Revised plans for Jurys and Berkeley Court site approved

REVISED PLANS to redevelop the Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels in Ballsbridge have been approved by Dublin City Council.

The scaled-down, mixed-use application includes permission for a 15-storey tower, a 135-bedroom hotel and a range of apartments, shops and offices.

Developer Sean Dunne, who paid €54 million an acre for the site in 2005, had previously hoped to build a 37-storey tower, sculpted like a diamond with a 232-bedroom hotel, a new cultural quarter, an embassy quarter, apartments and retail, office, leisure and creche facilities. The application was rejected by An Bord Pleanála citing issues of bulk and over development.

The new planning approval for the site includes 12 buildings, 11 of which are primarily residential, and one which is primarily a hotel. The development includes offices, licensed restaurants, bars, cafes, childcare facilities, healthcare facilities and ancillary uses above and below ground.

The site is bounded by Lansdowne Road to the north, Shelbourne Road to the east, Pembroke Road to the west, and the former Veterinary College site to the south.

Basement levels will accommodate 963 car spaces. Vehicular access to the basement and service areas is provided from Shelbourne, Pembroke and Lansdowne roads. Of the mainly residential blocks, one has a “shoulder level” of seven storeys, then rises two narrower levels to nine storeys, and contains a licensed restaurant on the ground floor.

Blocks two to four have a shoulder level of eight storeys stepping up to 10 storeys from the lower-ground floor.

Block five has a shoulder level of seven storeys stepping up to nine storeys and contains a childcare facility at ground floor. Block six has a shoulder level of eight storeys stepping up to 10 storeys and contains part of the healthcare facility at lower-ground and ground floor levels.

Block seven has an overall height of seven storeys from the lower-ground floor and contains the remainder of the healthcare facility at lower-ground and ground levels.

Blocks eight to 11 are centred around a courtyard garden over the ground-floor anchor retail unit and have a shoulder height of seven storeys, stepping up to nine storeys with the feature 15-storey landmark element defining the Pembroke Road front.

The development will include private, semi-private and public open spaces.

Mr Dunne or his main Mountbrook Group could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Irish Times

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