620million last year – would be cut.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey will not announce next year’s allocation until early 2009, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Transport.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
Developer bids to halt multi-million euro legal action
LAWYERS acting for property developer Bernard McNamara were last night locked in "deep discussions" to prevent a multi-million euro legal dispute by five high-profile businessmen being entered into the Commercial Court on Monday morning.
The Irish Independent has learned that the embattled builder is being sued by a group of property entrepreneurs, including deal maker, tax expert and financier Paschal Taggart and his business partner Terry Cooney.
Shane Taggart, Ivor Dougan and Gary Smith are also listed as plaintiffs in the case that has been earmarked for the Commercial Court, a division of the High Court which fast-tracks disputes in excess of €1m.
The plaintiffs are pursuing a summary summons case, indicating that a liquidated debt is being pursued.
Mr McNamara was in a consortium with Mr Taggart that had been buying buildings around the Westbury Hotel in Dublin with a view to turning the area into a multi-billion euro hotel and retail enclave. It is not known if the threatened litigation relates to that consortium.
Earlier this year, Mr McNamara was forced to deny that he had debts of €1.5bn after he pulled out of €900m worth of social housing projects.
Last night, a spokesperson for Mr McNamara confirmed that discussions between the sides was ongoing and they were hopeful for a resolution before Monday morning when new entrants to the Commercial list are considered.
The case is one of 16 new cases which have been listed for entry on the Commercial list which is is being "littered" with claims for specific performance of contracts, including many for the sale of development lands, according to High Court judge Mr Justice Peter Kelly who manages the growing caseload.
Dearbhail McDonald and Shane Phelan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The Irish Independent has learned that the embattled builder is being sued by a group of property entrepreneurs, including deal maker, tax expert and financier Paschal Taggart and his business partner Terry Cooney.
Shane Taggart, Ivor Dougan and Gary Smith are also listed as plaintiffs in the case that has been earmarked for the Commercial Court, a division of the High Court which fast-tracks disputes in excess of €1m.
The plaintiffs are pursuing a summary summons case, indicating that a liquidated debt is being pursued.
Mr McNamara was in a consortium with Mr Taggart that had been buying buildings around the Westbury Hotel in Dublin with a view to turning the area into a multi-billion euro hotel and retail enclave. It is not known if the threatened litigation relates to that consortium.
Earlier this year, Mr McNamara was forced to deny that he had debts of €1.5bn after he pulled out of €900m worth of social housing projects.
Last night, a spokesperson for Mr McNamara confirmed that discussions between the sides was ongoing and they were hopeful for a resolution before Monday morning when new entrants to the Commercial list are considered.
The case is one of 16 new cases which have been listed for entry on the Commercial list which is is being "littered" with claims for specific performance of contracts, including many for the sale of development lands, according to High Court judge Mr Justice Peter Kelly who manages the growing caseload.
Dearbhail McDonald and Shane Phelan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Shell abandons pipeline plan until next year
SHELL E&P Ireland has abandoned its plan to lay the offshore pipeline for the Corrib gas project, and hopes to resume work next year.
The company confirmed yesterday that the world's largest offshore pipelaying vessel, Solitaire, was no longer under contract to it.
The Solitaire was reported to have sustained damage shortly after it arrived in Broadhaven Bay, Co Mayo, to begin laying the controversial pipeline. As a result, the work was suspended on September 10th.
Shell EP Ireland is still awaiting a decision from Bord Pleanála on its submission under the Strategic Infrastructure Act for a modified route for the onshore pipeline.
Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan and Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon Ó Cuív held private talks with a number of groups in north Mayo earlier this month in a bid to resolve the controversy surrounding the project.
This was the first Government intervention since Government mediator Peter Cassells was appointed in late 2005.
Pobal Chill Chomáin, one of the community groupings involved in the talks with the two Ministers, was invited to attend this week's congress in Norway hosted by Safe, the federation of oil and gas workers' unions.
In his address to the congress in Stavanger yesterday, Pobal Chill Chomáin chairman Vincent McGrath said the community was not against the gas project. But it wanted "genuine partnership and a Corrib that we can all live with".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The company confirmed yesterday that the world's largest offshore pipelaying vessel, Solitaire, was no longer under contract to it.
The Solitaire was reported to have sustained damage shortly after it arrived in Broadhaven Bay, Co Mayo, to begin laying the controversial pipeline. As a result, the work was suspended on September 10th.
Shell EP Ireland is still awaiting a decision from Bord Pleanála on its submission under the Strategic Infrastructure Act for a modified route for the onshore pipeline.
Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan and Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon Ó Cuív held private talks with a number of groups in north Mayo earlier this month in a bid to resolve the controversy surrounding the project.
This was the first Government intervention since Government mediator Peter Cassells was appointed in late 2005.
Pobal Chill Chomáin, one of the community groupings involved in the talks with the two Ministers, was invited to attend this week's congress in Norway hosted by Safe, the federation of oil and gas workers' unions.
In his address to the congress in Stavanger yesterday, Pobal Chill Chomáin chairman Vincent McGrath said the community was not against the gas project. But it wanted "genuine partnership and a Corrib that we can all live with".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Great Blasket Island planning application granted
AN BORD Pleanála has granted permission for a cafe and visitors' services building on the Great Blasket Island off the coast of Kerry, but with a number of conditions including that new piers are in place before construction can take place.
In theory, the granting of permission paves the way for the State to purchase most of the 1,100 acre Great Blasket from a number of private owners and turn it into a historic park.
The 330sq m services building and tractor store in a greenfield site west of the old village will be the most significant development on the island home of the Irish writers Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Muiris Ó Suilleabháin and Peig Sayers in almost 60 years. Most of the old village, abandoned in 1953, is in dire condition.
Being able to proceed with the services building is part of the conditions of sale of An Blascaod Mór Teo (BMT) property. BMT is the island's largest landholder. Under the deal, BMT will retain Peig Sayers's house, the services building and a number of other buildings.
Director of BMT, Dingle-based solicitor Peter Callery, yesterday welcomed the appeals board's decision, as did the Office of Public Works. The OPW told a hearing by the board in August that the deal was not perfect, but was the best it could get.
It was not clear yesterday if the €8.5 million Government funding, announced weeks prior to the general election in 2002, was still available for the purchase of 95 per cent of the island, restoration of the old houses and the construction of new piers.
Kerry County Council had granted permission for the 50-seat cafe, toilets and tractor store last year, but this was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by a number of third parties, including Sue Redican, who is known as the "Blasket Island Weaver" and has lived seasonally on the island for almost 20 years.
Ms Redican has already indicated she may take a High Court action if planning is granted, and she has also written to the EU Commissioner for the Environment to complain that the island's conservation status and various European designations were not being safeguarded by the Government. She told the hearing the true essence of the island risked being lost forever.
A spokesman for the OPW welcomed the board's decision, saying the aspiration of the Government was to acquire the island. The Minister for Finance would have to sanction any future land purchase by the OPW. Deposits had already been paid and about €700,000 paid in plans for the piers, the spokesman said. The purchase of lands from BMT and other owners, together with ferry rights, will cost up to €3 million.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
In theory, the granting of permission paves the way for the State to purchase most of the 1,100 acre Great Blasket from a number of private owners and turn it into a historic park.
The 330sq m services building and tractor store in a greenfield site west of the old village will be the most significant development on the island home of the Irish writers Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Muiris Ó Suilleabháin and Peig Sayers in almost 60 years. Most of the old village, abandoned in 1953, is in dire condition.
Being able to proceed with the services building is part of the conditions of sale of An Blascaod Mór Teo (BMT) property. BMT is the island's largest landholder. Under the deal, BMT will retain Peig Sayers's house, the services building and a number of other buildings.
Director of BMT, Dingle-based solicitor Peter Callery, yesterday welcomed the appeals board's decision, as did the Office of Public Works. The OPW told a hearing by the board in August that the deal was not perfect, but was the best it could get.
It was not clear yesterday if the €8.5 million Government funding, announced weeks prior to the general election in 2002, was still available for the purchase of 95 per cent of the island, restoration of the old houses and the construction of new piers.
Kerry County Council had granted permission for the 50-seat cafe, toilets and tractor store last year, but this was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by a number of third parties, including Sue Redican, who is known as the "Blasket Island Weaver" and has lived seasonally on the island for almost 20 years.
Ms Redican has already indicated she may take a High Court action if planning is granted, and she has also written to the EU Commissioner for the Environment to complain that the island's conservation status and various European designations were not being safeguarded by the Government. She told the hearing the true essence of the island risked being lost forever.
A spokesman for the OPW welcomed the board's decision, saying the aspiration of the Government was to acquire the island. The Minister for Finance would have to sanction any future land purchase by the OPW. Deposits had already been paid and about €700,000 paid in plans for the piers, the spokesman said. The purchase of lands from BMT and other owners, together with ferry rights, will cost up to €3 million.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Actions over gas terminal in Kerry dismissed
TWO LEGAL challenges to a proposed development of a €500 million gas terminal in Co Kerry have been dismissed at the Commercial Court following an agreement that the objectors will not have to pay the legal costs of the other side.
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) and a local man, Raymond O'Mahony, said yesterday that they were prepared to withdraw their proceedings after the State, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and terminal developer Shannon LNG had agreed not to pursue them for costs.
An Bord Pleanála, against whom the proceedings were also brought, did seek its costs against the applicants but Mr Justice John MacMenamin, who expressed the view the actions were "misconceived from the outset" and that the taxpayer ultimately paid for such cases, said he would dismiss the cases with no order for costs, meaning each side pays its own costs.
The judge stressed his costs order should not be regarded as a precedent.
The cases arose from the granting of planning permission for the development of a liquid natural gas terminal at Kilcolgan, near Tarbert, by Shannon LNG.
The environmental group and Mr O'Mahony subsequently brought proceedings against An Bord Pleanála, the HSA, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Earlier this year, Shannon LNG successfully applied to have the case fast-tracked through the High Court's big-business division, the Commercial Court.
Shannon LNG claimed it had spent €15 million on the project by the end of April last and any delay in progressing it would have significant commercial consequences. It aims to have the facility operational by 2012 or 2013.
Mr Justice MacMenamin began hearing the proceedings last Tuesday but was told yesterday that both FIE and Mr O'Mahony had agreed to withdraw the actions on the basis they would not be pursued for the legal costs. The judge dismissed the proceedings with no order on costs.
Earlier, lawyers for the State, Shannon LNG and the health authority indicated they would not be pursuing costs if proceedings were withdrawn.
However, Nuala Butler SC, for the planning board, said her side was seeking its costs.
The applicants' case was virtually unstateable and if the board did not seek costs, applicants could pose hopeless cases and walk away without incurring the expense involved.
The environmental group had claimed the HSA had failed to give proper technical advice on the control of major accident hazards relating to the proposed development as required by domestic and European law.
It also claimed the State failed to properly transpose a number of EU directives relating to the control of major accident hazards along with the assessment of certain projects and their impact on the environment.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) and a local man, Raymond O'Mahony, said yesterday that they were prepared to withdraw their proceedings after the State, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and terminal developer Shannon LNG had agreed not to pursue them for costs.
An Bord Pleanála, against whom the proceedings were also brought, did seek its costs against the applicants but Mr Justice John MacMenamin, who expressed the view the actions were "misconceived from the outset" and that the taxpayer ultimately paid for such cases, said he would dismiss the cases with no order for costs, meaning each side pays its own costs.
The judge stressed his costs order should not be regarded as a precedent.
The cases arose from the granting of planning permission for the development of a liquid natural gas terminal at Kilcolgan, near Tarbert, by Shannon LNG.
The environmental group and Mr O'Mahony subsequently brought proceedings against An Bord Pleanála, the HSA, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Earlier this year, Shannon LNG successfully applied to have the case fast-tracked through the High Court's big-business division, the Commercial Court.
Shannon LNG claimed it had spent €15 million on the project by the end of April last and any delay in progressing it would have significant commercial consequences. It aims to have the facility operational by 2012 or 2013.
Mr Justice MacMenamin began hearing the proceedings last Tuesday but was told yesterday that both FIE and Mr O'Mahony had agreed to withdraw the actions on the basis they would not be pursued for the legal costs. The judge dismissed the proceedings with no order on costs.
Earlier, lawyers for the State, Shannon LNG and the health authority indicated they would not be pursuing costs if proceedings were withdrawn.
However, Nuala Butler SC, for the planning board, said her side was seeking its costs.
The applicants' case was virtually unstateable and if the board did not seek costs, applicants could pose hopeless cases and walk away without incurring the expense involved.
The environmental group had claimed the HSA had failed to give proper technical advice on the control of major accident hazards relating to the proposed development as required by domestic and European law.
It also claimed the State failed to properly transpose a number of EU directives relating to the control of major accident hazards along with the assessment of certain projects and their impact on the environment.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Council loses Eyre Square renovation case
GALWAY CITY Council has lost a High Court case about its handling of €6.3 million in funding for the Eyre Square renovation.
The High Court yesterday rejected the city council's legal moves to overturn an arbitrator's finding that it behaved unreasonably towards a construction company and wrongfully withdrew funds for the Eyre Square project.
Mr Justice Bryan McMahon also rejected the council's application for the appointment of a new arbitrator to complete the hearing of issues in its dispute with Samuel Kingston Construction Company.
Both sides accept that arbitrator Geoffrey F Hawker had fallen asleep a number of times during the arbitration hearing.
The proceedings arose from a contract of April 5th, 2004, between Galway City Council and SKC for the redevelopment of Eyre Square.
Work started in February 2004, 78 weeks were set aside for the project but it ran into delays. The city council wanted the work completed before Christmas 2005 and the sides reached an unwritten "acceleration agreement" in March 2005.
The exact terms of that agreement were disputed, delays continued and it appeared when the sides agreed at a site meeting in May 2005 the acceleration agreement was no longer achievable.
On June 4th, 2005, the council withdrew all sums paid under the acceleration agreement.
SKC ceased work on the site on June 27th, 2005, and returned the site keys to the council engineer.
The engineer issued a certificate under the conditions of contract governing entry on to the site and allowing expulsion of the contractor in circumstances such as bankruptcy or abandonment.
Clause 63 provided the termination rights "shall not be exercised unreasonably".
The dispute went to arbitration. In December 2007 the arbitrator, Mr Hawker, found the acceleration agreement was wrongly repudiated by the council. He found that the wrongful withdrawal of funds in June 2005 left the company at risk of insolvency.
The arbitrator also ruled that the city council's actions on June 4th, 2005, did not repudiate the original contract.
SKC's withdrawal from the site was a breach of contract, he said, but the breach was not fundemental or a repudiation of contract. He found the council's overall conduct was unreasonable.
Mr Justice McMahon upheld all those findings.
Among the upheld findings was that SKC withdrew from the site only because it considered there was a risk of trading while insolvent.
The judge also rejected the claim for the removal of Mr Hawker as arbitrator.
The judge said it was accepted by both sides that Mr Hawker fell asleep a number of times during the hearing. However, the lawyers had not raised this with Mr Hawker but took steps to ventilate the hearing room and take more coffee breaks.
There was no way of verifying that the arbitrator's decision would not have been different had he remained awake, he said.
Taking into account the cost and logistics of removing Mr Hawker, the judge said he was not convinced it would be just to remove him. He considered it unlikely Mr Hawker would expose himself to such criticism again.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanningie
The High Court yesterday rejected the city council's legal moves to overturn an arbitrator's finding that it behaved unreasonably towards a construction company and wrongfully withdrew funds for the Eyre Square project.
Mr Justice Bryan McMahon also rejected the council's application for the appointment of a new arbitrator to complete the hearing of issues in its dispute with Samuel Kingston Construction Company.
Both sides accept that arbitrator Geoffrey F Hawker had fallen asleep a number of times during the arbitration hearing.
The proceedings arose from a contract of April 5th, 2004, between Galway City Council and SKC for the redevelopment of Eyre Square.
Work started in February 2004, 78 weeks were set aside for the project but it ran into delays. The city council wanted the work completed before Christmas 2005 and the sides reached an unwritten "acceleration agreement" in March 2005.
The exact terms of that agreement were disputed, delays continued and it appeared when the sides agreed at a site meeting in May 2005 the acceleration agreement was no longer achievable.
On June 4th, 2005, the council withdrew all sums paid under the acceleration agreement.
SKC ceased work on the site on June 27th, 2005, and returned the site keys to the council engineer.
The engineer issued a certificate under the conditions of contract governing entry on to the site and allowing expulsion of the contractor in circumstances such as bankruptcy or abandonment.
Clause 63 provided the termination rights "shall not be exercised unreasonably".
The dispute went to arbitration. In December 2007 the arbitrator, Mr Hawker, found the acceleration agreement was wrongly repudiated by the council. He found that the wrongful withdrawal of funds in June 2005 left the company at risk of insolvency.
The arbitrator also ruled that the city council's actions on June 4th, 2005, did not repudiate the original contract.
SKC's withdrawal from the site was a breach of contract, he said, but the breach was not fundemental or a repudiation of contract. He found the council's overall conduct was unreasonable.
Mr Justice McMahon upheld all those findings.
Among the upheld findings was that SKC withdrew from the site only because it considered there was a risk of trading while insolvent.
The judge also rejected the claim for the removal of Mr Hawker as arbitrator.
The judge said it was accepted by both sides that Mr Hawker fell asleep a number of times during the hearing. However, the lawyers had not raised this with Mr Hawker but took steps to ventilate the hearing room and take more coffee breaks.
There was no way of verifying that the arbitrator's decision would not have been different had he remained awake, he said.
Taking into account the cost and logistics of removing Mr Hawker, the judge said he was not convinced it would be just to remove him. He considered it unlikely Mr Hawker would expose himself to such criticism again.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanningie
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Fury as historic church gutted without permit
Gardai and Dublin city Council have both launched separate investigations into an incident that saw a 120-year-old Methodist church partially demolished yesterday without planning permission.
Gardai and Dublin City Council have begun inquiries into the incident at Jones's Road near Croke Park in north Dublin which saw the church virtually destroyed, even though workers at the site were served with an order from Dublin City Council on Tuesday night to cease demolition immediately.
Furious neighbours rang gardai early yesterday morning when they were awoken by the sound of a JCB smashing through the church wall at 6am yesterday, despite being ordered to stop work the previous evening. A worker at the scene was allegedly seen running from the site when approached by gardai.
Officials from the council's Dangerous Buildings Unit will be surveying the damage today to see whether the decommissioned church can be salvaged.
Last night Labour TD Joe Costello said the people responsible for the demolition of the Victorian-era church without planning permission should be made to reconstruct it.
He said area residents are disgusted by the brazen act which has all but ruined the local landmark regarded as "an architectural gem."
The private owners of the land do not have planning permission to demolish the building or develop the land, he said.
Allison Bray
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Gardai and Dublin City Council have begun inquiries into the incident at Jones's Road near Croke Park in north Dublin which saw the church virtually destroyed, even though workers at the site were served with an order from Dublin City Council on Tuesday night to cease demolition immediately.
Furious neighbours rang gardai early yesterday morning when they were awoken by the sound of a JCB smashing through the church wall at 6am yesterday, despite being ordered to stop work the previous evening. A worker at the scene was allegedly seen running from the site when approached by gardai.
Officials from the council's Dangerous Buildings Unit will be surveying the damage today to see whether the decommissioned church can be salvaged.
Last night Labour TD Joe Costello said the people responsible for the demolition of the Victorian-era church without planning permission should be made to reconstruct it.
He said area residents are disgusted by the brazen act which has all but ruined the local landmark regarded as "an architectural gem."
The private owners of the land do not have planning permission to demolish the building or develop the land, he said.
Allison Bray
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Bord rejects 64 homes for Howth
AN BORD Pleanála has turned down a proposal by Pierse Contracting Ltd to build 64 residential units and a café on the 2.59-acre site of a disused sports building which is near a Martello Tower on Balscadden Road, Howth, Co Dublin.
Around seven parties appealed planning permission for the development to An Bord Pleanála, including Hillwatch and Asgard Residents Association.
Among the reasons given by the board was that the site, which overlooks Howth Harbour, is in area of high amenity and was designated in the Howth Special Amenity Area Order 1999 and is also within an architectural conservation zone in close proximity to a Martello Tower, a protected structure.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Around seven parties appealed planning permission for the development to An Bord Pleanála, including Hillwatch and Asgard Residents Association.
Among the reasons given by the board was that the site, which overlooks Howth Harbour, is in area of high amenity and was designated in the Howth Special Amenity Area Order 1999 and is also within an architectural conservation zone in close proximity to a Martello Tower, a protected structure.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
224 homes for Clonsilla SDZ
FIRTH DEVELOPMENTS is to submit a planning application to Fingal County Council for 224 houses and apartments on a 12.9-acre site at Hansfield SDZ, which was part of St Joseph's Hospital in Clonsilla, Dublin 15.
The developer, whose directors are John Fitzsimons and John McLoughlin, is looking to build 115 houses (mostly three and four-beds) and 70 duplexes in six four- storey blocks. There would also be apartments in two blocks and 366 car-parking spaces.
Meanwhile Castlethorn Construction has been granted planning permission for 447 apartments and duplexes at Pelletstown, Dublin 14.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The developer, whose directors are John Fitzsimons and John McLoughlin, is looking to build 115 houses (mostly three and four-beds) and 70 duplexes in six four- storey blocks. There would also be apartments in two blocks and 366 car-parking spaces.
Meanwhile Castlethorn Construction has been granted planning permission for 447 apartments and duplexes at Pelletstown, Dublin 14.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Planning and Development
An Bord Pleanála
APPEALS
Location: former Chester Beatty Library, 20 Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish on site structures and erect seven three-storey over basement houses and all ancillary site development works. Applicant: OMalley Homes and Development Limited. Appellant(s): Stephen MacKenzie, Shrewsbury Road Residents Association, John Dunne.
Location: Killarney National Park, Muckross, Killarney, Co Kerry (protected structure). Proposed development: broadband satellite dish at Muckross House (protected structure). Applicant: The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Appellant(s): An Taisce.
Location: 32 33 Clanbrassil Street Lower, Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish structures on site and erect a five-storey mixed-use scheme comprising four apartments, one retail unit and all site development works. Applicant: John C Carroll. Appellant(s): Daniel MacArt.
Location: The Bakery, Cross Guns Bridge, Phibsboro Road, Dublin 7. Proposed development: mixed-use scheme consisting of residential ranging in height from two to 13 storeys over two basement levels; 35 medical consulting suites, café and gym. Applicant: Stateford Limited. Appellant(s): Christopher and Cora Campbell, Stateford Limited.
Location: South Strand, Skerries, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 11 apartments and site development works. Applicant: Golden South Strand Partnership. Appellant(s): St Vincent de Paul Society and others, Robert McLaughlin.
Location: Agharinagh, Model Village, Dripsey, Co Cork. Proposed development: residential scheme comprising 130 units, a crèche, two playing pitches, recreational facilities and all site development works. Applicant: John Murphy. Appellant(s): Dripsey Community Association Limited, John Murphy.
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: lands south of Martello Tower, Balscadden Road, Howth, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish disused sports building for 64 residential units, a café and site development works. Applicant: Pierse Contracting Limited.
Location: Pine Avenue and Springfield Park, Foxrock, Dublin 18 (formerly part of the Loreto School grounds). Proposed development: demolish single storey house and equipment store for a scheme of 26 apartments with parking and storage units. Applicant: Mark Carroll and Barry Meagher.
Location: 16-20 Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish building for a mixed-use scheme comprising seven apartments, retail and site development works. Applicant: Sean Doyle.
Location: Murphy and Gunne, formerly Victor Motors, Goatstown Road, Goatstown, Dublin 14. Proposed development: demolish showrooms and workshop for 49 apartments and all site development works. Applicant: Jorcan Limited.
Location: Weavers Row, Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Proposed development: demolish three houses for a mixed-use residential and retail scheme comprising a discount foodstore, four retail units and 60 apartments. Applicant: Aldi Stores (Ireland) Limited.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown
APPLICATIONS
Location: Hillcrest, Saint Brigids, Church Road, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish bungalow for five residential units consisting of two two-storey detached three-bed dwellings, one three-bed bungalow, and two two-storey three-bed units; provision of nine car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Brian M Durkan Co Limited.
Location: Balure, Church Road, Killiney, Co Dublin. Proposed development: seven detached six-bedroom houses including modifications to the existing house to be retained on site, associated landscaping and site development works. Applicant: Castlepark Building Company Limited.
Dublin City Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: 61-62 Thomas Street, Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish buildings for a mixed-use six-storey building to comprise of a basement car-park accommodating 15 car-parking spaces; a retail unit on the ground floor and five floors of office space. Applicant: Paul McKenna.
Location: on a 3.7-acre site known as the Windmill site at the Digital Hub, Thomas Street, Dublin 8, which is bounded by Thomas Street and James Street to the south, Watling Street to the west, Bonham Street to the north and the IAWS building on Thomas Street and the Marshalsea Wall to the east. The site includes the protected structures of the windmill (also known as the Conical Tower , Watling Street) and the three-storey period building adjacent to the Bank of Ireland known as 164 Thomas Street (also referenced as 84 James Street in the Record of Protected Structures). Proposed development: alterations and refurbishment of 164 Thomas Street (also referenced as 84 James Street in the Record of Protected Structures); alterations, partial demolition and retention of a number of buildings on the site including the warehouse at the junction of Watling Street and Bonham Street, the Digital Depot and former grain store buildings and the Bank of Ireland building (85 James Street) as well as the demolition of a structure to the rear of the site fronting Bonham Street; construct a mixed-use scheme of 13,378sq m (144,000sq ft) of office space and associated floor space for Digital Media, 1,578sq m (16,985sq ft) of retail floor space, 2,366sq m (25,467sq ft) of commercial floor space, 240sq m (2,583sq ft) of private office floor space, 396sq m (4,263sq ft) of financial services floor space; 103 student accommodation units and a 181-bedroom hotel. The total gross floor area of the development is 48,667sq m (523,847sq ft); 139 car-parking spaces are to be provided within a single level basement at the northern end of the site and 516 cycle spaces to be provided at surface and basement level. The development will comprise of nine structures in varying heights. Block B: six-storey structure and will have a floor area of 4,880sq m (52,528sq ft) accommodating financial services unit, two retail/service units at ground floor level. The five upper floors will accommodate 90 bedrooms associated with the proposed hotel use. Block C: five to seven storeys and includes a licensed hotel restaurant/bar, and three meeting/conference rooms at ground floor level. The upper levels will accommodate 91 bedrooms. Block D: five to nine-storey building and will incorporate the warehouse building at ground and first floor level with an additional four to seven storeys in two blocks overhead. The building will comprise digital offices at ground and first floor level and 34 student cluster units. Block E: six to nine-storey building. The lower ground floor will comprise a retail unit, laundry and service/communal areas. The upper ground floor will comprise a commercial unit, one retail unit, and student accommodation circulation spaces with 36 student cluster units at upper levels. Block F: eight-storey building and will comprise of two retail units at lower ground floor level. The upper ground floor level will comprise of a commercial and retail unit. The remaining upper levels will accommodate 33 student cluster units. Provision of 139 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: P Elliott Company Limited.
South Dublin
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: Newcastle Lyons, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 48 residential units comprising 19 houses, seven duplexes and 22 apartments; one retail unit, 62 on-street parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Tenbury Developments Limited.
Fingal
APPLICATIONS
Location: on a site of c. 5.21 hectares (12.9 acres) in Zone 6 as identified within the Hansfield SDZ planning scheme 2006, formerly part of St Joseph's Hospital, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, and bounded generally by the Hansfield Road to the east, the retained St Josephs Hospital to the north, to the west by the townland of Barberstown (and permitted phase one development - Reg. Ref. F06A/1869) and to the south by the Royal Canal corridor, all in the townland of Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Proposed development: 224 dwelling units consisting of 16 two-bed units, 154 three-bed units and 54 four-bed units. The houses consist of 115 dwellings of varying types - 21 four-bed three storey end-of-terrace houses; 29 four-bed three-storey mid-terrace houses; four four-bed two-storey end-of-terrace houses; five three-bed three-storey end-of-terrace houses; 54 three-bed three-storey mid-terrace houses; one three-bed two-storey end-of-terrace house; and one three-bed two-storey detached house. The 70 duplexes will comprise of 62 three-bed two-storey units and eight two-bed two-storey units arranged in six four-storey blocks. The 39 apartments comprise eight two-bed units and 31 three-bed units in two four-storey blocks. A crèche with external play area space is also proposed and there will also be 366 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site development works. Applicant: Firth Developments Limited.
Bray Town Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: Everest Centre, Castle Street, Bray, Co Wicklow. Proposed development: demolish one and two-storey commercial buildings and structures for a five-storey split basement with access for 96 cars and construct overhead a five-storey mixed-use building with 971sq m (10,452sq ft) of retail and 3,419sq m (36,802sq ft) of office space. Applicant: Leafcrest Limited.
Cork County Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: Dunboy Castle, Dunboy, Castletownberehaven, Co Cork (protected structure). Proposed development: permission for scheme within the grounds of Dunboy Castle consisting of 38 dwellings for use as holiday homes and for short term/holiday letting purposes comprising terraced units within two courtyards and detached units; a 128sq m (1,378sq ft) estate management office within eastern courtyard blocks. Provision of a new access route within the site to include a new bridge, four new walkways and 84 car-parking spaces; associated landscaping and site development works. Applicant: Dunboy Castle Limited.
Location: former Sunbeam factory site, Commons Road, Blackpool, Cork. Proposed development: demolish building and construct four buildings ranging from one to seven floors over basement. Building one: from four to seven floors with a gross area of 10,676sq m (114,915sq ft) consisting of a retail warehouse at ground floor level and office space on floor two to six with a link to building two at first, second and third floor level. Building two: has a gross floor area of 8,605sq m (92,623sq ft) and will have a retail warehouse, a café and a convenience retail unit at ground floor with offices on first, second and third floor. Building three: five-storey building with a leisure and fitness centre at basement and ground floor level, own door office, pharmacy, crèche with outdoor play area. Building four: a single storey building with a café and access to the basement car-park. Provision of 20 surface car-parking spaces and two level basement car-park with 576 spaces. Applicant: Rothbury Estates Limited.
Compiled by Mary Hetherington
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
APPEALS
Location: former Chester Beatty Library, 20 Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish on site structures and erect seven three-storey over basement houses and all ancillary site development works. Applicant: OMalley Homes and Development Limited. Appellant(s): Stephen MacKenzie, Shrewsbury Road Residents Association, John Dunne.
Location: Killarney National Park, Muckross, Killarney, Co Kerry (protected structure). Proposed development: broadband satellite dish at Muckross House (protected structure). Applicant: The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Appellant(s): An Taisce.
Location: 32 33 Clanbrassil Street Lower, Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish structures on site and erect a five-storey mixed-use scheme comprising four apartments, one retail unit and all site development works. Applicant: John C Carroll. Appellant(s): Daniel MacArt.
Location: The Bakery, Cross Guns Bridge, Phibsboro Road, Dublin 7. Proposed development: mixed-use scheme consisting of residential ranging in height from two to 13 storeys over two basement levels; 35 medical consulting suites, café and gym. Applicant: Stateford Limited. Appellant(s): Christopher and Cora Campbell, Stateford Limited.
Location: South Strand, Skerries, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 11 apartments and site development works. Applicant: Golden South Strand Partnership. Appellant(s): St Vincent de Paul Society and others, Robert McLaughlin.
Location: Agharinagh, Model Village, Dripsey, Co Cork. Proposed development: residential scheme comprising 130 units, a crèche, two playing pitches, recreational facilities and all site development works. Applicant: John Murphy. Appellant(s): Dripsey Community Association Limited, John Murphy.
DECISION TO REFUSE
Location: lands south of Martello Tower, Balscadden Road, Howth, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish disused sports building for 64 residential units, a café and site development works. Applicant: Pierse Contracting Limited.
Location: Pine Avenue and Springfield Park, Foxrock, Dublin 18 (formerly part of the Loreto School grounds). Proposed development: demolish single storey house and equipment store for a scheme of 26 apartments with parking and storage units. Applicant: Mark Carroll and Barry Meagher.
Location: 16-20 Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4. Proposed development: demolish building for a mixed-use scheme comprising seven apartments, retail and site development works. Applicant: Sean Doyle.
Location: Murphy and Gunne, formerly Victor Motors, Goatstown Road, Goatstown, Dublin 14. Proposed development: demolish showrooms and workshop for 49 apartments and all site development works. Applicant: Jorcan Limited.
Location: Weavers Row, Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Proposed development: demolish three houses for a mixed-use residential and retail scheme comprising a discount foodstore, four retail units and 60 apartments. Applicant: Aldi Stores (Ireland) Limited.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown
APPLICATIONS
Location: Hillcrest, Saint Brigids, Church Road, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. Proposed development: demolish bungalow for five residential units consisting of two two-storey detached three-bed dwellings, one three-bed bungalow, and two two-storey three-bed units; provision of nine car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Brian M Durkan Co Limited.
Location: Balure, Church Road, Killiney, Co Dublin. Proposed development: seven detached six-bedroom houses including modifications to the existing house to be retained on site, associated landscaping and site development works. Applicant: Castlepark Building Company Limited.
Dublin City Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: 61-62 Thomas Street, Dublin 8. Proposed development: demolish buildings for a mixed-use six-storey building to comprise of a basement car-park accommodating 15 car-parking spaces; a retail unit on the ground floor and five floors of office space. Applicant: Paul McKenna.
Location: on a 3.7-acre site known as the Windmill site at the Digital Hub, Thomas Street, Dublin 8, which is bounded by Thomas Street and James Street to the south, Watling Street to the west, Bonham Street to the north and the IAWS building on Thomas Street and the Marshalsea Wall to the east. The site includes the protected structures of the windmill (also known as the Conical Tower , Watling Street) and the three-storey period building adjacent to the Bank of Ireland known as 164 Thomas Street (also referenced as 84 James Street in the Record of Protected Structures). Proposed development: alterations and refurbishment of 164 Thomas Street (also referenced as 84 James Street in the Record of Protected Structures); alterations, partial demolition and retention of a number of buildings on the site including the warehouse at the junction of Watling Street and Bonham Street, the Digital Depot and former grain store buildings and the Bank of Ireland building (85 James Street) as well as the demolition of a structure to the rear of the site fronting Bonham Street; construct a mixed-use scheme of 13,378sq m (144,000sq ft) of office space and associated floor space for Digital Media, 1,578sq m (16,985sq ft) of retail floor space, 2,366sq m (25,467sq ft) of commercial floor space, 240sq m (2,583sq ft) of private office floor space, 396sq m (4,263sq ft) of financial services floor space; 103 student accommodation units and a 181-bedroom hotel. The total gross floor area of the development is 48,667sq m (523,847sq ft); 139 car-parking spaces are to be provided within a single level basement at the northern end of the site and 516 cycle spaces to be provided at surface and basement level. The development will comprise of nine structures in varying heights. Block B: six-storey structure and will have a floor area of 4,880sq m (52,528sq ft) accommodating financial services unit, two retail/service units at ground floor level. The five upper floors will accommodate 90 bedrooms associated with the proposed hotel use. Block C: five to seven storeys and includes a licensed hotel restaurant/bar, and three meeting/conference rooms at ground floor level. The upper levels will accommodate 91 bedrooms. Block D: five to nine-storey building and will incorporate the warehouse building at ground and first floor level with an additional four to seven storeys in two blocks overhead. The building will comprise digital offices at ground and first floor level and 34 student cluster units. Block E: six to nine-storey building. The lower ground floor will comprise a retail unit, laundry and service/communal areas. The upper ground floor will comprise a commercial unit, one retail unit, and student accommodation circulation spaces with 36 student cluster units at upper levels. Block F: eight-storey building and will comprise of two retail units at lower ground floor level. The upper ground floor level will comprise of a commercial and retail unit. The remaining upper levels will accommodate 33 student cluster units. Provision of 139 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: P Elliott Company Limited.
South Dublin
DECISION TO GRANT
Location: Newcastle Lyons, Co Dublin. Proposed development: 48 residential units comprising 19 houses, seven duplexes and 22 apartments; one retail unit, 62 on-street parking spaces, landscaping and site works. Applicant: Tenbury Developments Limited.
Fingal
APPLICATIONS
Location: on a site of c. 5.21 hectares (12.9 acres) in Zone 6 as identified within the Hansfield SDZ planning scheme 2006, formerly part of St Joseph's Hospital, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, and bounded generally by the Hansfield Road to the east, the retained St Josephs Hospital to the north, to the west by the townland of Barberstown (and permitted phase one development - Reg. Ref. F06A/1869) and to the south by the Royal Canal corridor, all in the townland of Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Proposed development: 224 dwelling units consisting of 16 two-bed units, 154 three-bed units and 54 four-bed units. The houses consist of 115 dwellings of varying types - 21 four-bed three storey end-of-terrace houses; 29 four-bed three-storey mid-terrace houses; four four-bed two-storey end-of-terrace houses; five three-bed three-storey end-of-terrace houses; 54 three-bed three-storey mid-terrace houses; one three-bed two-storey end-of-terrace house; and one three-bed two-storey detached house. The 70 duplexes will comprise of 62 three-bed two-storey units and eight two-bed two-storey units arranged in six four-storey blocks. The 39 apartments comprise eight two-bed units and 31 three-bed units in two four-storey blocks. A crèche with external play area space is also proposed and there will also be 366 car-parking spaces, landscaping and site development works. Applicant: Firth Developments Limited.
Bray Town Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: Everest Centre, Castle Street, Bray, Co Wicklow. Proposed development: demolish one and two-storey commercial buildings and structures for a five-storey split basement with access for 96 cars and construct overhead a five-storey mixed-use building with 971sq m (10,452sq ft) of retail and 3,419sq m (36,802sq ft) of office space. Applicant: Leafcrest Limited.
Cork County Council
APPLICATIONS
Location: Dunboy Castle, Dunboy, Castletownberehaven, Co Cork (protected structure). Proposed development: permission for scheme within the grounds of Dunboy Castle consisting of 38 dwellings for use as holiday homes and for short term/holiday letting purposes comprising terraced units within two courtyards and detached units; a 128sq m (1,378sq ft) estate management office within eastern courtyard blocks. Provision of a new access route within the site to include a new bridge, four new walkways and 84 car-parking spaces; associated landscaping and site development works. Applicant: Dunboy Castle Limited.
Location: former Sunbeam factory site, Commons Road, Blackpool, Cork. Proposed development: demolish building and construct four buildings ranging from one to seven floors over basement. Building one: from four to seven floors with a gross area of 10,676sq m (114,915sq ft) consisting of a retail warehouse at ground floor level and office space on floor two to six with a link to building two at first, second and third floor level. Building two: has a gross floor area of 8,605sq m (92,623sq ft) and will have a retail warehouse, a café and a convenience retail unit at ground floor with offices on first, second and third floor. Building three: five-storey building with a leisure and fitness centre at basement and ground floor level, own door office, pharmacy, crèche with outdoor play area. Building four: a single storey building with a café and access to the basement car-park. Provision of 20 surface car-parking spaces and two level basement car-park with 576 spaces. Applicant: Rothbury Estates Limited.
Compiled by Mary Hetherington
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
38 holiday homes for grounds of Cork castle
DUNBOY CASTLE on the Beara Peninsula in west Cork is seeking planning permission to build a development of holiday homes on its grounds, writes Edel Morgan
The owners of the former Puxley mansion , now the Capella Dunboy Castle five-star resort, have submitted a proposal to Cork County Council asking to build 38 terraced and detached holiday homes for short term holiday lets.
The homes would be a mix of terraced and detached. Also part of the proposal is an estate management office and a new access route to include a bridge, four new walkways and 84 car-parking spaces.
Developed by Dublin-based accountants Michael Humphreys and Adrian Dunne, the €60 million refurbishment of the Puxley mansion built in 1829 by the Puxley family has been billed as one of the longest running and biggest restorations of a large mansion.
It has been reported that costs exceeded the restoration of both Powerscourt and Kinnity Castle.
The hotel, run by the Capella Group, has a grand reception hall, main diningroom, private dining room, a 279sq m (3,000sq ft) presidential suite, bar, and a luxury spa, pool and treatment facilities next to the castle.
Last year the hotel put over 70 ocean-facing suites on the market ranging in size from 42 to 73sq m (452 to 786sq ft) with prices starting at €425,000 and connected to the main hotel by a bridge.
The hotel says the proposed holiday homes are intended for short term lets.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The owners of the former Puxley mansion , now the Capella Dunboy Castle five-star resort, have submitted a proposal to Cork County Council asking to build 38 terraced and detached holiday homes for short term holiday lets.
The homes would be a mix of terraced and detached. Also part of the proposal is an estate management office and a new access route to include a bridge, four new walkways and 84 car-parking spaces.
Developed by Dublin-based accountants Michael Humphreys and Adrian Dunne, the €60 million refurbishment of the Puxley mansion built in 1829 by the Puxley family has been billed as one of the longest running and biggest restorations of a large mansion.
It has been reported that costs exceeded the restoration of both Powerscourt and Kinnity Castle.
The hotel, run by the Capella Group, has a grand reception hall, main diningroom, private dining room, a 279sq m (3,000sq ft) presidential suite, bar, and a luxury spa, pool and treatment facilities next to the castle.
Last year the hotel put over 70 ocean-facing suites on the market ranging in size from 42 to 73sq m (452 to 786sq ft) with prices starting at €425,000 and connected to the main hotel by a bridge.
The hotel says the proposed holiday homes are intended for short term lets.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Major plan for Digital Hub site
CAVAN-DEVELOPER P Elliott has come back with another major planning application to Dublin City Council for the Windmill site in the Digital Hub in Dublin's Liberties.
The developer is proposing 44,660sq m (480,716sq ft) of mixed-use space in five blocks on the 3.7-acre site at Thomas Street, Dublin 8 and the focus has changed from a previous planning application that was turned down by An Bord Pleanála last October.
Compared to that earlier proposal, it is looking to build nearly double the amount of digital media space at 13,378sq m (144,000sq ft).
P Elliott is also proposing 1,578sq m (16,985sq ft) of retail space and 2,366sq m (25,467sq ft) of commercial floor space.
Also part of the planning application is 396sq m (4,263sq ft) of financial services floor space, 103 student accommodation units and a 181-bed hotel. The highest building being proposed is now nine storeys. The previous planning application rejected by An Bord Pleanála was for a 45,000sq m (484,375sq ft) mixed-use development with a 16-storey residential tower.
The developer was also looking to build 269 apartments, 6,422sq m (69,126sq ft) of office space for digital media, more than 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) of general office space, as well as 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) of retail, restaurant, crèche, gym and exhibition/community space.
As well as citing its excessive height, the board said the design and layout of the blocks would give rise to "undue overlooking and overshadowing between apartments" and present "unsatisfactory" elevations to Thomas, Watling and Bonham streets.
It also said the high-rise cluster would detract from the setting of the 18th century Guinness Windmill, a protected structure.
In June this year the developer was granted planning permission for 8,713sq m (93,786sq ft) of space, mostly digital media space in two blocks on around a quarter of the site.
An Taisce withdrew an appeal against a proposed eight-storey block which it said failed to protect the setting and prominence of the Windmill, "a special and iconic" building. It subsequently reached agreement with the developer that the building would be stepped down to six storeys at the rear end closest to the Windmill.
On the adjoining site, Manor Park Homebuilders got planning permission for nearly 8,000sq m (86,111sq ft) of digital media office space on its 2.5-acre Digital Hub site on Thomas Street, Dublin 8.
Both planning applications were seen as an attempt to expedite planning permission for the office space, which is key to the success of the Digital Hub where the Digital Hub Development Agency wants to keep companies together but there is currently little space available for companies looking to expand.
Last year Manor Park Homes was refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for an office and residential development because it proposed Ireland's tallest building of 53 storeys.
Both sites sold for €118 million but the State accepted part payment in the form of office buildings and this reduced the cash payment concerned to around €72 million.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The developer is proposing 44,660sq m (480,716sq ft) of mixed-use space in five blocks on the 3.7-acre site at Thomas Street, Dublin 8 and the focus has changed from a previous planning application that was turned down by An Bord Pleanála last October.
Compared to that earlier proposal, it is looking to build nearly double the amount of digital media space at 13,378sq m (144,000sq ft).
P Elliott is also proposing 1,578sq m (16,985sq ft) of retail space and 2,366sq m (25,467sq ft) of commercial floor space.
Also part of the planning application is 396sq m (4,263sq ft) of financial services floor space, 103 student accommodation units and a 181-bed hotel. The highest building being proposed is now nine storeys. The previous planning application rejected by An Bord Pleanála was for a 45,000sq m (484,375sq ft) mixed-use development with a 16-storey residential tower.
The developer was also looking to build 269 apartments, 6,422sq m (69,126sq ft) of office space for digital media, more than 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) of general office space, as well as 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) of retail, restaurant, crèche, gym and exhibition/community space.
As well as citing its excessive height, the board said the design and layout of the blocks would give rise to "undue overlooking and overshadowing between apartments" and present "unsatisfactory" elevations to Thomas, Watling and Bonham streets.
It also said the high-rise cluster would detract from the setting of the 18th century Guinness Windmill, a protected structure.
In June this year the developer was granted planning permission for 8,713sq m (93,786sq ft) of space, mostly digital media space in two blocks on around a quarter of the site.
An Taisce withdrew an appeal against a proposed eight-storey block which it said failed to protect the setting and prominence of the Windmill, "a special and iconic" building. It subsequently reached agreement with the developer that the building would be stepped down to six storeys at the rear end closest to the Windmill.
On the adjoining site, Manor Park Homebuilders got planning permission for nearly 8,000sq m (86,111sq ft) of digital media office space on its 2.5-acre Digital Hub site on Thomas Street, Dublin 8.
Both planning applications were seen as an attempt to expedite planning permission for the office space, which is key to the success of the Digital Hub where the Digital Hub Development Agency wants to keep companies together but there is currently little space available for companies looking to expand.
Last year Manor Park Homes was refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for an office and residential development because it proposed Ireland's tallest building of 53 storeys.
Both sites sold for €118 million but the State accepted part payment in the form of office buildings and this reduced the cash payment concerned to around €72 million.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Clare council grants permission for tourist resort
CLARE COUNTY Council yesterday granted planning permission for a large tourist complex, including holidays homes, to the developers of Tinerana House in Co Clare.
The plan lodged included the refurbishment of Tinerana House, an 18-hole championship golf course, a 32-bed hotel, 155 two-bed holiday homes and an equestrian centre.
In the permission, the council allowed 116 of the 155 holiday homes. Developers Tinerana Ltd had argued with the council that it could only reduce the number of holiday homes to 130, stating that "any further reduction in the short-stay unit numbers would substantially question the commercial viability of the project".
Tinerana House was the home of Paschal Carmody, who has been involved in court proceedings concerning controversial cancer treatment.
In 2006, the former doctor and his wife, Dr Frieda Keane Carmody, sold the 270-acre site on the shores of Lough Derg in a multi-million-euro deal to Limerick developers Joe Hanrahan and John Shee. Yesterday, the council gave the green light to Tinerana Ltd for the €100 million Tinerana House tourist resort.
As part of the development, 200 temporary and permanent jobs are set to be created, while 200 more jobs will be generated through the construction of the development.
The development will contribute €2.8 million to the council, a sum that represents almost three times the total amount the council has received in development contributions for the first nine months of this year. The council granted permission despite its conservation officer, Risteard UaCronin, stating in a report that if permitted, the development "would contravene national and local policy and negatively impact on this vulnerable spectacular landscape for generations to come".
Mr UaCronin had stated that the project should be greatly reduced and be located in a place where it would significantly reduce the visual and material impact on the landscape.
A spokesman for Tinerana Ltd said that it was pleased that the decision in favour of the development had been made. The council gave the plan the go-ahead after concluding that it would not seriously injure the amenities of the area.
In information lodged with the application, Tinerana Ltd stated that the development, when operational, would generate €13 million a year for the economy.
The project encountered no opposition locally. Martin Moroney, director of Shannon airport, and John Brassil, chairman of Shannon Development, lodged submissions in support of the project.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The plan lodged included the refurbishment of Tinerana House, an 18-hole championship golf course, a 32-bed hotel, 155 two-bed holiday homes and an equestrian centre.
In the permission, the council allowed 116 of the 155 holiday homes. Developers Tinerana Ltd had argued with the council that it could only reduce the number of holiday homes to 130, stating that "any further reduction in the short-stay unit numbers would substantially question the commercial viability of the project".
Tinerana House was the home of Paschal Carmody, who has been involved in court proceedings concerning controversial cancer treatment.
In 2006, the former doctor and his wife, Dr Frieda Keane Carmody, sold the 270-acre site on the shores of Lough Derg in a multi-million-euro deal to Limerick developers Joe Hanrahan and John Shee. Yesterday, the council gave the green light to Tinerana Ltd for the €100 million Tinerana House tourist resort.
As part of the development, 200 temporary and permanent jobs are set to be created, while 200 more jobs will be generated through the construction of the development.
The development will contribute €2.8 million to the council, a sum that represents almost three times the total amount the council has received in development contributions for the first nine months of this year. The council granted permission despite its conservation officer, Risteard UaCronin, stating in a report that if permitted, the development "would contravene national and local policy and negatively impact on this vulnerable spectacular landscape for generations to come".
Mr UaCronin had stated that the project should be greatly reduced and be located in a place where it would significantly reduce the visual and material impact on the landscape.
A spokesman for Tinerana Ltd said that it was pleased that the decision in favour of the development had been made. The council gave the plan the go-ahead after concluding that it would not seriously injure the amenities of the area.
In information lodged with the application, Tinerana Ltd stated that the development, when operational, would generate €13 million a year for the economy.
The project encountered no opposition locally. Martin Moroney, director of Shannon airport, and John Brassil, chairman of Shannon Development, lodged submissions in support of the project.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Renewable energy to be future cornerstone - Minister
RENEWABLE ENERGY and energy efficiency rather than nuclear power is the "cornerstone of our energy future", Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan said last night.
Renewable energy would provide a sustainable and secure energy supply as well as creating jobs, Mr Ryan said ahead of a debate on nuclear energy at Trinity College Dublin last night.
The commitment to 40 per cent renewables by 2020 announced by Minister for the Environment John Gormley yesterday recognised the "economic opportunities and advantages we have as a country in the renewable area".
Responding to predictions yesterday by ESB chief executive Pádraig McManus that Ireland would have nuclear power by 2035, Mr Ryan said in Government he had set out that renewables were the "way to go" and he was busy trying to deliver on this.
It was not possible to tell whether electricity coming to Ireland from Britain via interconnection was from nuclear or renewables. "That is just a law of physics you can't overcome," Mr Ryan said.
"We need interconnection and we are increasingly connected with the UK in terms of our energy future," he said, adding that Ireland could potentially sell renewables to Britain and Europe.
However, Mr McManus said yesterday that he believed Ireland would have nuclear power by the year 2035.
Mr McManus told The Irish Times that, unless new energy technology was developed by the early 2020s, Ireland would have no option but to develop nuclear power to meet both electricity demand and carbon emission targets.
Speaking in northern Spain, where ESB International is investing €500 million in a new combined cycle gas turbine, Mr McManus said demand for electricity in Ireland was expected to reach 10,000 megawatts by 2020.
Ireland would still be dependent on either gas or coal at that stage, Mr McManus added. "If one or other [gas or coal] runs out or becomes too expensive, nuclear power will be required."
A 12-year development cycle for nuclear power plants would require planning for them by 2022, he said. The ESB currently had "no plans" and "no expertise" to develop nuclear power, Mr McManus added.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Renewable energy would provide a sustainable and secure energy supply as well as creating jobs, Mr Ryan said ahead of a debate on nuclear energy at Trinity College Dublin last night.
The commitment to 40 per cent renewables by 2020 announced by Minister for the Environment John Gormley yesterday recognised the "economic opportunities and advantages we have as a country in the renewable area".
Responding to predictions yesterday by ESB chief executive Pádraig McManus that Ireland would have nuclear power by 2035, Mr Ryan said in Government he had set out that renewables were the "way to go" and he was busy trying to deliver on this.
It was not possible to tell whether electricity coming to Ireland from Britain via interconnection was from nuclear or renewables. "That is just a law of physics you can't overcome," Mr Ryan said.
"We need interconnection and we are increasingly connected with the UK in terms of our energy future," he said, adding that Ireland could potentially sell renewables to Britain and Europe.
However, Mr McManus said yesterday that he believed Ireland would have nuclear power by the year 2035.
Mr McManus told The Irish Times that, unless new energy technology was developed by the early 2020s, Ireland would have no option but to develop nuclear power to meet both electricity demand and carbon emission targets.
Speaking in northern Spain, where ESB International is investing €500 million in a new combined cycle gas turbine, Mr McManus said demand for electricity in Ireland was expected to reach 10,000 megawatts by 2020.
Ireland would still be dependent on either gas or coal at that stage, Mr McManus added. "If one or other [gas or coal] runs out or becomes too expensive, nuclear power will be required."
A 12-year development cycle for nuclear power plants would require planning for them by 2022, he said. The ESB currently had "no plans" and "no expertise" to develop nuclear power, Mr McManus added.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Dempsey defends practicality of Metro North
MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey strongly defended the Government's proposed north Dublin metro line linking the airport and Swords to the city centre.
"The investment involved in Metro North should not be considered in the light of the 30-year period during which we will pay for it under the public-private partnership, but in the light of the fact that the system will serve the needs of the people for 50 or 100 years," he said.
Mr Dempsey said that he had heard much "ignorant comment" about Metro North and questions as to why buses should not be acquired.
"To do what we want with Metro North, that is, to move approximately 20,000 passengers in each direction during peak travel times, we would have to invest in approximately 400 to 500 buses," said Mr Dempsey.
"There would not be sufficient road space to do so." In opting for a Luas solution, as some people were advocating, the maximum number of passengers accommodated would be about 8,000 per hour at peak time.
"Given that the population is to grow by approximately 500,000 . . . by 2015-16, a Luas or totally bus-based system of public transport in the north county Dublin area is a nonsensical proposition," said Mr Dempsey.
The Minister said that the Railway Procurement Agency, which was responsible for the project, had applied last month to An Bord Pleanála for a railway order for Metro North.
The application clearly set out the route alignment, underground and surface sections and station locations, he said. The public-private partnership tenders were due to be submitted to the agency in early February.
Once the procurement and the statutory approval processes were completed, the Government would make a final decision.
"This is a long-standing requirement for all very large projects under Transport 21," he added.
Mr Dempsey said that next year's estimates included substantial funding provision for those works.
Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe said that from next January substitution cover for uncertified sick leave in all schools, and for official school business in post-primary schools, was being suspended.
He was asking schools, he said, to consider carefully the necessity for absences at events outside school which took place during core class contact time.
Mr O'Keeffe said that substitution cover would still be paid for all other categories of teacher-absence currently provided for and the 37-hour scheme of payment to teachers for supervision and substitution would continue.
He added that there would be rationalisation of in-career development courses for teachers next year.
"However, we will continue to provide a wide range of courses for teachers in key areas including special education and language support," he added.
The Minister said he had also regularised an anomalous situation whereby fee-charging schools under Catholic patronage were not receiving certain grants paid to other fee-charging schools.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
"The investment involved in Metro North should not be considered in the light of the 30-year period during which we will pay for it under the public-private partnership, but in the light of the fact that the system will serve the needs of the people for 50 or 100 years," he said.
Mr Dempsey said that he had heard much "ignorant comment" about Metro North and questions as to why buses should not be acquired.
"To do what we want with Metro North, that is, to move approximately 20,000 passengers in each direction during peak travel times, we would have to invest in approximately 400 to 500 buses," said Mr Dempsey.
"There would not be sufficient road space to do so." In opting for a Luas solution, as some people were advocating, the maximum number of passengers accommodated would be about 8,000 per hour at peak time.
"Given that the population is to grow by approximately 500,000 . . . by 2015-16, a Luas or totally bus-based system of public transport in the north county Dublin area is a nonsensical proposition," said Mr Dempsey.
The Minister said that the Railway Procurement Agency, which was responsible for the project, had applied last month to An Bord Pleanála for a railway order for Metro North.
The application clearly set out the route alignment, underground and surface sections and station locations, he said. The public-private partnership tenders were due to be submitted to the agency in early February.
Once the procurement and the statutory approval processes were completed, the Government would make a final decision.
"This is a long-standing requirement for all very large projects under Transport 21," he added.
Mr Dempsey said that next year's estimates included substantial funding provision for those works.
Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe said that from next January substitution cover for uncertified sick leave in all schools, and for official school business in post-primary schools, was being suspended.
He was asking schools, he said, to consider carefully the necessity for absences at events outside school which took place during core class contact time.
Mr O'Keeffe said that substitution cover would still be paid for all other categories of teacher-absence currently provided for and the 37-hour scheme of payment to teachers for supervision and substitution would continue.
He added that there would be rationalisation of in-career development courses for teachers next year.
"However, we will continue to provide a wide range of courses for teachers in key areas including special education and language support," he added.
The Minister said he had also regularised an anomalous situation whereby fee-charging schools under Catholic patronage were not receiving certain grants paid to other fee-charging schools.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Council to decide if former church must be rebuilt
DUBLIN CITY Council will decide today whether a former church in Dublin will have to rebuilt following its partial illegal demolition early yesterday morning.
A notice ordering the cessation of the demolition of the former Methodist Church and schoolhouse at Jones's Road was issued on Tuesday night following complaints from local residents that demolition had begun.
The enforcement notice requires the owner of the structure to cease further demolition, to reinstate parts of the building that were demolished "by April 14th, 2009" and to reinstate the cast-iron front boundary railings.
John Reilly, buildings inspector with the council, said yesterday that despite the notice being issued, "apparently at about 6am this morning, the front of the building was attacked with a JCB. It is now unsafe and the priority has to be to make it safe, which will probably mean taking it down piece by piece".
The Garda was called to the site twice on Tuesday night as attempts were apparently under way to begin demolition. There was concern last night the building would be a safety hazard as crowds passed it on their way to last night's international soccer match at neighbouring Croke Park.
Mr Reilly said the structure was not a listed building, but since new rules were introduced in June, permission was required to demolish an industrial building greater than 100sq m. The building is about 400sq m. It dates back to 1881 and until a fortnight ago, was used as a leather-furniture salesroom.
He said planning permission for its demolition probably would have been granted, but an attempt had clearly been made to circumvent the process. Anthony Gannon of Meena Plant Hire, who was contracted to carry out the demolition, was at the site yesterday morning. He said his intention was to comply with the notice and had arrived on-site at 8am yesterday with council officers to assess how compliance would be achieved.
"And this is the mess that was here. I don't know who did this," he said. The front and left-hand side of the building had been razed. One JCB was visible inside and another adjacent to the building. He said he didn't know who owned them.
A member of the Garda was at the site yesterday and the demolition of the front facade is now under criminal investigation.
Mr Gannon said he had not been able to get in touch with the owner. "I can't contact him at the moment." Attempts by The Irish Times to contact the owner were also unsuccessful. The plan for the site was to build apartments, Mr Gannon said.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Christy Burke said it was "nothing but thuggery and vandalism". He said if the council deemed it necessary for the building to be taken down, it would be "playing into the hands of cowboys".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
A notice ordering the cessation of the demolition of the former Methodist Church and schoolhouse at Jones's Road was issued on Tuesday night following complaints from local residents that demolition had begun.
The enforcement notice requires the owner of the structure to cease further demolition, to reinstate parts of the building that were demolished "by April 14th, 2009" and to reinstate the cast-iron front boundary railings.
John Reilly, buildings inspector with the council, said yesterday that despite the notice being issued, "apparently at about 6am this morning, the front of the building was attacked with a JCB. It is now unsafe and the priority has to be to make it safe, which will probably mean taking it down piece by piece".
The Garda was called to the site twice on Tuesday night as attempts were apparently under way to begin demolition. There was concern last night the building would be a safety hazard as crowds passed it on their way to last night's international soccer match at neighbouring Croke Park.
Mr Reilly said the structure was not a listed building, but since new rules were introduced in June, permission was required to demolish an industrial building greater than 100sq m. The building is about 400sq m. It dates back to 1881 and until a fortnight ago, was used as a leather-furniture salesroom.
He said planning permission for its demolition probably would have been granted, but an attempt had clearly been made to circumvent the process. Anthony Gannon of Meena Plant Hire, who was contracted to carry out the demolition, was at the site yesterday morning. He said his intention was to comply with the notice and had arrived on-site at 8am yesterday with council officers to assess how compliance would be achieved.
"And this is the mess that was here. I don't know who did this," he said. The front and left-hand side of the building had been razed. One JCB was visible inside and another adjacent to the building. He said he didn't know who owned them.
A member of the Garda was at the site yesterday and the demolition of the front facade is now under criminal investigation.
Mr Gannon said he had not been able to get in touch with the owner. "I can't contact him at the moment." Attempts by The Irish Times to contact the owner were also unsuccessful. The plan for the site was to build apartments, Mr Gannon said.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Christy Burke said it was "nothing but thuggery and vandalism". He said if the council deemed it necessary for the building to be taken down, it would be "playing into the hands of cowboys".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
High Court action against €500m gas terminal gets under way
LEGAL proceedings challenging the proposed development of a €500 million gas terminal near Tarbert in Co Kerry began in the High Court yesterday.
The action is being taken by an environmental group and a local man.
The proceedings have been brought by Friends of the Irish Environment Ltd (FIE) and Mr Raymond O’Mahony, a welder and member of the Kilcolgan Residents Association, of Kilcolgan, Tarbert.
Both are objecting to the proposed development by Shannon LNG Ltd of a liquid natural gas terminal at Kilcolgan. Mr O’Mahony says he is extremely concerned about the safety of himself and his family and at how the Heath and Safety Authority (HSA) has dealt with issues concerning the terminal.
The proceedings were initiated in the High Court earlier this year and admitted to the Commercial Court list which fast-tracks commercial disputes on the application of Shannon LNG. Permission for the development was granted by An Bord Pleanála on March 31.
The case before Mr Justice John MacMenamin is expected to continue for several days.
Shannon LNG claims it had spent €15m related to the proposed development by the end of April last, and that any delay in progressing the development will have significant commercial consequences for the company. It is aiming to have the facility operational by 2012 or 2013, it said.
In its judicial review application, FIE claims the HSA had failed to give proper technical advice on the control of major accident hazards relating to the development as required by domestic and European law. It also claims the State failed to properly transpose four relevant EU directives relating to 1) controlling major accident hazards; 2) the assessment of certain projects and their impacts on the environment; 3) birds; and 4) habitats.
Mr Oisin Collins, counsel for the FIE, submitted the HSA had decided major accident regulations applied to the proposed development, but the HSA’s consequent technical advice on the development was inadequate.
Mr O’Mahony is seeking declarations that the HSA failed to give proper technical advice concerning the proposed development and also failed to properly transpose a number of relevant EU directives.
He claims he is entitled to have the decision reviewed in a fair and timely manner and also claims that the manner in which the HSA and An Bord Pleanála have exercised their statutory functions breaches his rights under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. As the proceedings were likely to be very costly, he claims he is entitled to a protective costs order, or some other means of ensuring he is not burdened with prohibitive costs.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
The action is being taken by an environmental group and a local man.
The proceedings have been brought by Friends of the Irish Environment Ltd (FIE) and Mr Raymond O’Mahony, a welder and member of the Kilcolgan Residents Association, of Kilcolgan, Tarbert.
Both are objecting to the proposed development by Shannon LNG Ltd of a liquid natural gas terminal at Kilcolgan. Mr O’Mahony says he is extremely concerned about the safety of himself and his family and at how the Heath and Safety Authority (HSA) has dealt with issues concerning the terminal.
The proceedings were initiated in the High Court earlier this year and admitted to the Commercial Court list which fast-tracks commercial disputes on the application of Shannon LNG. Permission for the development was granted by An Bord Pleanála on March 31.
The case before Mr Justice John MacMenamin is expected to continue for several days.
Shannon LNG claims it had spent €15m related to the proposed development by the end of April last, and that any delay in progressing the development will have significant commercial consequences for the company. It is aiming to have the facility operational by 2012 or 2013, it said.
In its judicial review application, FIE claims the HSA had failed to give proper technical advice on the control of major accident hazards relating to the development as required by domestic and European law. It also claims the State failed to properly transpose four relevant EU directives relating to 1) controlling major accident hazards; 2) the assessment of certain projects and their impacts on the environment; 3) birds; and 4) habitats.
Mr Oisin Collins, counsel for the FIE, submitted the HSA had decided major accident regulations applied to the proposed development, but the HSA’s consequent technical advice on the development was inadequate.
Mr O’Mahony is seeking declarations that the HSA failed to give proper technical advice concerning the proposed development and also failed to properly transpose a number of relevant EU directives.
He claims he is entitled to have the decision reviewed in a fair and timely manner and also claims that the manner in which the HSA and An Bord Pleanála have exercised their statutory functions breaches his rights under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. As the proceedings were likely to be very costly, he claims he is entitled to a protective costs order, or some other means of ensuring he is not burdened with prohibitive costs.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Tax incentive a step to kick-starting docklands
A TAX incentive scheme announced in the budget has been described as a small step towards kick-starting the multi-billion regeneration of Cork’s docklands.
But opposition parties and business leaders demanded further action and commitments from the Government to get the ambitious project, which has the potential to create thousands of construction jobs, off the ground.
Cork Chamber also criticised the fact that State supports for a crucial piece of infrastructure — the Eastern Gateway Bridge designed to open up the south docks — were not included in the budget.
Cork City Council has drafted ambitious plans for the transformation of the 400-acre docklands region site into a waterfront urban quarter with thousands of apartments, offices, hotels and an events centre.
The Cork Docklands Forum, set up by the Government last year and chaired by former UCC president Professor Gerry Wrixon, has said the Exchequer should fund hundreds of millions of euro worth of infrastructure, including bridges and roads, to kickstart the development.
Its report said the potential of the project — the biggest proposal since the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin 20 years ago — is huge.
However, developers have baulked at paying the cost of basic infrastructure to the area. And much of the docklands is unusable because it has been occupied for decades by oil tanks and other high-risk operations — so-called Seveso sites.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced plans yesterday to introduce a new tax incentive scheme to facilitate the relocation of Seveso sites.
There are three such sites in Cork’s Docklands owned by Topaz Energy, the National Oil Reserve Agency and Gouldings Fertilisers.
“This scheme will be subject to clearance by the European Commission from a state aid’s perspective,” said Mr Lenihan.
The Docklands Forum said offering grants to these companies to move operations would not breach EU state aid rules.
Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy welcomed the Seveso move but said a whole range of further measures are needed.
“We would hope to see additional support in the Finance Bill,” he said.
Fine Gael’s innovation spokesperson Deirdre Clune described Mr Lenihan’s announcement “as the one bright spot in an otherwise bleak and bad budget for everyone in the country”.
“One obstacle holding up the docklands project has been removed and that is good news,” she said.
Fine Gael senator Jerry Buttimer said he is disappointed that there was no clear commitment to funding the overall docklands project.
“This was promised before previous budgets and has not been delivered,” he said.
“The Seveso tax incentive is a small step and is subject to approval from Brussels.”
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
But opposition parties and business leaders demanded further action and commitments from the Government to get the ambitious project, which has the potential to create thousands of construction jobs, off the ground.
Cork Chamber also criticised the fact that State supports for a crucial piece of infrastructure — the Eastern Gateway Bridge designed to open up the south docks — were not included in the budget.
Cork City Council has drafted ambitious plans for the transformation of the 400-acre docklands region site into a waterfront urban quarter with thousands of apartments, offices, hotels and an events centre.
The Cork Docklands Forum, set up by the Government last year and chaired by former UCC president Professor Gerry Wrixon, has said the Exchequer should fund hundreds of millions of euro worth of infrastructure, including bridges and roads, to kickstart the development.
Its report said the potential of the project — the biggest proposal since the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin 20 years ago — is huge.
However, developers have baulked at paying the cost of basic infrastructure to the area. And much of the docklands is unusable because it has been occupied for decades by oil tanks and other high-risk operations — so-called Seveso sites.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced plans yesterday to introduce a new tax incentive scheme to facilitate the relocation of Seveso sites.
There are three such sites in Cork’s Docklands owned by Topaz Energy, the National Oil Reserve Agency and Gouldings Fertilisers.
“This scheme will be subject to clearance by the European Commission from a state aid’s perspective,” said Mr Lenihan.
The Docklands Forum said offering grants to these companies to move operations would not breach EU state aid rules.
Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy welcomed the Seveso move but said a whole range of further measures are needed.
“We would hope to see additional support in the Finance Bill,” he said.
Fine Gael’s innovation spokesperson Deirdre Clune described Mr Lenihan’s announcement “as the one bright spot in an otherwise bleak and bad budget for everyone in the country”.
“One obstacle holding up the docklands project has been removed and that is good news,” she said.
Fine Gael senator Jerry Buttimer said he is disappointed that there was no clear commitment to funding the overall docklands project.
“This was promised before previous budgets and has not been delivered,” he said.
“The Seveso tax incentive is a small step and is subject to approval from Brussels.”
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
CO2 levels force incentives to make homes energy efficient
EXCESSIVE amounts of greenhouse gas emissions have forced the Government to offer more incentives to help prevent homeowners wasting energy.
This year’s budget was also about Ireland moving closer “to a lower carbon intensive economy”, stressed Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.
In a bid to cut back on CO2, more grants will be offered for people to insulate their homes. The move is likely to give a temporary boost to the building industry as well as employment for tradespeople, whose sectors saw significant job losses in recent months.
Grants for the Home Energy Saving Scheme will be €20 million next year, an increase of €15m on this year. Homeowners will be able to get grants of up to 30% of the cost of retro-fitting homes.
The measures are expected to run alongside the Warmer Homes Scheme which provides insulation and energy advice to households in receipt of various social welfare benefits. Some €5m from the Exchequer will go on this next year.
The Government also intends introducing another scheme for energy savings in local authority homes. More details are expected today when Environment Minister John Gormley delivers the Government’s green budget.
The extra scheme is expected to involve the retrofitting of older heating systems with new green energy ones.
Despite commitments to reducing emissions to 63m tonnes annually between 2008-2012, Ireland is currently emitting 70 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. The Environmental Protection Agency has predicted the country will have to buy several million tonnes in carbon credits, an increased burden on the taxpayer.
Commenting on the budget, Minister Eamon Ryan said: “Energy efficiency and renewable energy are key priorities in the energy policy. Increases in funding for energy efficiency will help householders to reduce their energy bills, stimulate investment in our country and cut carbon emissions.”
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
This year’s budget was also about Ireland moving closer “to a lower carbon intensive economy”, stressed Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.
In a bid to cut back on CO2, more grants will be offered for people to insulate their homes. The move is likely to give a temporary boost to the building industry as well as employment for tradespeople, whose sectors saw significant job losses in recent months.
Grants for the Home Energy Saving Scheme will be €20 million next year, an increase of €15m on this year. Homeowners will be able to get grants of up to 30% of the cost of retro-fitting homes.
The measures are expected to run alongside the Warmer Homes Scheme which provides insulation and energy advice to households in receipt of various social welfare benefits. Some €5m from the Exchequer will go on this next year.
The Government also intends introducing another scheme for energy savings in local authority homes. More details are expected today when Environment Minister John Gormley delivers the Government’s green budget.
The extra scheme is expected to involve the retrofitting of older heating systems with new green energy ones.
Despite commitments to reducing emissions to 63m tonnes annually between 2008-2012, Ireland is currently emitting 70 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. The Environmental Protection Agency has predicted the country will have to buy several million tonnes in carbon credits, an increased burden on the taxpayer.
Commenting on the budget, Minister Eamon Ryan said: “Energy efficiency and renewable energy are key priorities in the energy policy. Increases in funding for energy efficiency will help householders to reduce their energy bills, stimulate investment in our country and cut carbon emissions.”
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Sports pitch rezoned for 100-bed hospital
A FORMER soccer pitch in Cork’s suburbs has been rezoned for a 100-bed step-down unit that will help free up hospital beds.
The city council vote on Monday night cleared the way for planners to grant planning permission yesterday for the Health Service Executive (HSE) facility on a site off Farranlea Road in Wilton.
Councillors, who have repeatedly warned developers to keep their hands off sports grounds, defended the rezoning vote. And they warned developers eyeing other sports grounds not to the view the move as a precedent.
The vote was taken after the wording of the rezoning motion was tightened to ensure that only a 100-bed step-down care facility could be built on the site. Step-down units are designed to provide less intensive care for patients than intensive hospital units.
Cllr Fergal Dennehy (FF) said, in principal, he is not in favour of rezoning sports grounds but that each case should be examined on its merits.
His colleague Cllr Tom O’Driscoll said this vote should not be seen by developers — “people who can’t take no for an answer” — as a signal of a change in council policy on sports ground zoning.
Cllr Damian Wallace (FF) said the council should in no way be seen as the instrument for refusing a crucial health facility.
“We are crying out for such beds,” he said.
Fine Gael Cllr John Buttimer pointed out that no objections have ever been made against the health facility plans.
“Farranlea residents support the project. There is a severe reluctance amongst councillors to rezone sports ground at a whim,” he said
“But this will not be a commercial development. It is an essential element of the health care strategy to ease beds pressure on Cork University Hospital and the Mercy.”
However, Green Party’s Chris O’Leary, socialist Mick Barry and independent Dave McCarthy voted against the rezoning. Mr O’Leary said the vote would “open a can of worms”.
Mr McCarthy said he could not understand why valuable city land zoned for sport was being lost while other HSE sites, like Our Lady’s Hospital, lie idle.
Cllr Terry Shannon (FF), who voted to rezone, warned the HSE to move quickly.
“We have provided this site. We want to see bricks and mortar. We want to see people in there benefiting from this,” he said.
The Farranlea Road step down facility is one of 12 planned by the Government under a €112 million investment to ease pressure on public hospital beds.
In Cork, a 50-bed unit is being built on the grounds of St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher and a 100-bed unit is being built in Ballincollig.
Another unit at St Finbarr’s Hospital opened recently on a phased basis.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
The city council vote on Monday night cleared the way for planners to grant planning permission yesterday for the Health Service Executive (HSE) facility on a site off Farranlea Road in Wilton.
Councillors, who have repeatedly warned developers to keep their hands off sports grounds, defended the rezoning vote. And they warned developers eyeing other sports grounds not to the view the move as a precedent.
The vote was taken after the wording of the rezoning motion was tightened to ensure that only a 100-bed step-down care facility could be built on the site. Step-down units are designed to provide less intensive care for patients than intensive hospital units.
Cllr Fergal Dennehy (FF) said, in principal, he is not in favour of rezoning sports grounds but that each case should be examined on its merits.
His colleague Cllr Tom O’Driscoll said this vote should not be seen by developers — “people who can’t take no for an answer” — as a signal of a change in council policy on sports ground zoning.
Cllr Damian Wallace (FF) said the council should in no way be seen as the instrument for refusing a crucial health facility.
“We are crying out for such beds,” he said.
Fine Gael Cllr John Buttimer pointed out that no objections have ever been made against the health facility plans.
“Farranlea residents support the project. There is a severe reluctance amongst councillors to rezone sports ground at a whim,” he said
“But this will not be a commercial development. It is an essential element of the health care strategy to ease beds pressure on Cork University Hospital and the Mercy.”
However, Green Party’s Chris O’Leary, socialist Mick Barry and independent Dave McCarthy voted against the rezoning. Mr O’Leary said the vote would “open a can of worms”.
Mr McCarthy said he could not understand why valuable city land zoned for sport was being lost while other HSE sites, like Our Lady’s Hospital, lie idle.
Cllr Terry Shannon (FF), who voted to rezone, warned the HSE to move quickly.
“We have provided this site. We want to see bricks and mortar. We want to see people in there benefiting from this,” he said.
The Farranlea Road step down facility is one of 12 planned by the Government under a €112 million investment to ease pressure on public hospital beds.
In Cork, a 50-bed unit is being built on the grounds of St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher and a 100-bed unit is being built in Ballincollig.
Another unit at St Finbarr’s Hospital opened recently on a phased basis.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Poolbeg 'will get go-ahead next year'
CONSTRUCTION of the controversial Poolbeg incinerator will begin early next year after the Environmental Protection Agency issues Dublin City Council with a licence to operate the plant.
Assistant city manager Matt Twomey said that collecting and disposing of household waste in the city would continue to be controlled by the city council, with the aim of recycling 59pc of all waste and "not on making huge profits".
Mr Twomey added: "Construction will begin on the Poolbeg plant as soon as statutory approval from the EPA and Energy Regulator is secured."
He said the waste-to-energy plant would process up to 600,000 tonnes of waste a year, and provide power for 50,000 homes.
PAUL MELIA
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Assistant city manager Matt Twomey said that collecting and disposing of household waste in the city would continue to be controlled by the city council, with the aim of recycling 59pc of all waste and "not on making huge profits".
Mr Twomey added: "Construction will begin on the Poolbeg plant as soon as statutory approval from the EPA and Energy Regulator is secured."
He said the waste-to-energy plant would process up to 600,000 tonnes of waste a year, and provide power for 50,000 homes.
PAUL MELIA
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Council turns up the heat
DUBLIN City Council is to go into competition with ESB and Bord Gais and become a major supplier of heat and power to city homes.
Household waste will be used to light and heat homes, hotels and offices under plans to develop a citywide district heating system driven by the controversial Poolbeg incinerator.
A study commissioned by the council, seen by the Irish Independent, says that introducing the system will cost about €90m and will lead to lower bills for homeowners, and fewer emissions of greenhouse gases.
The waste-to-energy plant will produce most of the power required to feed the system, but excess heat generated by power stations in Poolbeg, and smaller heating systems in the civic offices, the Guinness brewery and city hospitals will also be harnessed if required.
District heating, which is commonly used throughout Europe, costs less to run. In Dublin, it would burn up to 600,000 tonnes of waste to generate the power, instead of oil and gas.
According to assistant city manager Matt Twomey: "The grand plan is to have a citywide district heating (DH) scheme triggered by the waste-to-energy plant. Combined heat and power plants, like those in Guinness, will kick in during an emergency.
"If you base it on waste . . . it's cheaper than oil and gas. It's the intention of the city to act as a catalyst for district heating.
Docklands
"With new buildings there's no problem, but existing buildings will have to be retrofitted. It will provide hot water and heating, and district cooling for shopping centres and hotels in the summer.
"The docklands is really the ideal location (for a DH scheme)," he added.
Dublin already has some district heating, most notably in Ballymun -- where 2,820 flats were powered -- but the system is being decommissioned because of inefficiencies.
Some developers have inbuilt the capacity to tap into district heating. Treasury Holdings at Spencer Dock will be powered by gas until DH comes on stream, while Elm Park in Dublin 4 is also fitted out for the switch. The Point Village will also be able to avail, as will Heuston South Quarter.
Up to 60,000 homes could be heated by the Poolbeg plant, and up to 32,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved by a citywide scheme. But the report also warns of disruption while the system is installed, although power could be provided from as early as 2012.
"As the number of connected customers grows, the network will require additional heat. This could be supplied by the power plants at Poolbeg, which currently generate heat as a by-product and require cooling.
"This will increase their efficiency and is likely to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions," according to the report.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Household waste will be used to light and heat homes, hotels and offices under plans to develop a citywide district heating system driven by the controversial Poolbeg incinerator.
A study commissioned by the council, seen by the Irish Independent, says that introducing the system will cost about €90m and will lead to lower bills for homeowners, and fewer emissions of greenhouse gases.
The waste-to-energy plant will produce most of the power required to feed the system, but excess heat generated by power stations in Poolbeg, and smaller heating systems in the civic offices, the Guinness brewery and city hospitals will also be harnessed if required.
District heating, which is commonly used throughout Europe, costs less to run. In Dublin, it would burn up to 600,000 tonnes of waste to generate the power, instead of oil and gas.
According to assistant city manager Matt Twomey: "The grand plan is to have a citywide district heating (DH) scheme triggered by the waste-to-energy plant. Combined heat and power plants, like those in Guinness, will kick in during an emergency.
"If you base it on waste . . . it's cheaper than oil and gas. It's the intention of the city to act as a catalyst for district heating.
Docklands
"With new buildings there's no problem, but existing buildings will have to be retrofitted. It will provide hot water and heating, and district cooling for shopping centres and hotels in the summer.
"The docklands is really the ideal location (for a DH scheme)," he added.
Dublin already has some district heating, most notably in Ballymun -- where 2,820 flats were powered -- but the system is being decommissioned because of inefficiencies.
Some developers have inbuilt the capacity to tap into district heating. Treasury Holdings at Spencer Dock will be powered by gas until DH comes on stream, while Elm Park in Dublin 4 is also fitted out for the switch. The Point Village will also be able to avail, as will Heuston South Quarter.
Up to 60,000 homes could be heated by the Poolbeg plant, and up to 32,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved by a citywide scheme. But the report also warns of disruption while the system is installed, although power could be provided from as early as 2012.
"As the number of connected customers grows, the network will require additional heat. This could be supplied by the power plants at Poolbeg, which currently generate heat as a by-product and require cooling.
"This will increase their efficiency and is likely to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions," according to the report.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Builders say council owes them €6.2m on Part V
TWO CONSTRUCTION companies have brought Commercial Court proceedings aimed at compelling Cork County Council to pay €6.2 million arising from a social housing agreement.
Diamond Developments Ltd and Bride View Developments Ltd, both with registered offices at Dundanion House, Blackrock, Cork, claim the money is due under an agreement of October 2007 for the transfer of two apartment blocks, comprising 24 units, and a community centre premises at a development at Bridgefield, Curraheen, Co Cork.
The companies say the agreement provided for the transfer of the apartments and community centre to the Respond Housing Association, a voluntary housing body nominated by the council, under the social housing provisions of part V of the Planning and Development Act.
The companies claim the two apartment blocks are substantially complete, but further costs of some €150,000 were required to complete the development.
The council had failed to make any stage payments under the contract and had evinced an intention not to be bound by the terms of the agreement, they claim. In light of that, the companies say they have not done the completion works although they are able and willing to do so.
They claim some €6.2 million is due and owing.
The council had told them in correspondence it had made a recommendation to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government concerning the October 2007 social housing agreement.
The companies say they were never told their agreement with the council in relation to their part V obligations was conditional on the department's approval. There appeared to be a significant obstacle in getting that approval, but that was not a matter which concerned the companies, they claim.
In an affidavit, Declan O'Mahony, a director of the companies, said that, given the downturn in the construction industry, the companies were coming under significant financial pressure.
He said it was essential for their financial viability that the proceedings were determined as speedily as possible.
In those circumstances, the companies applied to have the case fast-tracked in the Commercial Court and Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday admitted the case to that court's list.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Diamond Developments Ltd and Bride View Developments Ltd, both with registered offices at Dundanion House, Blackrock, Cork, claim the money is due under an agreement of October 2007 for the transfer of two apartment blocks, comprising 24 units, and a community centre premises at a development at Bridgefield, Curraheen, Co Cork.
The companies say the agreement provided for the transfer of the apartments and community centre to the Respond Housing Association, a voluntary housing body nominated by the council, under the social housing provisions of part V of the Planning and Development Act.
The companies claim the two apartment blocks are substantially complete, but further costs of some €150,000 were required to complete the development.
The council had failed to make any stage payments under the contract and had evinced an intention not to be bound by the terms of the agreement, they claim. In light of that, the companies say they have not done the completion works although they are able and willing to do so.
They claim some €6.2 million is due and owing.
The council had told them in correspondence it had made a recommendation to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government concerning the October 2007 social housing agreement.
The companies say they were never told their agreement with the council in relation to their part V obligations was conditional on the department's approval. There appeared to be a significant obstacle in getting that approval, but that was not a matter which concerned the companies, they claim.
In an affidavit, Declan O'Mahony, a director of the companies, said that, given the downturn in the construction industry, the companies were coming under significant financial pressure.
He said it was essential for their financial viability that the proceedings were determined as speedily as possible.
In those circumstances, the companies applied to have the case fast-tracked in the Commercial Court and Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday admitted the case to that court's list.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Plan to demolish 1901 school blocked
DUBLIN CITY councillors have voted to block the Holy Faith Sisters from demolishing their 100-year-old secondary school on Haddington Road, Dublin and redeveloping the site as an up-market residential scheme.
The school had been run by the order since 1901, but closed in June 2007 after its final Leaving Certificate students completed their exams.
The order is seeking planning permission to demolish the school and part of the convent and a chapel on the same site. It wants to build 11 four-bedroom houses, two apartments and a three-storey 11-bedroomed convent with a new chapel. It also wants to convert part of the existing convent into two four-bedroom houses.
Councillors last night said the sisters should not be granted planning permission for the development because of the lack of schools in the area.
"We can't sell off our schools to support the living standards of nuns. The nuns are entitled to a better standard of living in the future, but we can't see another educational institution in this area going," Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said.
In the 2004 city development plan the councillors put "Z15" zoning on the lands, which aims to maintain institutional use of a site. Although residential development is open for consideration in this zoning, Sinn Féin councillor Daithi Doolan said the councillors had thought they were protecting the land from being sold to developers.
"We predicted in 2004 that the Holy Faith Sisters would try to sell off the land. We need a school here, not the selling off of our resources, and I thought we had protected this school from that," Mr Doolan said.
An educational needs assessment of the area should be conducted before any decision on the planning application was reached, Labour councillor Oisín Quinn said.
"This is a school that was open until quite recently and I feel this is completely the wrong application at completely the wrong time. Without us being confident that there is sufficient secondary education in the area, without a needs assessment being conducted I don't think this can be given permission."
Councillors recommended that the city planners refuse permission for the development. While the decision is ultimately made by the planners, they must have regard to the councillors' views.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The school had been run by the order since 1901, but closed in June 2007 after its final Leaving Certificate students completed their exams.
The order is seeking planning permission to demolish the school and part of the convent and a chapel on the same site. It wants to build 11 four-bedroom houses, two apartments and a three-storey 11-bedroomed convent with a new chapel. It also wants to convert part of the existing convent into two four-bedroom houses.
Councillors last night said the sisters should not be granted planning permission for the development because of the lack of schools in the area.
"We can't sell off our schools to support the living standards of nuns. The nuns are entitled to a better standard of living in the future, but we can't see another educational institution in this area going," Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said.
In the 2004 city development plan the councillors put "Z15" zoning on the lands, which aims to maintain institutional use of a site. Although residential development is open for consideration in this zoning, Sinn Féin councillor Daithi Doolan said the councillors had thought they were protecting the land from being sold to developers.
"We predicted in 2004 that the Holy Faith Sisters would try to sell off the land. We need a school here, not the selling off of our resources, and I thought we had protected this school from that," Mr Doolan said.
An educational needs assessment of the area should be conducted before any decision on the planning application was reached, Labour councillor Oisín Quinn said.
"This is a school that was open until quite recently and I feel this is completely the wrong application at completely the wrong time. Without us being confident that there is sufficient secondary education in the area, without a needs assessment being conducted I don't think this can be given permission."
Councillors recommended that the city planners refuse permission for the development. While the decision is ultimately made by the planners, they must have regard to the councillors' views.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Missing crane may delay U2 Tower
THE DUBLIN Docklands Authority is seeking to remove an old maritime crane from the Record of Protected Structures (RPS) to facilitate the development of the U2 Tower, a local environment group has claimed.
The authority has applied to Dublin City Council for the crane, believed to have been built on Sir John Rogerson's Quay at the start of the last century, from the RPS. However, councillors last night voted to postpone the application on the grounds that the crane had "gone missing".
Although the crane is on the current RPS, it was removed from the quayside sometime in the last 10 years. A report from senior council planner Patricia Hyde to councillors said the crane was removed "some considerable time ago". However, the planning department does not know who removed it.
The planning department recommended to councillors yesterday that they delete the crane from record. However, councillors voted to defer any decision so legal advice could be taken on whether deletion from the RPS would prevent legal action being taken against whoever removed the crane without permission.
"This crane was part of the history of the docks and was an important symbol of our industrial past," Labour councillor Kevin Humphreys said.
"We need to ask the Docklands Authority and Dublin Port who removed it, and we can put in a freedom of information request if needs be, but we should not consider taking it off before we have clarification of the legal position," Mr Humphreys said.
Damien Cassidy of the Ringsend, Sandymount and Irishtown Environment Group said the Docklands Authority needed the crane taken off the RPS in order to facilitate the construction of the U2 Tower at Britain Quay and the bridge over the river Dodder.
The Docklands Authority was not available for comment last night.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The authority has applied to Dublin City Council for the crane, believed to have been built on Sir John Rogerson's Quay at the start of the last century, from the RPS. However, councillors last night voted to postpone the application on the grounds that the crane had "gone missing".
Although the crane is on the current RPS, it was removed from the quayside sometime in the last 10 years. A report from senior council planner Patricia Hyde to councillors said the crane was removed "some considerable time ago". However, the planning department does not know who removed it.
The planning department recommended to councillors yesterday that they delete the crane from record. However, councillors voted to defer any decision so legal advice could be taken on whether deletion from the RPS would prevent legal action being taken against whoever removed the crane without permission.
"This crane was part of the history of the docks and was an important symbol of our industrial past," Labour councillor Kevin Humphreys said.
"We need to ask the Docklands Authority and Dublin Port who removed it, and we can put in a freedom of information request if needs be, but we should not consider taking it off before we have clarification of the legal position," Mr Humphreys said.
Damien Cassidy of the Ringsend, Sandymount and Irishtown Environment Group said the Docklands Authority needed the crane taken off the RPS in order to facilitate the construction of the U2 Tower at Britain Quay and the bridge over the river Dodder.
The Docklands Authority was not available for comment last night.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 13 October 2008
Public backlash hits GAA park 'shops' plan
ALMOST 1,000 submissions have been made by people opposed to €350m plans to transform the GAA-owned Cusack Park into a major shopping quarter in Ennis.
Earlier this year, the GAA agreed to sell the 10-acre Cusack Park site for €86m to the Aisling Chiosoig Partnership that includes Dublin-based developer Bernard McNamara.
For the Riverside Quarter development at Cusack Park to proceed, the site needs to be rezoned from open space to commercial.
Yesterday, Clare County Council confirmed, as part of the drawing up of the new Ennis Development Plan, that it had received 955 letters from local individuals calling on the council not to rezone the site.
An identical letter signed by the 955 people stated that it is their fervent wish that the lands at Cusack Park not be rezoned and retained as they are for the benefit of the people.
Leading the campaign to prevent Cusack Park being rezoned is independent councillor Frankie Neylon, who claims that 82pc of Ennis businesses polled are also opposed to the shopping precinct proposal.
He said: "This is too important an issue for it to become used as a political football ahead of the local elections. This is the wrong place for a new shopping area and it will have too much of an impact on the residents of Park Row, Clonroad and Francis Street."
However, in a statement yesterday, the president of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Niall Garvey, insisted that the rezoning should proceed.
Mr Garvey said the decision to rezone "is a bold one but necessary if Ennis is to create jobs, enhance the retail offer and compete successfully with neighbouring towns".
The Aisling Chiosoig Partnership said that up to 1,000 jobs will be created when the project is completed, and about 500 jobs in construction.
Gordon Deegan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Earlier this year, the GAA agreed to sell the 10-acre Cusack Park site for €86m to the Aisling Chiosoig Partnership that includes Dublin-based developer Bernard McNamara.
For the Riverside Quarter development at Cusack Park to proceed, the site needs to be rezoned from open space to commercial.
Yesterday, Clare County Council confirmed, as part of the drawing up of the new Ennis Development Plan, that it had received 955 letters from local individuals calling on the council not to rezone the site.
An identical letter signed by the 955 people stated that it is their fervent wish that the lands at Cusack Park not be rezoned and retained as they are for the benefit of the people.
Leading the campaign to prevent Cusack Park being rezoned is independent councillor Frankie Neylon, who claims that 82pc of Ennis businesses polled are also opposed to the shopping precinct proposal.
He said: "This is too important an issue for it to become used as a political football ahead of the local elections. This is the wrong place for a new shopping area and it will have too much of an impact on the residents of Park Row, Clonroad and Francis Street."
However, in a statement yesterday, the president of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Niall Garvey, insisted that the rezoning should proceed.
Mr Garvey said the decision to rezone "is a bold one but necessary if Ennis is to create jobs, enhance the retail offer and compete successfully with neighbouring towns".
The Aisling Chiosoig Partnership said that up to 1,000 jobs will be created when the project is completed, and about 500 jobs in construction.
Gordon Deegan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
TaraWatch asks auditor general to probe €16bn NRA overspend
ACTIVISTS will accuse the State’s roads building body today of a staggering €16 billion overspend — more than the spiralling national debt.
TaraWatch, the group fighting the building of the M3 motorway at the Hill of Tara, will also call for a halt on future road projects.
It said it will lodge its complaint against the National Roads Authority (NRA) with the State’s spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), accusing it of rampant overspending since 2000.
“The C&AG has primary responsibility for ensuring value for money in public spending,” TaraWatch spokesman Vincent Salafia said.
“It should not allow one penny to be spent until there has been cost-benefit analysis and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) on every single road plan.
“It is illegal and disgraceful for the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to now negotiate more cost-plus, rather than fixed-price contracts, and a continuation of business as usual.
“The NRA didn’t even have an accountant in their office until 2004. They have gotten away with murder, as have the construction companies that hauled off truckloads of taxpayers’ money.”
He said TaraWatch wants the C&AG to freeze all public spending on NRA projects under the National Development Plan, until a cost-benefit analysis has been carried out.
The C&AG has expressed concerns about the spending controls on roads projects.
In 2002 the NRA was summoned before the Public Accounts Committee to explain a massive €6.6bn overrun. By 2004, the overrun had gone up to €10bn.
TaraWatch said an engineers report it commissioned, and submitted to the Department of Finance on Friday, shows how the M3 motorway will cost the taxpayer an extra €1.8bn, and will be responsible for €320 million in emissions penalties.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
TaraWatch, the group fighting the building of the M3 motorway at the Hill of Tara, will also call for a halt on future road projects.
It said it will lodge its complaint against the National Roads Authority (NRA) with the State’s spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), accusing it of rampant overspending since 2000.
“The C&AG has primary responsibility for ensuring value for money in public spending,” TaraWatch spokesman Vincent Salafia said.
“It should not allow one penny to be spent until there has been cost-benefit analysis and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) on every single road plan.
“It is illegal and disgraceful for the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to now negotiate more cost-plus, rather than fixed-price contracts, and a continuation of business as usual.
“The NRA didn’t even have an accountant in their office until 2004. They have gotten away with murder, as have the construction companies that hauled off truckloads of taxpayers’ money.”
He said TaraWatch wants the C&AG to freeze all public spending on NRA projects under the National Development Plan, until a cost-benefit analysis has been carried out.
The C&AG has expressed concerns about the spending controls on roads projects.
In 2002 the NRA was summoned before the Public Accounts Committee to explain a massive €6.6bn overrun. By 2004, the overrun had gone up to €10bn.
TaraWatch said an engineers report it commissioned, and submitted to the Department of Finance on Friday, shows how the M3 motorway will cost the taxpayer an extra €1.8bn, and will be responsible for €320 million in emissions penalties.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 12 October 2008
High Court ruling no threat to U2 tower, says DDDA
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority has insisted that the U2 tower development has not been jeopardised by last week's High Court decision that it can grant fast-track planning for exempted developments only if the proposal is consistent with the planning scheme.
"The Section 25 Certificate issued for the U2 tower is for 130 metres high, consistent with the planning scheme for the area," a spokeswoman for the authority said. However, an energy centre on top of the building is reported to increase its total height to 180 metres. A consortium comprising Ballymore, U2 and Paddy McKillen is to develop hotel, retail, and residential accommodation in the Norman Foster-designed tower. However, a final deal has not been signed between the DDDA and the consortium.
Last week, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan ruled that the DDDA's agreement with Liam Carroll's North Quay Investments for development of office buildings to be occupied by Anglo Irish Bank and O'Donnell Sweeney Eversheds in return for ceding land was ultra vires.
The judgment stated that the clause in the agreement between Carroll and the DDDA that committed the authority's executive to recommend to its board fast-track planning "seems to me as a matter of common sense, that a board… will inevitably rely considerably on any recommendation made to it by its full-time executives… This commitment, coupled with the benefit which the [DDDA] will obtain if the certificate is granted, appears to me to be the crucial factors which create a reasonable apprehension of bias in the decision to be made"
The judge also concluded "regretfully" that the DDDA "has incorrectly approached" its planning certification powers.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
"The Section 25 Certificate issued for the U2 tower is for 130 metres high, consistent with the planning scheme for the area," a spokeswoman for the authority said. However, an energy centre on top of the building is reported to increase its total height to 180 metres. A consortium comprising Ballymore, U2 and Paddy McKillen is to develop hotel, retail, and residential accommodation in the Norman Foster-designed tower. However, a final deal has not been signed between the DDDA and the consortium.
Last week, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan ruled that the DDDA's agreement with Liam Carroll's North Quay Investments for development of office buildings to be occupied by Anglo Irish Bank and O'Donnell Sweeney Eversheds in return for ceding land was ultra vires.
The judgment stated that the clause in the agreement between Carroll and the DDDA that committed the authority's executive to recommend to its board fast-track planning "seems to me as a matter of common sense, that a board… will inevitably rely considerably on any recommendation made to it by its full-time executives… This commitment, coupled with the benefit which the [DDDA] will obtain if the certificate is granted, appears to me to be the crucial factors which create a reasonable apprehension of bias in the decision to be made"
The judge also concluded "regretfully" that the DDDA "has incorrectly approached" its planning certification powers.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
David Daly wins approval for demolition on €120m-an-acre site
David Daly, the developer who set an Irish land price record when he paid the equivalent of €120m an acre for Franklin House on Pembroke Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, has secured permission to demolish the office block and construct a new building on the site.
The new building will be four to eight storeys high and will be nearly triple the size of the existing building.
Daly owns Albany and Trident Homes and has made hundreds of millions from developing houses in Swords and Darndale. He is a former chief executive of Manor Park Home builders and his assets include the River Island shop on Grafton Street and an office block on St Stephen's Green in Dublin, as well as the Mulberry and Louis Vuitton buildings on New Bond Street in London.
Daly bought Franklin House from rival developer Gerry Gannon in 2006 for €25m. It is on a site of just under 0.2 acres and is dwarfed by the adjoining Hume House, owned by fellow developer Sean Dunne.
Dublin City Council approved the scheme subject to nine conditions, including that he pay over €310,000 for works undertaken by the authority in the area.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The new building will be four to eight storeys high and will be nearly triple the size of the existing building.
Daly owns Albany and Trident Homes and has made hundreds of millions from developing houses in Swords and Darndale. He is a former chief executive of Manor Park Home builders and his assets include the River Island shop on Grafton Street and an office block on St Stephen's Green in Dublin, as well as the Mulberry and Louis Vuitton buildings on New Bond Street in London.
Daly bought Franklin House from rival developer Gerry Gannon in 2006 for €25m. It is on a site of just under 0.2 acres and is dwarfed by the adjoining Hume House, owned by fellow developer Sean Dunne.
Dublin City Council approved the scheme subject to nine conditions, including that he pay over €310,000 for works undertaken by the authority in the area.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
RPA insists it did not spend €180k on Luas report
THE Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) has insisted it did not spend €180,000 on a
controversial report that found a new Luas line was economically unviable.
The Department of Transport said the massive sum had accrued in "preparing the feasibility study" on a light rail track from Rathfarnham and Terenure to Dublin's city centre.
However, the RPA said the money had been spent on a major public consultation in which thousands of local residents were asked for their views.
The controversial resulting report states that the proposed Luas Line E will not pay its way – and instead could lose in the region of €2m a year.
The study also highlights significant costs in developing the tram line, including the purchase of dozens of properties and gardens along the route.
The Department of Transport said: "In May 2008, the RPA published its feasibility study on a possible Luas line connecting
Dundrum to the city centre via
Rathfarnham, Terenure and Harold's Cross (known as Line E).
"[It is understood] from the RPA that the cost of the work to date in preparing the feasibility study is approximately €180,000.
"The report is only a first step in a process of assessing whether or not the development of a Luas line serving the specified areas ought to be pursued."
However, RPA spokesman Tom Manning said it was not a case of merely spending the €180,000 fee on the report.
He said: "That includes the public consultation and we have consulted widely with a large number of people in the area and local representatives.
"It represents very good value for money and we are continuing to examine the responses so it is not just a case of the money being spent on a document.
"A report like this is out there to get a response and we have had some very interesting responses. We will be meeting local representatives in the coming weeks and are hoping to give them an indication of where we are going with this."
Critics of the proposed tram route believe it was always unlikely that Luas Line E would be built and that the feasibility study was carried out to placate local interest groups.
The report specifies a number of
difficulties with any planned routing for the tram and the fact that its catchment area overlaps the two other Luas lines in Dublin.
It says: "Substantial property acquisition would be required involving approximately 10 buildings and 150 gardens and shared running [single lane of track] would be necessary in places.
"In order to make the line feasible through Terenure, a loop arrangement proved to be the most reasonable option, thereby mitigating the negative effects of prolonged shared running along the heavily trafficked N81.
"The section between Broadstone and Christchurch presented a number of
engineering difficulties including insufficient vertical clearance at Christchurch Arch, the structural insufficiency of O'Donovan Rossa Bridge and the gradient of Winetavern Street.
"For this reason the study concluded that the most feasible alignment would terminate in the city centre at Christchurch."
But if Luas Line E went ahead under this plan, it would replicate the existing problem of tram lines which do not intersect.
The report adds: "The main issues identified during the study which might
influence a determination in relation to feasibility are as follows: the negative impact to road users, objections relating to the necessity to acquire property, local objections from residents, operating costs – the project falls short of covering its operating costs by approximately €2m per year."
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
controversial report that found a new Luas line was economically unviable.
The Department of Transport said the massive sum had accrued in "preparing the feasibility study" on a light rail track from Rathfarnham and Terenure to Dublin's city centre.
However, the RPA said the money had been spent on a major public consultation in which thousands of local residents were asked for their views.
The controversial resulting report states that the proposed Luas Line E will not pay its way – and instead could lose in the region of €2m a year.
The study also highlights significant costs in developing the tram line, including the purchase of dozens of properties and gardens along the route.
The Department of Transport said: "In May 2008, the RPA published its feasibility study on a possible Luas line connecting
Dundrum to the city centre via
Rathfarnham, Terenure and Harold's Cross (known as Line E).
"[It is understood] from the RPA that the cost of the work to date in preparing the feasibility study is approximately €180,000.
"The report is only a first step in a process of assessing whether or not the development of a Luas line serving the specified areas ought to be pursued."
However, RPA spokesman Tom Manning said it was not a case of merely spending the €180,000 fee on the report.
He said: "That includes the public consultation and we have consulted widely with a large number of people in the area and local representatives.
"It represents very good value for money and we are continuing to examine the responses so it is not just a case of the money being spent on a document.
"A report like this is out there to get a response and we have had some very interesting responses. We will be meeting local representatives in the coming weeks and are hoping to give them an indication of where we are going with this."
Critics of the proposed tram route believe it was always unlikely that Luas Line E would be built and that the feasibility study was carried out to placate local interest groups.
The report specifies a number of
difficulties with any planned routing for the tram and the fact that its catchment area overlaps the two other Luas lines in Dublin.
It says: "Substantial property acquisition would be required involving approximately 10 buildings and 150 gardens and shared running [single lane of track] would be necessary in places.
"In order to make the line feasible through Terenure, a loop arrangement proved to be the most reasonable option, thereby mitigating the negative effects of prolonged shared running along the heavily trafficked N81.
"The section between Broadstone and Christchurch presented a number of
engineering difficulties including insufficient vertical clearance at Christchurch Arch, the structural insufficiency of O'Donovan Rossa Bridge and the gradient of Winetavern Street.
"For this reason the study concluded that the most feasible alignment would terminate in the city centre at Christchurch."
But if Luas Line E went ahead under this plan, it would replicate the existing problem of tram lines which do not intersect.
The report adds: "The main issues identified during the study which might
influence a determination in relation to feasibility are as follows: the negative impact to road users, objections relating to the necessity to acquire property, local objections from residents, operating costs – the project falls short of covering its operating costs by approximately €2m per year."
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
A review of 'The Builders' by Kathy Sheridan and Frank McDonald
Non-Fiction - Book built on sand
First, I'll make a confession. Three years ago, I began working on a book about Ireland's developers. After meeting four of my main sources, however, I dropped the idea because each one pointed out that, with the tribunals, the book would be out of date almost immediately after publication.
That, in a nutshell, is the problem with The Builders, the new book by Irish Times journalists Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan, which examines how property developers became hugely affluent over the last 15 years. Their problem, though, is not the tribunals but the collapse of the property market. That downturn is gradually, and in some cases instantly, wiping out developers' fortunes.
For example, one developer in the book, who was regarded as immensely rich at the time the book was written, is now known to have a huge working capital problem and has to pay his creditors in instalments. Another, regarded as equally wealthy, has quietly had to sell off sites to raise capital.
McDonald and Sheridan try to deal with the impact the downturn is having in an epilogue but it is not, in my opinion, long enough.
The Builders grew out of a series in the Irish Times last year, one that was largely a collection of anecdotes that had already been written, along with a financial analysis of the accounts of each developer's major companies. This continues in the book, which has a cut-and-paste feel, with many chunky quotations being used. In general, though, it is written at a good pace, though it occasionally gets bogged down in lists of each developer's schemes.
There is the occasional gem, such as the builders' dinner where, worse for wear, many of them let loose at then finance minister Brian Cowen about the state of the market. Some of the tales of extravagant spending are also noteworthy.
The chapter layout, however, is clumsy, with the one dubbed 'Bernard the Builder' also sketching out the history of Jim Mansfield of Citywest fame and Michael Cotter of Park Developments. There are also factual errors. Frank Gormley, for example, is described as the man who runs Howard Holdings but he left the company in 2006 after a well-publicised buyout and now runs his own company, Howard Eurocape.
Some of the details omitted are also notable. Take Seán Mulryan of Ballymore, for example. No mention is made of his decision to raise €242m of private equity at the peak of the market from Davy Stockbrokers' private clients for Ballymore International Developments, or the motivation behind it. He is "believed" to have a stake in Sunderland football club, according to the book, when in fact it was known that his personal stake was 12.5% at the time of purchase. In addition, the purchase of the Kotva department store in Prague via Markland Holdings, in which Mulryan is a shareholder, doesn't merit a mention, even though it was one of the most enthralling stories of the last decade involving an Irish developer, pertaining as it did to a building that, before Markland's involvement, had been at the centre of blackmail allegations and was the site of at least two explosions.
Nevertheless, this is a book that had to be written. It is unfortunate that, while McDonald and Sheridan make a good stab at it, circumstances have changed so much that some of the material is no longer relevant. In addition, you're left waiting for a major new revelation that nobody has heard, and it never really comes.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
First, I'll make a confession. Three years ago, I began working on a book about Ireland's developers. After meeting four of my main sources, however, I dropped the idea because each one pointed out that, with the tribunals, the book would be out of date almost immediately after publication.
That, in a nutshell, is the problem with The Builders, the new book by Irish Times journalists Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan, which examines how property developers became hugely affluent over the last 15 years. Their problem, though, is not the tribunals but the collapse of the property market. That downturn is gradually, and in some cases instantly, wiping out developers' fortunes.
For example, one developer in the book, who was regarded as immensely rich at the time the book was written, is now known to have a huge working capital problem and has to pay his creditors in instalments. Another, regarded as equally wealthy, has quietly had to sell off sites to raise capital.
McDonald and Sheridan try to deal with the impact the downturn is having in an epilogue but it is not, in my opinion, long enough.
The Builders grew out of a series in the Irish Times last year, one that was largely a collection of anecdotes that had already been written, along with a financial analysis of the accounts of each developer's major companies. This continues in the book, which has a cut-and-paste feel, with many chunky quotations being used. In general, though, it is written at a good pace, though it occasionally gets bogged down in lists of each developer's schemes.
There is the occasional gem, such as the builders' dinner where, worse for wear, many of them let loose at then finance minister Brian Cowen about the state of the market. Some of the tales of extravagant spending are also noteworthy.
The chapter layout, however, is clumsy, with the one dubbed 'Bernard the Builder' also sketching out the history of Jim Mansfield of Citywest fame and Michael Cotter of Park Developments. There are also factual errors. Frank Gormley, for example, is described as the man who runs Howard Holdings but he left the company in 2006 after a well-publicised buyout and now runs his own company, Howard Eurocape.
Some of the details omitted are also notable. Take Seán Mulryan of Ballymore, for example. No mention is made of his decision to raise €242m of private equity at the peak of the market from Davy Stockbrokers' private clients for Ballymore International Developments, or the motivation behind it. He is "believed" to have a stake in Sunderland football club, according to the book, when in fact it was known that his personal stake was 12.5% at the time of purchase. In addition, the purchase of the Kotva department store in Prague via Markland Holdings, in which Mulryan is a shareholder, doesn't merit a mention, even though it was one of the most enthralling stories of the last decade involving an Irish developer, pertaining as it did to a building that, before Markland's involvement, had been at the centre of blackmail allegations and was the site of at least two explosions.
Nevertheless, this is a book that had to be written. It is unfortunate that, while McDonald and Sheridan make a good stab at it, circumstances have changed so much that some of the material is no longer relevant. In addition, you're left waiting for a major new revelation that nobody has heard, and it never really comes.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunset on the property boom
It is worth re-visiting this article as Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan's new book, 'The Builders', was covered on the Late Late Show on Friday night.
THE BUILDERS: In an edited extract from their new book, 'The Builders', based on a series in 'The Irish Times', Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan follow the story of a millionaire Ferrari-driving property developer
THERE WAS an end-of-empire feel about Donal Caulfield's party on a Monday night in April 2007 to launch Belmayne, the developer's 2,200-unit scheme on Malahide Road, in north Dublin. Rival developers turned out in numbers at Belmayne's futuristic marketing suite, where TV garden designer Diarmuid Gavin, flouncy interiors consultant Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and a slew of scantily clad young women rubbed shoulders with property journalists and gossip columnists.
Former Liverpool footballer Jamie Redknapp and his wife Louise provided the minor celebrity glitz, champagne flowed late into the night and many pondered Caulfield's full-colour, full-on, racy marketing strategy in a - whisper it - shaky market. The highly provocative media campaign created by multinational advertising agency McCann Erickson had become a major talking point, involving such steamy antics as a couple lying astride one another on top of a kitchen island unit, and another with two young ones lounging on a bed, minimally clad, with a male hoving into view behind them. Truly, the days of the tastefully drawn artist's impression to sell property were over.
Then again, so were the nights when panicky young couples had to queue in their sleeping bags and throw themselves at the mercy of smug young agents for the privilege of chaining themselves to a property bubble. Now a property developer had to do what a property developer had to do: try harder.
Caulfield, a likeable, UCD-educated civil engineer and former captain of the under-21 Wexford Gaelic football team, was doing just that. In his diamante-studded Roberto Cavalli beanie, Versace jeans, Matrix-style coat and shades - worn indoors and out - he was bling incarnate, light years from the traditional country developer. So, naturally, there would be no Portakabins masquerading as marketing suites at Belmayne.
The "information centre" alone cost €2m to build, the 10 olive trees planted around it contributing €60,000 to the bill. The coffee dock, smart sofas and Star Trek-style computer-generated images were an invitation to linger and sample a "lifestyle" for sale, one graced with the interior designs of Llewelyn-Bowen, gardens by Gavin and a flashy chauffeur-driven Chrysler Voyager to ferry viewers the short distance to the show apartment.
It would be easy to dismiss Caulfield - a former European kick-boxing champion with a former Miss-Universe-entrant-turned-civil-engineer for a fiancee, who drives a red Ferrari and paid many millions for the Belmayne site while still in his thirties - as a flash git. In fact, he is one of the most straight-talking men in the business, his wild oats well and truly sown.
In conversation, he returns repeatedly to the importance of "first principles" - strong design, sustainable developments, schools and parks - and regards more experienced developers such as Joe O'Reilly, Gerry Gannon and Garrett Kelleher very highly.
"But they're in a different league. They have 15 years on our company, the guys who bought the land in 1998-1999 when I was kick-boxing. The older developers have hundreds of millions of liquidity as a result of their developments. Our generation is going to have a harder time. Now we will really have to work first principles to survive."
He has tried to spread his risk, with developments in Poland, the Canaries, London, Madrid and Ibiza.
"In terms of GDV I'm about half here and half abroad. On GDV, you're always aiming to make 10 to 20 per cent margins. Some would have been on 30 to 60 per cent of GDV. We have to be more realistic now. You have to work at it . . .".
So the big glitzy marketing push at Belmayne was not a bit over the top, then?
"To shift 330 units in this market will take two to two-and-a-half years and you'd spend €2m in advertising, marketing and show-off costs. That half-million euro hoarding is our main medium of advertising. The fact is that most people buy in their own area. If you're a northsider, you'll usually stay a northsider and 90 per cent of first-time buyers here actually live within a five-kilometre radius of us. So for two years they won't be able to avoid seeing that hoarding in front of them."
Meanwhile, Caulfield admits, he is sitting on several hundred million euro in loans and didn't see the slump coming.
"Development is not a business for the faint-hearted. When I bought the Belmayne site I thought I'd sell to first-time buyers, that there would be inward investment and continuous growth and the east European immigrants would keep coming. We thought the €330,000 buyers would always be there because it's affordable. What we're looking at now is 10 to 12 per cent less in sale prices and a probable 30-35 per cent drop in projected profits. I would probably have paid less for the site if I'd foreseen this."
In the information centre, the bizarre melange of new and traditional is illustrated by one of his "gorgeous girls" wall posters framed by curtains on either side. The purpose of the curtains becomes evident on alternative Sundays, when they are closed over the steamy poster and it becomes the backdrop to a Mass altar, for the new Belmayne inhabitants.
While the first batch of apartments booked are closing now and helping to alleviate that massive debt, he anticipates a crunch in about 18 months' time, when the absence of first-time buyers in early to mid-2008 will expose the more vulnerable developers.
"That's when the banks will start looking for interest. So we have to keep selling and that means 80 per cent of our sales are to investors now."
So these are worrying times?
"It gets you out of bed in the morning. Definitely. It's not just about having a legacy to show your children," he said, speaking at a time when his fiancee Louise Doheny, was expecting their first child.
"It's your own pride."
Caulfield is a classic developer, never content to pull off a spectacularly lucrative deal and become a lotus-eater. After an undistinguished start as an engineer, and a few years of kick-boxing his way around the world, mainly making money by betting on himself, he went to work with Michael Cotter's Park Developments, where he managed the set-up of the industrial/commercial division. At 28, he was driving a Porsche ("I was getting well paid") and was buying and selling units for himself. He left Park because he didn't want to be an employee any more and went into business with Leo Meenagh, the owner of a construction company, LM Developments Ltd, on a 50-50 profit share basis.
Their first major project together was the development and construction of 900 units and a shopping centre in Cityside in north Finglas. At the height of the boom, the company employed up to 1,200 people. That first foray into development for Caulfield was achieved with the cooperation of a patient landowner, a silent partner who was prepared to wait four years for the development to materialise before he took his gains.
"So a million quid was all I needed to start. Once I had the contracts signed, and with my Cotter background, the banks gave us the go-ahead for finance. We were very lucky. We all made a good return on our money, up to 50 per cent cash return."
Four years after leaving Park, he was able to buy a jet for the business.
"It's not so much about owning the jet. It's about having the money to give you the freedom to do what you want, to say what you want. The more money people have, the more free they are, if they have the right psyche. Having a jet means you're not queuing up for an hour in Dublin or London airports. Money is pure and utter freedom. If you want to wear shades inside, which I often do, I don't care what people say about me. My Da, Joseph, used to say that money was freedom. But he had five kids, he was a great goer, a great small builder, but he couldn't risk it because he had five kids."
In those hedonistic early days, Caulfield's taste for luxury was impressive.
"I'm happy to admit that when I first started seeing returns, I might have got carried away. I was into clothes, holidays, cars. I was a Versace fan, a shopaholic," he said wryly. "Every second weekend, I was in Marbella, Paris, Rome. I lived in the penthouse of the Conrad Hotel for eight months when I was refurbishing my home. I loved it."
Even with a parking place for his Aston Martin thrown in at the Conrad, accommodation alone must have run to a high five-figure bill every month.
"I've always been a car fanatic. I used to have seven or eight cars - Ferrais, Porsches, Lamborghinis. I still have the Ferrari, two Porsches, a Lamborghini and a Range Rover jeep. One of the biggest kicks I got was taking my sisters and girlfriend shopping. You'd get a buzz off that. When Louise and I were going out, we would have been away five weekends out of six. Now I've happily swapped the weekends away for walking the Weimaraner dogs in the park with Louise. I'm saturated with the travel and shopping, although I can say that I never went into the drink or drugs. I was too into health and fitness.
"I'm a country guy and I've managed to keep my friends from 15 to 20 years ago. I don't talk about money and that's why I don't spend a huge amount of time with other developers. I don't go to race meetings or balls - I think that whole scene is not real. What's real to me are my friends and family."
But surely all that spending and extravagance simply confirms suspicions that developers were making obscene profits on the backs of struggling homebuyers?
"They deserve every single euro they make - though the exception I'd make are the ones who were doing poor design, defacing the public landscape. That particular type of 10-year boom will never happen again because, for most of it, the rewards were in no way proportionate to the efforts or brilliance of many developers. You could be the worst builder/developer with no sense of design or landscaping yet everything they built, they sold. So many poor builders made so much money that they didn't deserve.
"But most of them are honourable, good, solid people. And the point is that if you put your balls on the table, you get the reward or you get the kick. It can go one way or the other. Guys are now feeling the squeeze and if it goes on, a lot of them are in trouble. I was lucky. If you'd asked me a year-and-a-half ago, I'd have said the market would still be flying now."
Of course, he would not have been the only one. In the words of Warren Buffett, investors should "be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful". The trouble was that those who were fearful - or urging caution - were apt to be accused of "talking" the country into a recession.
FORECASTING THE CRUNCH
In 2005, at the annual Society of Chartered Surveyors' dinner in the Burlington Hotel, 1,200 members and guests from central and local government assembled as usual for the biggest bash on the construction and property calendar.
That year, the prestigious platform of keynote speaker was handed to Colm McCarthy, the mordant, straight-talking founder of DKM Economics Consultants, who now lectures at UCD. McCarthy cast something of a dampener on proceedings by predicting a slowdown in housing output from the extraordinary 2004 levels. This was not what his audience wanted to hear.
So for 2006, the society brought in a more upbeat sort of chap for the keynote speech: the Ballsbridge Baron himself, Seán Dunne, always bullish beyond the call of duty and with a particularly pressing personal interest in keeping the market buoyant. His speech to a record attendance of 1,400 took aim at the old reliables such as stamp duty and the universally loathed M50 toll bridge. It was only when he took a particularly aggressive swipe at stockbrokers and bank economists, likening them to "laughing hyenas . . . harbingers of doom and gloom", that some of the several "hyenas" present began to studiously examine the contents of their wine glasses.
For the previous six years, Dunne asserted, "every economist associated with every stockbroker in Ireland mistakenly forecast the end of the housing and property boom in Ireland". They had been "vociferous and repetitive", in the process encouraging outside commentators, including the Economist, the IMF and the OECD, to issue warnings about Irish house prices being overvalued. Well, "The hyenas have stopped laughing . . . each and every one of them was wrong. Instead, the price and supply of housing units has continued to break records."
When the slowdown began, it was accompanied by faintly reassuring talk from vested interests and estate agents - some of whom were quietly laying off staff already - that the market was heading for a "soft landing".
Economists had been noting for some time that the boom in Irish exports which had fuelled spectacular growth in the 1990s had been supplanted by a boom in construction. Between 2000 and 2006, house prices had doubled relative to income and rents, and some 15 per cent of our GNP (nearly a fifth, if sales of second-hand houses were included) was being generated from the construction of new houses and apartments - three times as much as in other developed countries.
"We have spent the last five years learning to believe that exports and competitiveness do not matter, and that we can get rich by selling houses to each other," wrote Morgan Kelly, Professor of Economics at UCD, in The Irish Times in December 2006, when house prices were still skyrocketing. "We are likely to spend a painful few years as we unlearn that lesson."
In April 2007, a documentary called Future Shock: Property Crash, made by Animo Television for RTÉ, asked whether Ireland's property bubble was about to burst - and suggested, with a soundtrack of ominous music, that it was.
"We have allowed building construction to grow too rapidly and take up too big a share of the economy," the Economic and Social Research Institute's professor John FitzGerald (son of Garret and elder brother of Mark, chairman of estate agents Sherry FitzGerald) told the presenter, business journalist Richard Curran. "We are out on a limb at this stage; getting down off it is going to be delicate without hurting ourselves."
The programme pointed out that the construction industry now accounted for 25 per cent of the economy, employing 280,000 people, 30 per cent of whom were foreign nationals staying in rented accommodation, and asked what would happen to that market as they drifted off to jobs elsewhere. What's more, multinational companies such as Pfizer were laying off staff because they could no longer compete, what with the US dollar weakening month by month against the euro.
We were also building far more new homes - 20 units per 1,000 in population, compared to just five units per 1,000 in Britain - and the government had failed to implement most of the recommendations made by economist Peter Bacon in his four reports on how to deal with house price inflation. Not only that: by continually extending the deadlines for tax incentives such as Section 23, the government itself was fuelling an already overheated market.
Meanwhile, a global financial crisis was brewing. In the spring of 2007, we started hearing about jitters in the US over "subprime" mortgages: loans given to people with low credit ratings who couldn't get money from the mainstream banks. Through the alchemy of "securitisation", these inherently risky loans were bundled together and sold on to investors, including some of the world's largest financial institutions. The make-up of the bundles was often so opaque that even the bankers themselves couldn't tell what they were really worth, especially in a falling market; the credit rating agencies often gave these products implausibly strong ratings.
And who was required to bail out the banks when these phantoms came back to haunt them? Joe and Mary Public, of course.
GLOBAL CREDIT CRUNCH HITS
According to the IMF, there had been a "collective failure" to appreciate the scale of risky borrowing indulged in by the financial institutions. The cancer at the heart of the western world's financial system caused turmoil on the stock markets and accelerated the steep fall in the value of the US dollar, already weakened by the spectacular levels of government debt run up by George W Bush's war in Iraq and huge tax cuts for the rich.
It also triggered a sudden shortage in the credit available to banks, causing the Bank of England to bail out Northern Rock - which had unusually low cash reserves - and to make available tens of billions of pounds in "emergency liquidity" to the banking sector. Similarly, Bear Stearns had to be bailed out by the US Federal Reserve. As banks concentrated on rebuilding their balance sheets by raising additional funds and limiting future lending, homebuyers were finding it more and more difficult to get loans.
The once-plentiful supply of mortgage credit was drying up, with knock-on effects on the construction industry and the property sector in general.
House prices started falling in Ireland several months before the global credit crunch hit in autumn 2007; the end of the days of 110 per cent mortgages accentuated a trend that was already well established, and the writing was on the wall.
SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS
In October 2007, some of the developers had begun slashing prices, and there were urgent calls for the government to shore up the faltering market by, for example, cutting the rates of stamp duty on the acquisition of second-hand homes. The following month, the big builders got their annual opportunity to speak to the minister for finance in the run-up to the budget.
During the boom years, this exclusive dinner, organized by Ken MacDonald, chairman and chief executive of estate agents Hooke and MacDonald, was used by the builders to bellyache to the minister about the tortuous nature of the planning process and what objections and refusals were costing the development community in lost time and money.
This time, with Joe Cosgrave playing host in the Radisson SAS (owned by himself and his two brothers), the customary spread was laid on for about 25 big builders and developers.
Building sites were idle, new schemes stood empty, and some builders were growing a trifle mutinous about the incessantly negative publicity about the property market and the inactivity of the government. They wanted to hear some positive stuff about stamp duty cuts and other proactive ways of getting the market moving again. Plus, being flint-eyed businessmen, they knew they would be paying through the nose for dinner, although some may not have been aware of quite how much at that stage.
Brian Cowen, then minister for finance and guest of honour, was unavoidably detained elsewhere and turned up three hours late, by which time several of the builders had grown somewhat "tired and emotional", as Private Eye would say, or "langers", as one of those present reported.
The question-and-answer session that followed was shambolic, the more unruly multimillionaires in attendance making long, rambling speeches about the state of the market and what needed to be done by the minister, who even then was a safe bet to become Taoiseach.
It hardly helped that Cowen was adamant that there would be no change in the stamp duty regime. Nonetheless, a few weeks later, although it went against the grain with the then minister and even more so with senior Department of Finance officials, for whom stamp duty had become a huge cash cow, the Budget did indeed provide a modicum of relief.
Was dinner worth it, then? One bemused guest who could recall paying "only" €500 the year before, later found himself meekly responding to a subsequent demand for €5,000, payable to Fianna Fáil. A splendid result for the party, at least, since a quick calculation suggests that a few hours' discreet dalliance with the minister raked in an amount equal to half the take for the week-long PR fiasco that was the Galway Races tent.
EPILOGUE
By the summer of 2008, "interest roll-ups", a kind of benefit scheme for distressed developers, had been put in place by the banks. When developers run into cash-flow problems, the banks just let the interest payments ride indefinitely. In the meantime, as one estate agent murmured, "a lot of helicopters are going back".
The Builders by Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan is published by Penguin Ireland
In an edited extract from their new book 'The Builders', based on a series in 'The Irish Times', Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan follow the story of a millionaire Ferrari-driving property developer
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
THE BUILDERS: In an edited extract from their new book, 'The Builders', based on a series in 'The Irish Times', Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan follow the story of a millionaire Ferrari-driving property developer
THERE WAS an end-of-empire feel about Donal Caulfield's party on a Monday night in April 2007 to launch Belmayne, the developer's 2,200-unit scheme on Malahide Road, in north Dublin. Rival developers turned out in numbers at Belmayne's futuristic marketing suite, where TV garden designer Diarmuid Gavin, flouncy interiors consultant Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and a slew of scantily clad young women rubbed shoulders with property journalists and gossip columnists.
Former Liverpool footballer Jamie Redknapp and his wife Louise provided the minor celebrity glitz, champagne flowed late into the night and many pondered Caulfield's full-colour, full-on, racy marketing strategy in a - whisper it - shaky market. The highly provocative media campaign created by multinational advertising agency McCann Erickson had become a major talking point, involving such steamy antics as a couple lying astride one another on top of a kitchen island unit, and another with two young ones lounging on a bed, minimally clad, with a male hoving into view behind them. Truly, the days of the tastefully drawn artist's impression to sell property were over.
Then again, so were the nights when panicky young couples had to queue in their sleeping bags and throw themselves at the mercy of smug young agents for the privilege of chaining themselves to a property bubble. Now a property developer had to do what a property developer had to do: try harder.
Caulfield, a likeable, UCD-educated civil engineer and former captain of the under-21 Wexford Gaelic football team, was doing just that. In his diamante-studded Roberto Cavalli beanie, Versace jeans, Matrix-style coat and shades - worn indoors and out - he was bling incarnate, light years from the traditional country developer. So, naturally, there would be no Portakabins masquerading as marketing suites at Belmayne.
The "information centre" alone cost €2m to build, the 10 olive trees planted around it contributing €60,000 to the bill. The coffee dock, smart sofas and Star Trek-style computer-generated images were an invitation to linger and sample a "lifestyle" for sale, one graced with the interior designs of Llewelyn-Bowen, gardens by Gavin and a flashy chauffeur-driven Chrysler Voyager to ferry viewers the short distance to the show apartment.
It would be easy to dismiss Caulfield - a former European kick-boxing champion with a former Miss-Universe-entrant-turned-civil-engineer for a fiancee, who drives a red Ferrari and paid many millions for the Belmayne site while still in his thirties - as a flash git. In fact, he is one of the most straight-talking men in the business, his wild oats well and truly sown.
In conversation, he returns repeatedly to the importance of "first principles" - strong design, sustainable developments, schools and parks - and regards more experienced developers such as Joe O'Reilly, Gerry Gannon and Garrett Kelleher very highly.
"But they're in a different league. They have 15 years on our company, the guys who bought the land in 1998-1999 when I was kick-boxing. The older developers have hundreds of millions of liquidity as a result of their developments. Our generation is going to have a harder time. Now we will really have to work first principles to survive."
He has tried to spread his risk, with developments in Poland, the Canaries, London, Madrid and Ibiza.
"In terms of GDV I'm about half here and half abroad. On GDV, you're always aiming to make 10 to 20 per cent margins. Some would have been on 30 to 60 per cent of GDV. We have to be more realistic now. You have to work at it . . .".
So the big glitzy marketing push at Belmayne was not a bit over the top, then?
"To shift 330 units in this market will take two to two-and-a-half years and you'd spend €2m in advertising, marketing and show-off costs. That half-million euro hoarding is our main medium of advertising. The fact is that most people buy in their own area. If you're a northsider, you'll usually stay a northsider and 90 per cent of first-time buyers here actually live within a five-kilometre radius of us. So for two years they won't be able to avoid seeing that hoarding in front of them."
Meanwhile, Caulfield admits, he is sitting on several hundred million euro in loans and didn't see the slump coming.
"Development is not a business for the faint-hearted. When I bought the Belmayne site I thought I'd sell to first-time buyers, that there would be inward investment and continuous growth and the east European immigrants would keep coming. We thought the €330,000 buyers would always be there because it's affordable. What we're looking at now is 10 to 12 per cent less in sale prices and a probable 30-35 per cent drop in projected profits. I would probably have paid less for the site if I'd foreseen this."
In the information centre, the bizarre melange of new and traditional is illustrated by one of his "gorgeous girls" wall posters framed by curtains on either side. The purpose of the curtains becomes evident on alternative Sundays, when they are closed over the steamy poster and it becomes the backdrop to a Mass altar, for the new Belmayne inhabitants.
While the first batch of apartments booked are closing now and helping to alleviate that massive debt, he anticipates a crunch in about 18 months' time, when the absence of first-time buyers in early to mid-2008 will expose the more vulnerable developers.
"That's when the banks will start looking for interest. So we have to keep selling and that means 80 per cent of our sales are to investors now."
So these are worrying times?
"It gets you out of bed in the morning. Definitely. It's not just about having a legacy to show your children," he said, speaking at a time when his fiancee Louise Doheny, was expecting their first child.
"It's your own pride."
Caulfield is a classic developer, never content to pull off a spectacularly lucrative deal and become a lotus-eater. After an undistinguished start as an engineer, and a few years of kick-boxing his way around the world, mainly making money by betting on himself, he went to work with Michael Cotter's Park Developments, where he managed the set-up of the industrial/commercial division. At 28, he was driving a Porsche ("I was getting well paid") and was buying and selling units for himself. He left Park because he didn't want to be an employee any more and went into business with Leo Meenagh, the owner of a construction company, LM Developments Ltd, on a 50-50 profit share basis.
Their first major project together was the development and construction of 900 units and a shopping centre in Cityside in north Finglas. At the height of the boom, the company employed up to 1,200 people. That first foray into development for Caulfield was achieved with the cooperation of a patient landowner, a silent partner who was prepared to wait four years for the development to materialise before he took his gains.
"So a million quid was all I needed to start. Once I had the contracts signed, and with my Cotter background, the banks gave us the go-ahead for finance. We were very lucky. We all made a good return on our money, up to 50 per cent cash return."
Four years after leaving Park, he was able to buy a jet for the business.
"It's not so much about owning the jet. It's about having the money to give you the freedom to do what you want, to say what you want. The more money people have, the more free they are, if they have the right psyche. Having a jet means you're not queuing up for an hour in Dublin or London airports. Money is pure and utter freedom. If you want to wear shades inside, which I often do, I don't care what people say about me. My Da, Joseph, used to say that money was freedom. But he had five kids, he was a great goer, a great small builder, but he couldn't risk it because he had five kids."
In those hedonistic early days, Caulfield's taste for luxury was impressive.
"I'm happy to admit that when I first started seeing returns, I might have got carried away. I was into clothes, holidays, cars. I was a Versace fan, a shopaholic," he said wryly. "Every second weekend, I was in Marbella, Paris, Rome. I lived in the penthouse of the Conrad Hotel for eight months when I was refurbishing my home. I loved it."
Even with a parking place for his Aston Martin thrown in at the Conrad, accommodation alone must have run to a high five-figure bill every month.
"I've always been a car fanatic. I used to have seven or eight cars - Ferrais, Porsches, Lamborghinis. I still have the Ferrari, two Porsches, a Lamborghini and a Range Rover jeep. One of the biggest kicks I got was taking my sisters and girlfriend shopping. You'd get a buzz off that. When Louise and I were going out, we would have been away five weekends out of six. Now I've happily swapped the weekends away for walking the Weimaraner dogs in the park with Louise. I'm saturated with the travel and shopping, although I can say that I never went into the drink or drugs. I was too into health and fitness.
"I'm a country guy and I've managed to keep my friends from 15 to 20 years ago. I don't talk about money and that's why I don't spend a huge amount of time with other developers. I don't go to race meetings or balls - I think that whole scene is not real. What's real to me are my friends and family."
But surely all that spending and extravagance simply confirms suspicions that developers were making obscene profits on the backs of struggling homebuyers?
"They deserve every single euro they make - though the exception I'd make are the ones who were doing poor design, defacing the public landscape. That particular type of 10-year boom will never happen again because, for most of it, the rewards were in no way proportionate to the efforts or brilliance of many developers. You could be the worst builder/developer with no sense of design or landscaping yet everything they built, they sold. So many poor builders made so much money that they didn't deserve.
"But most of them are honourable, good, solid people. And the point is that if you put your balls on the table, you get the reward or you get the kick. It can go one way or the other. Guys are now feeling the squeeze and if it goes on, a lot of them are in trouble. I was lucky. If you'd asked me a year-and-a-half ago, I'd have said the market would still be flying now."
Of course, he would not have been the only one. In the words of Warren Buffett, investors should "be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful". The trouble was that those who were fearful - or urging caution - were apt to be accused of "talking" the country into a recession.
FORECASTING THE CRUNCH
In 2005, at the annual Society of Chartered Surveyors' dinner in the Burlington Hotel, 1,200 members and guests from central and local government assembled as usual for the biggest bash on the construction and property calendar.
That year, the prestigious platform of keynote speaker was handed to Colm McCarthy, the mordant, straight-talking founder of DKM Economics Consultants, who now lectures at UCD. McCarthy cast something of a dampener on proceedings by predicting a slowdown in housing output from the extraordinary 2004 levels. This was not what his audience wanted to hear.
So for 2006, the society brought in a more upbeat sort of chap for the keynote speech: the Ballsbridge Baron himself, Seán Dunne, always bullish beyond the call of duty and with a particularly pressing personal interest in keeping the market buoyant. His speech to a record attendance of 1,400 took aim at the old reliables such as stamp duty and the universally loathed M50 toll bridge. It was only when he took a particularly aggressive swipe at stockbrokers and bank economists, likening them to "laughing hyenas . . . harbingers of doom and gloom", that some of the several "hyenas" present began to studiously examine the contents of their wine glasses.
For the previous six years, Dunne asserted, "every economist associated with every stockbroker in Ireland mistakenly forecast the end of the housing and property boom in Ireland". They had been "vociferous and repetitive", in the process encouraging outside commentators, including the Economist, the IMF and the OECD, to issue warnings about Irish house prices being overvalued. Well, "The hyenas have stopped laughing . . . each and every one of them was wrong. Instead, the price and supply of housing units has continued to break records."
When the slowdown began, it was accompanied by faintly reassuring talk from vested interests and estate agents - some of whom were quietly laying off staff already - that the market was heading for a "soft landing".
Economists had been noting for some time that the boom in Irish exports which had fuelled spectacular growth in the 1990s had been supplanted by a boom in construction. Between 2000 and 2006, house prices had doubled relative to income and rents, and some 15 per cent of our GNP (nearly a fifth, if sales of second-hand houses were included) was being generated from the construction of new houses and apartments - three times as much as in other developed countries.
"We have spent the last five years learning to believe that exports and competitiveness do not matter, and that we can get rich by selling houses to each other," wrote Morgan Kelly, Professor of Economics at UCD, in The Irish Times in December 2006, when house prices were still skyrocketing. "We are likely to spend a painful few years as we unlearn that lesson."
In April 2007, a documentary called Future Shock: Property Crash, made by Animo Television for RTÉ, asked whether Ireland's property bubble was about to burst - and suggested, with a soundtrack of ominous music, that it was.
"We have allowed building construction to grow too rapidly and take up too big a share of the economy," the Economic and Social Research Institute's professor John FitzGerald (son of Garret and elder brother of Mark, chairman of estate agents Sherry FitzGerald) told the presenter, business journalist Richard Curran. "We are out on a limb at this stage; getting down off it is going to be delicate without hurting ourselves."
The programme pointed out that the construction industry now accounted for 25 per cent of the economy, employing 280,000 people, 30 per cent of whom were foreign nationals staying in rented accommodation, and asked what would happen to that market as they drifted off to jobs elsewhere. What's more, multinational companies such as Pfizer were laying off staff because they could no longer compete, what with the US dollar weakening month by month against the euro.
We were also building far more new homes - 20 units per 1,000 in population, compared to just five units per 1,000 in Britain - and the government had failed to implement most of the recommendations made by economist Peter Bacon in his four reports on how to deal with house price inflation. Not only that: by continually extending the deadlines for tax incentives such as Section 23, the government itself was fuelling an already overheated market.
Meanwhile, a global financial crisis was brewing. In the spring of 2007, we started hearing about jitters in the US over "subprime" mortgages: loans given to people with low credit ratings who couldn't get money from the mainstream banks. Through the alchemy of "securitisation", these inherently risky loans were bundled together and sold on to investors, including some of the world's largest financial institutions. The make-up of the bundles was often so opaque that even the bankers themselves couldn't tell what they were really worth, especially in a falling market; the credit rating agencies often gave these products implausibly strong ratings.
And who was required to bail out the banks when these phantoms came back to haunt them? Joe and Mary Public, of course.
GLOBAL CREDIT CRUNCH HITS
According to the IMF, there had been a "collective failure" to appreciate the scale of risky borrowing indulged in by the financial institutions. The cancer at the heart of the western world's financial system caused turmoil on the stock markets and accelerated the steep fall in the value of the US dollar, already weakened by the spectacular levels of government debt run up by George W Bush's war in Iraq and huge tax cuts for the rich.
It also triggered a sudden shortage in the credit available to banks, causing the Bank of England to bail out Northern Rock - which had unusually low cash reserves - and to make available tens of billions of pounds in "emergency liquidity" to the banking sector. Similarly, Bear Stearns had to be bailed out by the US Federal Reserve. As banks concentrated on rebuilding their balance sheets by raising additional funds and limiting future lending, homebuyers were finding it more and more difficult to get loans.
The once-plentiful supply of mortgage credit was drying up, with knock-on effects on the construction industry and the property sector in general.
House prices started falling in Ireland several months before the global credit crunch hit in autumn 2007; the end of the days of 110 per cent mortgages accentuated a trend that was already well established, and the writing was on the wall.
SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS
In October 2007, some of the developers had begun slashing prices, and there were urgent calls for the government to shore up the faltering market by, for example, cutting the rates of stamp duty on the acquisition of second-hand homes. The following month, the big builders got their annual opportunity to speak to the minister for finance in the run-up to the budget.
During the boom years, this exclusive dinner, organized by Ken MacDonald, chairman and chief executive of estate agents Hooke and MacDonald, was used by the builders to bellyache to the minister about the tortuous nature of the planning process and what objections and refusals were costing the development community in lost time and money.
This time, with Joe Cosgrave playing host in the Radisson SAS (owned by himself and his two brothers), the customary spread was laid on for about 25 big builders and developers.
Building sites were idle, new schemes stood empty, and some builders were growing a trifle mutinous about the incessantly negative publicity about the property market and the inactivity of the government. They wanted to hear some positive stuff about stamp duty cuts and other proactive ways of getting the market moving again. Plus, being flint-eyed businessmen, they knew they would be paying through the nose for dinner, although some may not have been aware of quite how much at that stage.
Brian Cowen, then minister for finance and guest of honour, was unavoidably detained elsewhere and turned up three hours late, by which time several of the builders had grown somewhat "tired and emotional", as Private Eye would say, or "langers", as one of those present reported.
The question-and-answer session that followed was shambolic, the more unruly multimillionaires in attendance making long, rambling speeches about the state of the market and what needed to be done by the minister, who even then was a safe bet to become Taoiseach.
It hardly helped that Cowen was adamant that there would be no change in the stamp duty regime. Nonetheless, a few weeks later, although it went against the grain with the then minister and even more so with senior Department of Finance officials, for whom stamp duty had become a huge cash cow, the Budget did indeed provide a modicum of relief.
Was dinner worth it, then? One bemused guest who could recall paying "only" €500 the year before, later found himself meekly responding to a subsequent demand for €5,000, payable to Fianna Fáil. A splendid result for the party, at least, since a quick calculation suggests that a few hours' discreet dalliance with the minister raked in an amount equal to half the take for the week-long PR fiasco that was the Galway Races tent.
EPILOGUE
By the summer of 2008, "interest roll-ups", a kind of benefit scheme for distressed developers, had been put in place by the banks. When developers run into cash-flow problems, the banks just let the interest payments ride indefinitely. In the meantime, as one estate agent murmured, "a lot of helicopters are going back".
The Builders by Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan is published by Penguin Ireland
In an edited extract from their new book 'The Builders', based on a series in 'The Irish Times', Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan follow the story of a millionaire Ferrari-driving property developer
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Northern Quarter close to signing up retailers for prime central Dublin site
The owners of the planned €750 million Northern Quarter in central Dublin are close to sealing deals with retailers for the scheme, according to the project’s manager, John Laker.
He said that work on the development, which includes a major expansion of the Arnotts department store, would start next summer, despite the economic downturn.
Laker was chairman of Centros, a British firm that was working with Arnotts on the Northern Quarter, but has just left the company, taking the Dublin project with him. He will now manage the development through his firm, LDM, which employs four people at an office in Dublin and expects to increase staff as the project develops.
A further three to four people in Arnotts are also working on the development, according to Laker. He said that the team was focusing on detailed designs for the Northern Quarter, including some ‘‘non-controversial changes to help it on its way’’.
As well as revamped Arnotts and Penneys stores, the Northern Quarter is to include a four-star hotel, 47 shops, 14 cafes and bars, 121 apartments and 350 parking spaces. In total, it will have almost one million square feet of commercial space, bordered by Henry Street and O’Connell Street.
‘‘We are getting secondary anchorage retailers at the moment and will soon make some announcements,” said Laker.
‘‘It is actually easier to let to tenants for schemes that are three to four years away. This [recession] is a cycle and we will come out of it. Retailers still need to take good attractive space to maintain their market share.”
Laker said he was a ‘‘total believer’’ in the Northern Quarter scheme, which has been put together over several years by Arnotts chief executive Richard Nesbitt and is backed by Boundary Capital and Anglo Irish Bank. ‘‘As a retail-led development, it’s probably the best opportunity I’ve come across in my 30-odd years in this business,” said Laker.
‘‘It involves creating a new street running parallel with one of the two prime streets in a major European capital. It will be the new flagship retail area. It has very strong shareholders in Richard Nesbitt and Niall McFadden [of Boundary], and it has got a great trading entity in Arnotts. If this doesn’t go ahead, nothing will,” he said.
Following objections to the original planning by groups including An Taisce, the Railway Procurement Agency and An Post , An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for the scheme in July with 26 conditions. It reduced the size of the scheme and did not approve plans for a 16-storey tower, meaning its tallest elements will be seven storeys high.
‘‘I am very disappointed they gave us a crew cut on it, but we are pleased overall - getting approval was an achievement in itself,” said Laker, who described his first experience of the Irish planning system as ‘‘quite an unusual process’’.
‘‘There is a lot of genuine support for this scheme and for Arnotts as a brand name,” he said. Laker said that reports that Centros had a 20 per cent stake in the Northern Quarter development were not accurate.
‘‘It was talked about, but it never happened - there were discussions, but once they got Anglo and McFadden, it was not needed.”
He said that preliminary work on the Northern Quarter would start in the middle of next year. The scheme is expected to take at least four years to complete. ‘‘I am very happy to be taking this on,” said Laker. ‘‘I wouldn’t be moving if I wasn’t.”
Laker worked at Centros for 12 years, first as development director and later as managing director and then chairman.
He said the decision to leave Centros was ‘‘a very amicable parting of ways’’ and said that his former employer was in a healthy financial state.
Earlier this year, Centros shelved plans for a town centre scheme in Dumfries in Scotland.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
He said that work on the development, which includes a major expansion of the Arnotts department store, would start next summer, despite the economic downturn.
Laker was chairman of Centros, a British firm that was working with Arnotts on the Northern Quarter, but has just left the company, taking the Dublin project with him. He will now manage the development through his firm, LDM, which employs four people at an office in Dublin and expects to increase staff as the project develops.
A further three to four people in Arnotts are also working on the development, according to Laker. He said that the team was focusing on detailed designs for the Northern Quarter, including some ‘‘non-controversial changes to help it on its way’’.
As well as revamped Arnotts and Penneys stores, the Northern Quarter is to include a four-star hotel, 47 shops, 14 cafes and bars, 121 apartments and 350 parking spaces. In total, it will have almost one million square feet of commercial space, bordered by Henry Street and O’Connell Street.
‘‘We are getting secondary anchorage retailers at the moment and will soon make some announcements,” said Laker.
‘‘It is actually easier to let to tenants for schemes that are three to four years away. This [recession] is a cycle and we will come out of it. Retailers still need to take good attractive space to maintain their market share.”
Laker said he was a ‘‘total believer’’ in the Northern Quarter scheme, which has been put together over several years by Arnotts chief executive Richard Nesbitt and is backed by Boundary Capital and Anglo Irish Bank. ‘‘As a retail-led development, it’s probably the best opportunity I’ve come across in my 30-odd years in this business,” said Laker.
‘‘It involves creating a new street running parallel with one of the two prime streets in a major European capital. It will be the new flagship retail area. It has very strong shareholders in Richard Nesbitt and Niall McFadden [of Boundary], and it has got a great trading entity in Arnotts. If this doesn’t go ahead, nothing will,” he said.
Following objections to the original planning by groups including An Taisce, the Railway Procurement Agency and An Post , An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for the scheme in July with 26 conditions. It reduced the size of the scheme and did not approve plans for a 16-storey tower, meaning its tallest elements will be seven storeys high.
‘‘I am very disappointed they gave us a crew cut on it, but we are pleased overall - getting approval was an achievement in itself,” said Laker, who described his first experience of the Irish planning system as ‘‘quite an unusual process’’.
‘‘There is a lot of genuine support for this scheme and for Arnotts as a brand name,” he said. Laker said that reports that Centros had a 20 per cent stake in the Northern Quarter development were not accurate.
‘‘It was talked about, but it never happened - there were discussions, but once they got Anglo and McFadden, it was not needed.”
He said that preliminary work on the Northern Quarter would start in the middle of next year. The scheme is expected to take at least four years to complete. ‘‘I am very happy to be taking this on,” said Laker. ‘‘I wouldn’t be moving if I wasn’t.”
Laker worked at Centros for 12 years, first as development director and later as managing director and then chairman.
He said the decision to leave Centros was ‘‘a very amicable parting of ways’’ and said that his former employer was in a healthy financial state.
Earlier this year, Centros shelved plans for a town centre scheme in Dumfries in Scotland.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
Hearing on Meath landfill deferred
AN BORD Pleanála has adjourned a hearing into plans to build an eight megawatt biomass incinerator and ash landfill in Co Meath after it emerged that more than five acres of land earmarked as part of the landfill does not belong to the company.
College Proteins has applied under the Strategic Infrastructure Act (SIA) to the board for permission for the development on its existing site in Nobber.
On Thursday, the ninth day of the hearing, landowner David Horgan told Oisín Collins for North East Against Incineration that the field was his and he had not been asked to sell or for permission to include it in the plans, or to allow a waste licence on it.
Mr Collins asked Pauline Fitzpatrick, the inspector chairing the hearing, to rule the application invalid.
When the hearing resumed yesterday, Suzanne Murray for College Proteins confirmed the field was owned by Mr Horgan. She said it was with adjoining fields to be used for soil depositions during the construction of the landfill.
She argued that the SIA did not give the inspector or the board the power to invalidate the application. If it did decide to invalidate it, the company would be seeking its planning application fee returned.
Ms Fitzpatrick yesterday requested the company to "take time to consider their position" and said there was a legal requirement for an applicant to have a significant interest in a site.
She was not in a position to make a ruling and she would report to the board. She adjourned the hearing for three weeks.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
College Proteins has applied under the Strategic Infrastructure Act (SIA) to the board for permission for the development on its existing site in Nobber.
On Thursday, the ninth day of the hearing, landowner David Horgan told Oisín Collins for North East Against Incineration that the field was his and he had not been asked to sell or for permission to include it in the plans, or to allow a waste licence on it.
Mr Collins asked Pauline Fitzpatrick, the inspector chairing the hearing, to rule the application invalid.
When the hearing resumed yesterday, Suzanne Murray for College Proteins confirmed the field was owned by Mr Horgan. She said it was with adjoining fields to be used for soil depositions during the construction of the landfill.
She argued that the SIA did not give the inspector or the board the power to invalidate the application. If it did decide to invalidate it, the company would be seeking its planning application fee returned.
Ms Fitzpatrick yesterday requested the company to "take time to consider their position" and said there was a legal requirement for an applicant to have a significant interest in a site.
She was not in a position to make a ruling and she would report to the board. She adjourned the hearing for three weeks.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Field mix-up halts incinerator hearing
An oral hearing into plans to build an incinerator has been adjourned after it emerged that more than five acres earmarked as part of an adjoining landfill did not belong to the company.
College Proteins had applied under the Strategic Infrastructure Act (SIA) to An Bord Pleanala for permission for the development on its existing site in Nobber, Co Meath, where it operates a rendering factory.
However, David Horgan told the ninth day of the hearing that a five-acre field included in the plans was his.
He told Thursday's sitting that he had not been asked to sell the field or asked for permission to include it in the plans.
When the hearing resumed yesterday, Ms Suzanne Murray counsel for College Proteins confirmed that the field "was owned by Mr Horgan and is not owned by College Proteins".
She said it was with adjoining fields to be used for soil depositions during the construction of the landfill.
She said that the SIA did not give the inspector or the board the power to invalidate the application. If it did decide to invalidate it, the company would seek its planning application fee to be returned.
Elaine Keogh
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
College Proteins had applied under the Strategic Infrastructure Act (SIA) to An Bord Pleanala for permission for the development on its existing site in Nobber, Co Meath, where it operates a rendering factory.
However, David Horgan told the ninth day of the hearing that a five-acre field included in the plans was his.
He told Thursday's sitting that he had not been asked to sell the field or asked for permission to include it in the plans.
When the hearing resumed yesterday, Ms Suzanne Murray counsel for College Proteins confirmed that the field "was owned by Mr Horgan and is not owned by College Proteins".
She said it was with adjoining fields to be used for soil depositions during the construction of the landfill.
She said that the SIA did not give the inspector or the board the power to invalidate the application. If it did decide to invalidate it, the company would seek its planning application fee to be returned.
Elaine Keogh
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Route for new Luas unveiled -- without a price tag
The route of the planned new Luas through west Dublin was unveiled yesterday with tram lines running from Trinity College to Lucan.
Operators expect an extra 25 million commuters to use the growing network -- but it could be early 2011 before work begins.
Journey times are expected to be around 45 minutes on the 15km route.
A spokesman for the Railway Procurement Agency said: "We would expect that journey times would be similar to the Tallaght journey. We would expect around 45 minutes.''
No price tag has been put on the huge project, but planners insisted that they are aiming to minimise disruption in the city.
"We would have to speed up time spent building the lines, that would be our intention, and we have already done that with the Docklands,'' the RPA spokesman said.
"The man in the street might have felt we left areas unfinished during construction.
"We would certainly be more focused on limiting any disruption in all areas, but particularly the likes of Thomas Street and Dean Street.''
The 15km Line F will start on College Green heading west along Dame Street to Christchurch before joining the existing Red Line at Fatima or St James's Hospital.
Trams
Five stops later trams will continue west into Ballyfermot through Cherry Orchard and out of the city to Liffey Valley and a possible park and ride before stopping at Quarryvale, Castle Road, Griffeen Valley and the Newcastle Road.
It is also planned to build stops linking with the proposed Metro West and Metro North, rail and bus services.
Specific details on locations of stops have to be finalised in the coming months before a railway order is submitted in July 2010.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Operators expect an extra 25 million commuters to use the growing network -- but it could be early 2011 before work begins.
Journey times are expected to be around 45 minutes on the 15km route.
A spokesman for the Railway Procurement Agency said: "We would expect that journey times would be similar to the Tallaght journey. We would expect around 45 minutes.''
No price tag has been put on the huge project, but planners insisted that they are aiming to minimise disruption in the city.
"We would have to speed up time spent building the lines, that would be our intention, and we have already done that with the Docklands,'' the RPA spokesman said.
"The man in the street might have felt we left areas unfinished during construction.
"We would certainly be more focused on limiting any disruption in all areas, but particularly the likes of Thomas Street and Dean Street.''
The 15km Line F will start on College Green heading west along Dame Street to Christchurch before joining the existing Red Line at Fatima or St James's Hospital.
Trams
Five stops later trams will continue west into Ballyfermot through Cherry Orchard and out of the city to Liffey Valley and a possible park and ride before stopping at Quarryvale, Castle Road, Griffeen Valley and the Newcastle Road.
It is also planned to build stops linking with the proposed Metro West and Metro North, rail and bus services.
Specific details on locations of stops have to be finalised in the coming months before a railway order is submitted in July 2010.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Redeveloped forest park shows Coillte’s aim to grow public access
THE redeveloped Guagán Barra Forest Park in Co Cork was launched yesterday by Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cuív.
Coillte developed the site during 2007 and 2008, with the upgrading of the present trails and the addition of new trails and facilities under the Forest Recreation Infrastructure Programme.
Part of the National Development Plan, the Forest Recreation Infrastructure Programme is designed to increase public access to Coillte lands. It is funded by Fáilte Ireland, the Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, under the NeighbourWood Scheme.
Mr Ó Cuív said his department is providing €1.5 million funding to Coillte this year. As the state’s largest land-owner and as a member of Comhairle na Tuaithe, Coillte has played a key role in facilitating access to countryside recreation, with positive health and economic benefits for both rural and urban communities.
“The Coillte initiatives fit very well with the range of solutions we are developing to facilitate agreed access to the countryside and the development of }rural recreation,” he said.
Mr Ó Cuív said a large step forward was taken this year with the appointment of 12 rural recreation officers. An integral part of their role will be to promote walking tourism in areas where there are clusters of suitable, accessible walks. The National Walks Scheme, which he launched in early March, was initially piloted in the four areas where rural recreation officers (RROs) have been appointed.
It will also be rolled out to eight other areas where RROs have been appointed. The scheme has since been extended to include the Beara Way and loops in counties Donegal and Tipperary. Under this scheme, landholders receive payment for the development, maintenance and enhancement of approved national waymarked ways and looped walking routes that pass through their land or alternatively, their maintenance under the Rural Social Scheme.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Coillte developed the site during 2007 and 2008, with the upgrading of the present trails and the addition of new trails and facilities under the Forest Recreation Infrastructure Programme.
Part of the National Development Plan, the Forest Recreation Infrastructure Programme is designed to increase public access to Coillte lands. It is funded by Fáilte Ireland, the Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, under the NeighbourWood Scheme.
Mr Ó Cuív said his department is providing €1.5 million funding to Coillte this year. As the state’s largest land-owner and as a member of Comhairle na Tuaithe, Coillte has played a key role in facilitating access to countryside recreation, with positive health and economic benefits for both rural and urban communities.
“The Coillte initiatives fit very well with the range of solutions we are developing to facilitate agreed access to the countryside and the development of }rural recreation,” he said.
Mr Ó Cuív said a large step forward was taken this year with the appointment of 12 rural recreation officers. An integral part of their role will be to promote walking tourism in areas where there are clusters of suitable, accessible walks. The National Walks Scheme, which he launched in early March, was initially piloted in the four areas where rural recreation officers (RROs) have been appointed.
It will also be rolled out to eight other areas where RROs have been appointed. The scheme has since been extended to include the Beara Way and loops in counties Donegal and Tipperary. Under this scheme, landholders receive payment for the development, maintenance and enhancement of approved national waymarked ways and looped walking routes that pass through their land or alternatively, their maintenance under the Rural Social Scheme.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Iconic cathedral poised for €1m repairs grant from council
AN ICONIC cathedral and leading tourist attraction is poised to get a €1 million council grant to help with repairs.
It is hoped if Cork City Council sanctions the move to partially fund the estimated €4m refurbishment works on the landmark St Finbarre’s Cathedral, it will kick-start the process of securing further funding from central Government.
Designed by William Burges and consecrated in 1870, the cathedral is a city landmark. The site of worship since the 7th century, it is of international architectural significance and attracted more than 26,000 visitors last year.
However, Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, said key refurbishments are needed to secure the building’s future.
“If we don’t do this work, the building will end up in serious trouble and there could be implications for keeping it open,” he said.
All the Cork limestone stonework needs to be re-pointed, gargoyles will have to be repaired and some remade.
The spires have to be weatherproofed and inside, the marble around the high altar also needs repair.
The entire works could cost up to €4m.
“We can no longer do what we have been doing — piecemeal repairs. It is just not cost effective,” Very Rev Dunne said.
Contractors TKB Southgate and Associates are restoring the cathedral’s northwest spire and are due to complete the work in November.
Very Rev Dunne said he would like to continue with work on the southwest spire and west frontage rather than taking down all the scaffolding and putting it up again next year when further funding is expected.
He has discussed the issue with city manager Joe Gavin who will recommend to councillors the city offers financial support, up to a maximum of €1m, over the coming years. The dean has approached the Heritage Council and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government for funding.
“In view of the important heritage value of St FinBarre’s, I recommend that the city council offers financial support,” Mr Gavin will say in a report before councillors on Monday. Mr Gavin is grappling with a direction from Government to slash 3% from the council’s payroll budget, funded from revenue sources.
It is understood the funding for the St FinBarre’s project will come from capital spending. The city is using €1.25m from capital funds to buy the original North Monastery School from the Christian Brothers and to transform it into a cultural centre.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
It is hoped if Cork City Council sanctions the move to partially fund the estimated €4m refurbishment works on the landmark St Finbarre’s Cathedral, it will kick-start the process of securing further funding from central Government.
Designed by William Burges and consecrated in 1870, the cathedral is a city landmark. The site of worship since the 7th century, it is of international architectural significance and attracted more than 26,000 visitors last year.
However, Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, said key refurbishments are needed to secure the building’s future.
“If we don’t do this work, the building will end up in serious trouble and there could be implications for keeping it open,” he said.
All the Cork limestone stonework needs to be re-pointed, gargoyles will have to be repaired and some remade.
The spires have to be weatherproofed and inside, the marble around the high altar also needs repair.
The entire works could cost up to €4m.
“We can no longer do what we have been doing — piecemeal repairs. It is just not cost effective,” Very Rev Dunne said.
Contractors TKB Southgate and Associates are restoring the cathedral’s northwest spire and are due to complete the work in November.
Very Rev Dunne said he would like to continue with work on the southwest spire and west frontage rather than taking down all the scaffolding and putting it up again next year when further funding is expected.
He has discussed the issue with city manager Joe Gavin who will recommend to councillors the city offers financial support, up to a maximum of €1m, over the coming years. The dean has approached the Heritage Council and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government for funding.
“In view of the important heritage value of St FinBarre’s, I recommend that the city council offers financial support,” Mr Gavin will say in a report before councillors on Monday. Mr Gavin is grappling with a direction from Government to slash 3% from the council’s payroll budget, funded from revenue sources.
It is understood the funding for the St FinBarre’s project will come from capital spending. The city is using €1.25m from capital funds to buy the original North Monastery School from the Christian Brothers and to transform it into a cultural centre.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Friday, 10 October 2008
Sean Dunne blocks docklands project
DUBLIN Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) acted outside its powers and breached fair procedures when it decided a €200m project on the city's north quays did not need planning permission, the High Court ruled yesterday.
The court granted an order quashing an exemption certificate in a case brought by developer Sean Dunne against the DDDA, even though work on the development is under way.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan yesterday found that a confidential agreement reached between the DDDA and the project developer, North Quay Investments Ltd (NQI), before the exemption certificate was issued in July 2007 also gave rise to a "reasonable apprehension of bias'' by the authority.
Under that agreement, on May 31, 2007, NQI agreed to provide land to the DDDA for use as public space if the exemption certificate was granted.
Judge Geoghegan said the agreement provided that the DDDA, or its executives, would recommend to its board that the certificate should be granted. The agreement also noted that the planning scheme for the North Lotts site did not allow the development which was proposed by NQI.
Relationship
There was "a direct relationship" between the decision to grant the certificate under Section 25 of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act 1997 and the obtaining by DDDA of the public open space lands, the judge added.
The fact the DDDA had stated it has a "well-known practice" of entering into agreements with developers did not alter her conclusion on bias. While pre-certificate discussions could be entered into, no commitment could be given that a certificate would issue, she said.
"What is permissible falls short of what was done in this instance,'' the judge added.
The case was taken by developer Sean Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company (NWPHC) against the authority's decision because the NQI project adjoins development lands owned by him.
In her decision, which will with far-reaching implications for the DDDA, the judge ruled the that authority was only empowered to grant certificates for exempted development if the proposal was consistent with the planning scheme.
The judge ruled the proposed NQI development was not consistent because of the proposed commercial use of the buildings and their height.
She also found the DDDA breached fair procedures in not permitting Mr Dunneto make submissions on the proposals.
Yesterday the DDDA said it would not be commenting on the ruling.
Tim Healy and Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The court granted an order quashing an exemption certificate in a case brought by developer Sean Dunne against the DDDA, even though work on the development is under way.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan yesterday found that a confidential agreement reached between the DDDA and the project developer, North Quay Investments Ltd (NQI), before the exemption certificate was issued in July 2007 also gave rise to a "reasonable apprehension of bias'' by the authority.
Under that agreement, on May 31, 2007, NQI agreed to provide land to the DDDA for use as public space if the exemption certificate was granted.
Judge Geoghegan said the agreement provided that the DDDA, or its executives, would recommend to its board that the certificate should be granted. The agreement also noted that the planning scheme for the North Lotts site did not allow the development which was proposed by NQI.
Relationship
There was "a direct relationship" between the decision to grant the certificate under Section 25 of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act 1997 and the obtaining by DDDA of the public open space lands, the judge added.
The fact the DDDA had stated it has a "well-known practice" of entering into agreements with developers did not alter her conclusion on bias. While pre-certificate discussions could be entered into, no commitment could be given that a certificate would issue, she said.
"What is permissible falls short of what was done in this instance,'' the judge added.
The case was taken by developer Sean Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company (NWPHC) against the authority's decision because the NQI project adjoins development lands owned by him.
In her decision, which will with far-reaching implications for the DDDA, the judge ruled the that authority was only empowered to grant certificates for exempted development if the proposal was consistent with the planning scheme.
The judge ruled the proposed NQI development was not consistent because of the proposed commercial use of the buildings and their height.
She also found the DDDA breached fair procedures in not permitting Mr Dunneto make submissions on the proposals.
Yesterday the DDDA said it would not be commenting on the ruling.
Tim Healy and Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Planning refused for mixed-fuel power plant in north Mayo
AN BORD Pleanála has reversed a decision by Mayo County Council by refusing planning permission for a combined heat and power (CHP) plant which would have seen an investment of €200 million in north Mayo and created 300 jobs.
Mayo Power had planned to build a 100mw mixed-fuel plant on the former Asahi site near Killala in north Mayo.
The predominant fuel for the project was to be biomass supported by locally sourced peat. Together they would produce lower CO2 emissions than a modern gas-fired power station.
An Bord Pleanála said it was rejecting the project as it "would be contrary to the national policy to reduce power generation from peat as a source of fuel".
In a statement yesterday, Mayo Power said: "No relevant Government authority had ever, at any stage of the planning process, said there was a national policy against the judicious use of an indigenous fuel such as peat in support of a significant renewable energy project.
"What An Bord Pleanála has done is to say no to the largest renewable solid biomass energy project in Ireland at a time of a major downturn in the Irish economy.
"It was also to be the largest capacity CHP facility for Ireland which is the top EU priority in the energy sector to which the Government is committed."
The plant received planning permission from Mayo County Council in December 2007 and was the subject of a number of appeals to An Bord Pleanála.
The Mayo Power statement said that its directors were extremely disappointed by the decision and would now be considering their options.
The Irish Times
Mayo Power had planned to build a 100mw mixed-fuel plant on the former Asahi site near Killala in north Mayo.
The predominant fuel for the project was to be biomass supported by locally sourced peat. Together they would produce lower CO2 emissions than a modern gas-fired power station.
An Bord Pleanála said it was rejecting the project as it "would be contrary to the national policy to reduce power generation from peat as a source of fuel".
In a statement yesterday, Mayo Power said: "No relevant Government authority had ever, at any stage of the planning process, said there was a national policy against the judicious use of an indigenous fuel such as peat in support of a significant renewable energy project.
"What An Bord Pleanála has done is to say no to the largest renewable solid biomass energy project in Ireland at a time of a major downturn in the Irish economy.
"It was also to be the largest capacity CHP facility for Ireland which is the top EU priority in the energy sector to which the Government is committed."
The plant received planning permission from Mayo County Council in December 2007 and was the subject of a number of appeals to An Bord Pleanála.
The Mayo Power statement said that its directors were extremely disappointed by the decision and would now be considering their options.
The Irish Times
Sean Dunne quashes North Quay Investments
DUBLIN DOCKLANDS Development Authority acted outside its powers and breached fair procedures in how it certified that a €200 million development on Dublin's north quays, on which work is already under way, was exempt from planning permission, the High Court ruled yesterday.
It granted an order to rival developer Seán Dunne quashing the certificate.The nature of a confidential agreement reached in May 2007 between the docklands authority and the developer, North Quay Investments Ltd (NQI), before the exemption was issued in July 2007, also gave rise to a "reasonable apprehension of bias" by the authority in reaching its decision, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan found.
Under the May 31st agreement, the developer agreed to cede free of charge certain land to the authority for use as public open space if the exemption certificate was granted.
The agreement provided either the authority or its executives would recommend to its board the certificate should be granted and also noted the current North Lotts planning scheme would not permit a development of the nature contemplated by NQI.
The judge said the agreement meant there was a direct relationship between the decision to grant the certificate under section 25 of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act, 1997, and the obtaining by the authority of the lands for public space.
The fact the docklands authority had stated it had a well-known practice of entering into agreements with developers, and that these were necessary on a practical basis, did not alter her conclusion on bias, the judge said.
The authority had very wide power to secure the development and regeneration of the docklands area and was obliged to have a procedure preventing its executives or board members giving any commitment on a certificate prior to the board deciding that application.
While pre-certificate discussions could be entered into, no commitment could be given that a certificate would issue, she said. "What is permissible falls short of what was done in this instance."
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan was giving her reserved judgment on proceedings by Mr Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company (NWPHC) against the docklands authority over its decision of July 2007 that the proposed NQI development on the former Brooks Thomas site, bounded by North Wall Quay, New Wapping Street, Mayor Street and Castleforbes Road, was exempted development.
The NQI project surrounds on three sides development lands owned by Mr Dunne.
In a decision with far-reaching implications for the docklands authority, the judge ruled it was only empowered by the DDDA Act, 1997, to grant section 25 certificates for exempted development if that proposed development was consistent with the planning scheme.
If a proposed development was inconsistent with the planning scheme, the authority could not issue a certificate with conditions aimed at ensuring compliance in the future.
The judge ruled the proposed NQI development was inconsistent with the planning scheme for the North Lotts area of the docklands in relation to the proposed commercial use of the buildings and their height.
The authority was not entitled to grant - as it had in this case - certificates for such "fast-track" development on the basis of 22 conditions which had the intended effect of permitting a development, now inconsistent with the planning scheme, to be modified in the future so as to comply with the scheme, the judge ruled. The docklands authority had no power to enforce compliance with a section 25 certificate, she noted.
The judge stressed that her conclusion did not preclude the authority, in relation to developments considered consistent with the planning scheme, directing those developments be carried out with certain variations.
She also found the authority breached fair procedures in not permitting Mr Dunne, whose property would be affected by the proposed development, to make submissions on the proposed development and to have those considered prior to making its decision.
In granting the quashing orders to Mr Dunne, the judge said it was surprising and regrettable that the 1997 Act was silent about what procedure the authority should adopt for deciding whether section 25 certificates should be issued.
It was not disputed the North Lotts planning scheme was the blueprint for development of that area and was similar to a development plan under the planning Acts, she said. The planning scheme was in the nature of a contract between the docklands authority and, if not the public, at least the property owners within the area.
Those property owners were entited to expect any development undertaken in the area would only be exempted by the docklands authority if it was consistent with the scheme.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
It granted an order to rival developer Seán Dunne quashing the certificate.The nature of a confidential agreement reached in May 2007 between the docklands authority and the developer, North Quay Investments Ltd (NQI), before the exemption was issued in July 2007, also gave rise to a "reasonable apprehension of bias" by the authority in reaching its decision, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan found.
Under the May 31st agreement, the developer agreed to cede free of charge certain land to the authority for use as public open space if the exemption certificate was granted.
The agreement provided either the authority or its executives would recommend to its board the certificate should be granted and also noted the current North Lotts planning scheme would not permit a development of the nature contemplated by NQI.
The judge said the agreement meant there was a direct relationship between the decision to grant the certificate under section 25 of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act, 1997, and the obtaining by the authority of the lands for public space.
The fact the docklands authority had stated it had a well-known practice of entering into agreements with developers, and that these were necessary on a practical basis, did not alter her conclusion on bias, the judge said.
The authority had very wide power to secure the development and regeneration of the docklands area and was obliged to have a procedure preventing its executives or board members giving any commitment on a certificate prior to the board deciding that application.
While pre-certificate discussions could be entered into, no commitment could be given that a certificate would issue, she said. "What is permissible falls short of what was done in this instance."
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan was giving her reserved judgment on proceedings by Mr Dunne and his North Wall Property Holding Company (NWPHC) against the docklands authority over its decision of July 2007 that the proposed NQI development on the former Brooks Thomas site, bounded by North Wall Quay, New Wapping Street, Mayor Street and Castleforbes Road, was exempted development.
The NQI project surrounds on three sides development lands owned by Mr Dunne.
In a decision with far-reaching implications for the docklands authority, the judge ruled it was only empowered by the DDDA Act, 1997, to grant section 25 certificates for exempted development if that proposed development was consistent with the planning scheme.
If a proposed development was inconsistent with the planning scheme, the authority could not issue a certificate with conditions aimed at ensuring compliance in the future.
The judge ruled the proposed NQI development was inconsistent with the planning scheme for the North Lotts area of the docklands in relation to the proposed commercial use of the buildings and their height.
The authority was not entitled to grant - as it had in this case - certificates for such "fast-track" development on the basis of 22 conditions which had the intended effect of permitting a development, now inconsistent with the planning scheme, to be modified in the future so as to comply with the scheme, the judge ruled. The docklands authority had no power to enforce compliance with a section 25 certificate, she noted.
The judge stressed that her conclusion did not preclude the authority, in relation to developments considered consistent with the planning scheme, directing those developments be carried out with certain variations.
She also found the authority breached fair procedures in not permitting Mr Dunne, whose property would be affected by the proposed development, to make submissions on the proposed development and to have those considered prior to making its decision.
In granting the quashing orders to Mr Dunne, the judge said it was surprising and regrettable that the 1997 Act was silent about what procedure the authority should adopt for deciding whether section 25 certificates should be issued.
It was not disputed the North Lotts planning scheme was the blueprint for development of that area and was similar to a development plan under the planning Acts, she said. The planning scheme was in the nature of a contract between the docklands authority and, if not the public, at least the property owners within the area.
Those property owners were entited to expect any development undertaken in the area would only be exempted by the docklands authority if it was consistent with the scheme.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
40 rental locations for city bike plan
THE LONG-AWAITED bicycle rental scheme for Dublin city has moved a step closer with the announcement by Dublin City Council of 40 city centre locations where the bicycles will be available for hire.
However, the 450 bicycles will not be in situ until an undetermined date next summer, the council has said.
The bicycles are being provided by advertising multinational JCDecaux in exchange for outdoor advertising space in Dublin estimated to be worth €1 million annually. The advertising panels, about 100 of which were granted planning permission earlier this year, were erected last summer.
However, the 450 bicycles will not be in situ until an undetermined date next summer, the council has said.
The bicycles are being provided by advertising multinational JCDecaux in exchange for outdoor advertising space in Dublin estimated to be worth €1 million annually. The advertising panels, about 100 of which were granted planning permission earlier this year, were erected last summer.