THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency (Nama) will have to decide whether it should fund the completion of developer Liam Carroll’s half-built development in Dublin’s docklands following yesterday’s decision by An Bord Pleanála that the structure can be retained and completed.
The original planning permission for the residential and commercial buildings was given by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority as part of its fast-track process but was rescinded in 2008 by the High Court, in a case taken by Sean Dunne.
After the ruling Mr Dunne, who has a nearby development, wanted Mr Carroll’s half completed structure demolished.
Mr Carroll’s company, North Quay Investments Limited, successfully got permission from Dublin City Council to retain the structure and to complete it. However that decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by Mr Dunne’s company, North Wall Quay Property Development Limited, part of the Mountbrook Homes group. Yesterday the Dunne appeal was dismissed.
The development was to house a new headquarters for Anglo Irish Bank, which has funded the project to date.
A court hearing last year heard it would cost €8 million to clad the buildings and a further €60 million to complete them.
Mr Carroll’s companies had drawn down €40 million from Anglo as of last June to finance the development.
Mr Carroll’s loans have been moved to Nama. As one of the first and largest 10 developers to have had loans moved to the agency, Mr Carroll’s group will have to submit business plans to Nama before it will release any further funding.
The agency has a €5 billion fund for investment in projects where it believes it can increase its overall return if it completes unfinished projects.
The docklands buildings, which form part of the collateral for Mr Carroll’s loans, have arguably increased in value because of yesterday’s decision.
The three-block, seven- to eight-storey development was to have housed a new HQ for Anglo and for Evershed O’Donnell Sweeney solicitors, which acted for Carroll.
Anglo, which is now nationalised, has announced it has withdrawn from its agreement to move to the Carroll building, though it is not known how much it paid to be released from its agreement.
Nor is it known how long a lease or at what rate Anglo had contracted for. A note in its 2009 accounts said withdrawal from the agreement reduced the bank’s future rent by €101 million.
The current board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority has expressed misgivings about aspects of the development, not least the multiple involvements of Anglo Irish Bank.
The bank’s former chairman, Sean FitzPatrick, was on the board of the authority while also being a director of the bank.
The authority’s current chairwoman, Prof Niamh Brennan, has expressed concerns about how the authority’s executive concluded a deal with Mr Carroll whereby it would press to have the planning scheme for the North Quay area changed, so that Carroll could double the height of the development.
The underground car park is sufficient for a 16-storey development.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label liam carroll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liam carroll. Show all posts
Friday, 3 September 2010
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Carroll's offices aimed at BoI staff approved
Liam Carroll's development vehicle Danninger, which is in receivership following a move by AIB, has been given the go-ahead for a huge office complex in Dublin's north docks which was originally targeted as a back office for Bank of Ireland. About 8,000 people would have been based in the building if a deal had been agreed.
The developer had tried to woo the bank to the north docks as part of his plan for a domestic financial services centre which would have involved new offices being developed for Anglo Irish Bank, AIB and Bank of Ireland. He spent €250m buying up land for the plan. In the end construction commenced only on the block earmarked for Anglo before the developer's empire collapsed.
The Anglo block is unfinished due to a planning dispute. It has been before An Bord Pleanála for 14 months and the board has yet to make a decision on its validity. If it rules against it, the building may be demolished.
Before development can take place on the site originally earmarked for BoI, a fee of €3.7m will have to be paid to Dublin City Council and another €770,000 will have to be paid towards the Metro North project.
The plan for three interconnected office blocks and a landscaped park was approved by the council subject to standard conditions.
Carroll's talks with AIB Capital Markets at the time involved a plan to raise the height of a building planned for the site to 110 metres, nearly twice the height of Liberty Hall.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The developer had tried to woo the bank to the north docks as part of his plan for a domestic financial services centre which would have involved new offices being developed for Anglo Irish Bank, AIB and Bank of Ireland. He spent €250m buying up land for the plan. In the end construction commenced only on the block earmarked for Anglo before the developer's empire collapsed.
The Anglo block is unfinished due to a planning dispute. It has been before An Bord Pleanála for 14 months and the board has yet to make a decision on its validity. If it rules against it, the building may be demolished.
Before development can take place on the site originally earmarked for BoI, a fee of €3.7m will have to be paid to Dublin City Council and another €770,000 will have to be paid towards the Metro North project.
The plan for three interconnected office blocks and a landscaped park was approved by the council subject to standard conditions.
Carroll's talks with AIB Capital Markets at the time involved a plan to raise the height of a building planned for the site to 110 metres, nearly twice the height of Liberty Hall.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Council's €60m deal with Carroll agreed
A €60 MILLION deal between developer Liam Carroll and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has been approved by councillors.
Councillors voted to accept the deal by 24 to 3.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had instituted legal proceedings in July this year to protect its interests in the Cherrywood Science and Technology Park, following the collapse of Mr Carroll’s Zoe Group.
Mr Carroll owned Dunloe Ewart, the company that had gone into the joint venture project with the council in 1997.
The 64-acre site, off the N11 in south Dublin, was partially owned by the council which also invested €57 million into the project.
The High Court set up a mediation group between the two parties following the legal action and a proposed agreement has now been reached. Two buildings near the front of the park are to be ceded to the council in full under the agreement. Both are vacant and described as “modern detached four-storey office units”. One contains two telecommunications masts, yielding an annual rent of almost €55,000.
Some 20 acres of development land and four acres of open space are also to be transferred to the sole ownership of the council as part of the deal.
The remainder of the site will be transferred to Cherrywood Science and Technology Park and the associated group of companies currently involved in the property.
The council intends to set up a new property company, DLR Ltd, to handle its share of the site.
Speaking last night, Independent councillor Victor Boyhan said he could not support the deal, having taken legal advice, because councillors did not have all the information they required, including the detailed valuations of the properties involved.
Labour councillor Aidan Culhane said he was concerned about disposing of the properties and setting up a new company over which they would have no control. And councillor Richard Boyd Barrett said he did not think the matter should be rushed.
County manager Owen Keegan said DLR Properties Ltd would be 100 per cent owned by the council and any profits made would go back to the council.
He acknowledged he had “slight unease” about the council acting as both planning authority and developer for the development. But warned councillors that “time is of the essence”.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Councillors voted to accept the deal by 24 to 3.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had instituted legal proceedings in July this year to protect its interests in the Cherrywood Science and Technology Park, following the collapse of Mr Carroll’s Zoe Group.
Mr Carroll owned Dunloe Ewart, the company that had gone into the joint venture project with the council in 1997.
The 64-acre site, off the N11 in south Dublin, was partially owned by the council which also invested €57 million into the project.
The High Court set up a mediation group between the two parties following the legal action and a proposed agreement has now been reached. Two buildings near the front of the park are to be ceded to the council in full under the agreement. Both are vacant and described as “modern detached four-storey office units”. One contains two telecommunications masts, yielding an annual rent of almost €55,000.
Some 20 acres of development land and four acres of open space are also to be transferred to the sole ownership of the council as part of the deal.
The remainder of the site will be transferred to Cherrywood Science and Technology Park and the associated group of companies currently involved in the property.
The council intends to set up a new property company, DLR Ltd, to handle its share of the site.
Speaking last night, Independent councillor Victor Boyhan said he could not support the deal, having taken legal advice, because councillors did not have all the information they required, including the detailed valuations of the properties involved.
Labour councillor Aidan Culhane said he was concerned about disposing of the properties and setting up a new company over which they would have no control. And councillor Richard Boyd Barrett said he did not think the matter should be rushed.
County manager Owen Keegan said DLR Properties Ltd would be 100 per cent owned by the council and any profits made would go back to the council.
He acknowledged he had “slight unease” about the council acting as both planning authority and developer for the development. But warned councillors that “time is of the essence”.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 1 November 2009
A to Zoe of Liam Carroll: King of the shoeboxes
Within moments of entering Barrie Kidd's home at the Hardwicke complex in Dublin's Smithfield, you can tell it was built by the man known as the "shoebox king". It bears all the hallmarks of troubled developer Liam Carroll's building style.
Although the space itself is bright and cheery, this is more a testament to the pride which its owner shows for his home than the quality of the build.
The dimly lit long corridors of the apartment block, complete with rows of doors leading off the main passageway, immediately tell that Carroll's oft-repeated development formula has been heavily employed here.
Another sign is the apartment's narrow hallway leading to a small living room, with an even tinier 'galley'-type kitchen on one side of the room. So too is its cramped bathroom, thin walls, and the lack of storage space.
Kidd says there are around 300 apartments in the sprawling complex, most of which are investment properties rented out by their owners.
Again, this is typical of Carroll's 'pile-em-high' approach to development, which is evident in most of his other apartment complexes around the city landscape.
Kidd chose the Hardwicke mainly due to its location, and bought there in the late 1990s just after it was built.
"To be honest with you, I quite enjoy it. It is quite central and because I own it myself that makes a difference, I look after it," he says. "I put the electric shower in myself. The bath was here. I put down the tiles on the wall and floor too. They had finished them with tiling but it fell down so it had to be replaced.
"The apartments are not made for storage... Every bit of stuff I have has to be hidden away. It's a real chore."
* * *
Liam Carroll started his career in development 20 years ago with a rather unremarkable apartment block and townhouse scheme at Fisherman's Wharf in Ringsend, Dublin 4.
His company Zoe Developments – and associated companies with names such as Danninger and Royceton – went on to thrive during the following two decades.
Frequently, his calling card involved buying inner-city sites that no one else would touch, availing of the various urban regeneration tax breaks in the process. He is said to have built more apartments in Dublin city centre than all of his rivals put together.
These included developments at Bachelors Walk, Arran Quay, Ushers Quay, Dorset Street, Brunswick Street, Charlotte Quay, Jervis Street, Abbey Street, much of Mountjoy Square, and in Christchurch and Smithfield.
Later on, it also included the landmark Gasworks development on Barrow Street, as well as hotels and other commercial developments further afield.
Now, Carroll's empire is in crisis and he is in serious debt to the banks, which are owed a total of €1.3bn by Zoe.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of key companies in the group following a protracted court battle with ACC bank, which is owed €136m by Zoe companies.
Meanwhile, Carroll's two Tallaght hotels – the Glashaus Hotel and the Tallaght Cross Hotel – have closed and their rooms are being rented out as apartments.
But while his business empire may be crumbling around him, Liam Carroll's legacy remains in the architecture he leaves behind.
Despite attempts to contact him for an interview, the notoriously media shy Carroll was unavailable to speak to the Sunday Tribune.
One former associate describes him as "very hands on – he did every deal and signed every cheque".
His was very much an inhouse operation, initially at least even eschewing the use of architects. "He was renowned for sticking to minimum sizes as allowed for in the legislation. He didn't really look towards sustainability or anything like that – it was all cheap and cheerful. If there was a less expensive way of doing it, he would do it," the former associate says.
"For example, he used slimline electric storage heaters which are major consumers of energy. It was very much that the fabric of the building would be to the standard, and nothing above. So wall insulation would be kept to a minimum too. He wouldn't go the extra mile.
"It was a nightmare place over the years for architects to work, especially those with a bit of flair. It wasn't about winning awards – it was about getting the job done and moving on."
"So he would look at plans that had been drawn up and say: 'We're not using stainless steel. We'll use galvanised mild steel', which is less costly."
* * *
The results of Carroll's approach are to be seen all around the capital city.
Posing as a potential tenant, we visited a three-bed townhouse located where it all began – Fisherman's Wharf in Ringsend.
Situated close to the Eastlink toll bridge, it is directly across the Liffey from the 02 arena with cars whizzing by at all hours of the day and night.
Twenty years on, time has not been kind to the property.
You enter from the street, and are greeted by an almost obligatory long narrow corridor, with an equally narrow kitchen to the right as you walk in.
Then there are cramped stairs, leading to a small living room with dated furniture that would not look out of place in an episode of the Royle Family comedy television show.
Next door is a small single bedroom, with a bed and little else apart from a closet.
Up another narrow flight of stairs and there are two more small double bedrooms.
The main bathroom is basic – a bathtub, electric shower, stand-alone sink unit and toilet. There is clear evidence of mould on the ceiling.
We are told that the landlord decided to drop the asking price for the rent – to €1,150 a month – rather than invest in doing the place up.
Next we visit a two-bed apartment at Bertram Court in Christchurch, Dublin 8.
It is accessed via wrought iron gates, behind which is a gravel driveway with cars parked in front of towering apartment blocks.
This apartment has a small living room, with an archway segregating it from the rest of the room. Behind this is a tiny galley kitchen.
The bedrooms are located at the back of the apartment. They can fit a double bed but not much else. It is on the market for €1,200 a month.
On the other side of the city, Peter [not his real name] shows us around his one-bed apartment on Mountjoy Square.
He moved in recently and doesn't plan to stay there for too long. It soon becomes apparent why.
He has placed his TV on the mantelpiece, next to a small table and two chairs squeezed into the corner.
The small galley kitchenette is clearly dated, its white fixtures and fittings well past their prime.
"I don't do a whole lot of cooking, to be honest with you," Peter confides.
With two of us in the living room, it already feels pretty cramped. Peter has had to leave a lot of his other personal belongings in storage with family members.
"There just wasn't the room here."
He says the lack of a built-in wardrobe eats into the space of the bedroom. The green carpet, worn and tatty, has definitely seen better days
"The worst thing is probably the lack of storage, "he says. "It needs to be repainted too. I was looking for a short-term lease so it suits me for the moment. Even two people [there is a double bed] would struggle for space, I think."
* * *
Carroll may have stuck to the 'letter of the law' when it came to building regulations. But sometimes he did not even do this much when it came to the people who worked for him (see panel).
Building Energy Rating (BER) certificates for several developments built by Carroll, seen by the Sunday Tribune, also suggest another hidden side-effect of his 'no-frills' approach to development.
Often, they are very poorly insulated, scoring as low as 'E' on a scale which only goes to G.
The exception to this is the 'prestige' Gasworks development on Barrow Street, built later on in his career, where most ratings are in the region of Bs and Cs.
As we prepare to leave the Hardwicke, Barrie Kidd points out the crumbling paint on many of the balconies and railings overlooking the common areas.
These are a major bugbear for residents, he says, but cannot be fixed without major hassle.
He says this is because Carroll chose to use cheaper aluminium in their construction, which was then painted over to improve its grey appearance.
The paint on the aluminium railings started to peel within one or two years of the apartment being built, Kidd says, and cannot be painted over due to the type of material used.
But it got the job done cheaply, served its purpose for the time being, allowing Carroll at least to move on.
Do not enter: Liam Carroll's colourful safety record
"You are entitled to make profits on the sweat of your workers, but you are not entitled to make profit on the blood and lives of your workers. You are a disgrace to the construction industry and ought to be ashamed of yourself."
So spoke Justice Peter Kelly in the High Court 12 years ago, addressing Liam Carroll in a hearing precipitated by the death of James Masterson, a 24-year-old construction worker, who fell to his death on Carroll's Charlotte Quay site.
Kelly had earlier agreed to an interim injunction closing the Zoe Developments site in question, having heard that 13 breaches of the health and safety regulations had been noted there.
Referring to Carroll's company, he added: "This defendant that you are responsible for is a criminal, and a recidivist criminal at that, and is so thanks to you."
One close friend of James Masterson, who worked with him on the Charlotte Quay site, last week described him as a "gentleman" who would "do anything for you".
His father, Dinny, has since died. Unfortunately, James Masterson's death was not the first such tragedy on a Zoe site.
On 23 January 1990, a worker on one of its sites at Grove Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, was crushed to death when a crane collapsed on him.
The company was subsequently found guilty of five major health and safety breaches and fined £1,400.
Meanwhile, on 7 March, 1996, a worker died after falling from scaffolding at a Zoe site on Parnell Street, Dublin.
Masterson's death marked a turning point of sorts, resulting in the company donating €100,000 to the court poor box – and belatedly introducing much needed changes to its health and safety practices.
By that stage, however, Carroll was already well on his way to building the empire for which he has since become infamous.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Although the space itself is bright and cheery, this is more a testament to the pride which its owner shows for his home than the quality of the build.
The dimly lit long corridors of the apartment block, complete with rows of doors leading off the main passageway, immediately tell that Carroll's oft-repeated development formula has been heavily employed here.
Another sign is the apartment's narrow hallway leading to a small living room, with an even tinier 'galley'-type kitchen on one side of the room. So too is its cramped bathroom, thin walls, and the lack of storage space.
Kidd says there are around 300 apartments in the sprawling complex, most of which are investment properties rented out by their owners.
Again, this is typical of Carroll's 'pile-em-high' approach to development, which is evident in most of his other apartment complexes around the city landscape.
Kidd chose the Hardwicke mainly due to its location, and bought there in the late 1990s just after it was built.
"To be honest with you, I quite enjoy it. It is quite central and because I own it myself that makes a difference, I look after it," he says. "I put the electric shower in myself. The bath was here. I put down the tiles on the wall and floor too. They had finished them with tiling but it fell down so it had to be replaced.
"The apartments are not made for storage... Every bit of stuff I have has to be hidden away. It's a real chore."
* * *
Liam Carroll started his career in development 20 years ago with a rather unremarkable apartment block and townhouse scheme at Fisherman's Wharf in Ringsend, Dublin 4.
His company Zoe Developments – and associated companies with names such as Danninger and Royceton – went on to thrive during the following two decades.
Frequently, his calling card involved buying inner-city sites that no one else would touch, availing of the various urban regeneration tax breaks in the process. He is said to have built more apartments in Dublin city centre than all of his rivals put together.
These included developments at Bachelors Walk, Arran Quay, Ushers Quay, Dorset Street, Brunswick Street, Charlotte Quay, Jervis Street, Abbey Street, much of Mountjoy Square, and in Christchurch and Smithfield.
Later on, it also included the landmark Gasworks development on Barrow Street, as well as hotels and other commercial developments further afield.
Now, Carroll's empire is in crisis and he is in serious debt to the banks, which are owed a total of €1.3bn by Zoe.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of key companies in the group following a protracted court battle with ACC bank, which is owed €136m by Zoe companies.
Meanwhile, Carroll's two Tallaght hotels – the Glashaus Hotel and the Tallaght Cross Hotel – have closed and their rooms are being rented out as apartments.
But while his business empire may be crumbling around him, Liam Carroll's legacy remains in the architecture he leaves behind.
Despite attempts to contact him for an interview, the notoriously media shy Carroll was unavailable to speak to the Sunday Tribune.
One former associate describes him as "very hands on – he did every deal and signed every cheque".
His was very much an inhouse operation, initially at least even eschewing the use of architects. "He was renowned for sticking to minimum sizes as allowed for in the legislation. He didn't really look towards sustainability or anything like that – it was all cheap and cheerful. If there was a less expensive way of doing it, he would do it," the former associate says.
"For example, he used slimline electric storage heaters which are major consumers of energy. It was very much that the fabric of the building would be to the standard, and nothing above. So wall insulation would be kept to a minimum too. He wouldn't go the extra mile.
"It was a nightmare place over the years for architects to work, especially those with a bit of flair. It wasn't about winning awards – it was about getting the job done and moving on."
"So he would look at plans that had been drawn up and say: 'We're not using stainless steel. We'll use galvanised mild steel', which is less costly."
* * *
The results of Carroll's approach are to be seen all around the capital city.
Posing as a potential tenant, we visited a three-bed townhouse located where it all began – Fisherman's Wharf in Ringsend.
Situated close to the Eastlink toll bridge, it is directly across the Liffey from the 02 arena with cars whizzing by at all hours of the day and night.
Twenty years on, time has not been kind to the property.
You enter from the street, and are greeted by an almost obligatory long narrow corridor, with an equally narrow kitchen to the right as you walk in.
Then there are cramped stairs, leading to a small living room with dated furniture that would not look out of place in an episode of the Royle Family comedy television show.
Next door is a small single bedroom, with a bed and little else apart from a closet.
Up another narrow flight of stairs and there are two more small double bedrooms.
The main bathroom is basic – a bathtub, electric shower, stand-alone sink unit and toilet. There is clear evidence of mould on the ceiling.
We are told that the landlord decided to drop the asking price for the rent – to €1,150 a month – rather than invest in doing the place up.
Next we visit a two-bed apartment at Bertram Court in Christchurch, Dublin 8.
It is accessed via wrought iron gates, behind which is a gravel driveway with cars parked in front of towering apartment blocks.
This apartment has a small living room, with an archway segregating it from the rest of the room. Behind this is a tiny galley kitchen.
The bedrooms are located at the back of the apartment. They can fit a double bed but not much else. It is on the market for €1,200 a month.
On the other side of the city, Peter [not his real name] shows us around his one-bed apartment on Mountjoy Square.
He moved in recently and doesn't plan to stay there for too long. It soon becomes apparent why.
He has placed his TV on the mantelpiece, next to a small table and two chairs squeezed into the corner.
The small galley kitchenette is clearly dated, its white fixtures and fittings well past their prime.
"I don't do a whole lot of cooking, to be honest with you," Peter confides.
With two of us in the living room, it already feels pretty cramped. Peter has had to leave a lot of his other personal belongings in storage with family members.
"There just wasn't the room here."
He says the lack of a built-in wardrobe eats into the space of the bedroom. The green carpet, worn and tatty, has definitely seen better days
"The worst thing is probably the lack of storage, "he says. "It needs to be repainted too. I was looking for a short-term lease so it suits me for the moment. Even two people [there is a double bed] would struggle for space, I think."
* * *
Carroll may have stuck to the 'letter of the law' when it came to building regulations. But sometimes he did not even do this much when it came to the people who worked for him (see panel).
Building Energy Rating (BER) certificates for several developments built by Carroll, seen by the Sunday Tribune, also suggest another hidden side-effect of his 'no-frills' approach to development.
Often, they are very poorly insulated, scoring as low as 'E' on a scale which only goes to G.
The exception to this is the 'prestige' Gasworks development on Barrow Street, built later on in his career, where most ratings are in the region of Bs and Cs.
As we prepare to leave the Hardwicke, Barrie Kidd points out the crumbling paint on many of the balconies and railings overlooking the common areas.
These are a major bugbear for residents, he says, but cannot be fixed without major hassle.
He says this is because Carroll chose to use cheaper aluminium in their construction, which was then painted over to improve its grey appearance.
The paint on the aluminium railings started to peel within one or two years of the apartment being built, Kidd says, and cannot be painted over due to the type of material used.
But it got the job done cheaply, served its purpose for the time being, allowing Carroll at least to move on.
Do not enter: Liam Carroll's colourful safety record
"You are entitled to make profits on the sweat of your workers, but you are not entitled to make profit on the blood and lives of your workers. You are a disgrace to the construction industry and ought to be ashamed of yourself."
So spoke Justice Peter Kelly in the High Court 12 years ago, addressing Liam Carroll in a hearing precipitated by the death of James Masterson, a 24-year-old construction worker, who fell to his death on Carroll's Charlotte Quay site.
Kelly had earlier agreed to an interim injunction closing the Zoe Developments site in question, having heard that 13 breaches of the health and safety regulations had been noted there.
Referring to Carroll's company, he added: "This defendant that you are responsible for is a criminal, and a recidivist criminal at that, and is so thanks to you."
One close friend of James Masterson, who worked with him on the Charlotte Quay site, last week described him as a "gentleman" who would "do anything for you".
His father, Dinny, has since died. Unfortunately, James Masterson's death was not the first such tragedy on a Zoe site.
On 23 January 1990, a worker on one of its sites at Grove Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, was crushed to death when a crane collapsed on him.
The company was subsequently found guilty of five major health and safety breaches and fined £1,400.
Meanwhile, on 7 March, 1996, a worker died after falling from scaffolding at a Zoe site on Parnell Street, Dublin.
Masterson's death marked a turning point of sorts, resulting in the company donating €100,000 to the court poor box – and belatedly introducing much needed changes to its health and safety practices.
By that stage, however, Carroll was already well on his way to building the empire for which he has since become infamous.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Liam Carroll hit with five fresh High Court actions
Developer Liam Carroll is facing multiple court battles after five new High Court cases were lodged against him since the start of the year.
Retailer Marks & Spencer (Ireland), which is a tenant of Carroll in his Tallaght scheme, and estate agent Savills, are among those to have issued legal proceedings against the developer's company Danninger. Mercury Engineering, Coolair and Fire Design Solutions have also taken proceedings against Danninger.
Carroll is one of the biggest housebuilders in Dublin. He has recently slashed prices at some of his developments. A winding-up petition was brought against Danninger last year but the order was avoided after Carroll settled with a photographic agency.
Carroll faces more headaches because rival developer Seán Dunne has appealed the decision by Dublin City Council (DCC) to allow the retention of offices earmarked for Anglo Irish Bank at Dublin's north quays. Carroll is using a vehicle called North Quay Investments (NQI) for the scheme.
A decision on the appeal is not due until June. It is unclear how that delay will affect Carroll's commitments to the building's tenants. He was given the go-ahead by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority because it was "critical" for his company to receive planning "within the said 12-month timeframe to allow NQI to honour its commitments to certain prospective tenants at North Wall Quay". That permission was later the subject of a legal action and was not upheld by the courts. The Spencer Dock Development Company, part-owned by Treasury Holdings, has also sought leave to appeal DCC's verdict to An Bord Pleanála.
Dunne is due in court on Wednesday in a commercial court case involving a dispute over fees with his former property advisers, CBRE.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Retailer Marks & Spencer (Ireland), which is a tenant of Carroll in his Tallaght scheme, and estate agent Savills, are among those to have issued legal proceedings against the developer's company Danninger. Mercury Engineering, Coolair and Fire Design Solutions have also taken proceedings against Danninger.
Carroll is one of the biggest housebuilders in Dublin. He has recently slashed prices at some of his developments. A winding-up petition was brought against Danninger last year but the order was avoided after Carroll settled with a photographic agency.
Carroll faces more headaches because rival developer Seán Dunne has appealed the decision by Dublin City Council (DCC) to allow the retention of offices earmarked for Anglo Irish Bank at Dublin's north quays. Carroll is using a vehicle called North Quay Investments (NQI) for the scheme.
A decision on the appeal is not due until June. It is unclear how that delay will affect Carroll's commitments to the building's tenants. He was given the go-ahead by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority because it was "critical" for his company to receive planning "within the said 12-month timeframe to allow NQI to honour its commitments to certain prospective tenants at North Wall Quay". That permission was later the subject of a legal action and was not upheld by the courts. The Spencer Dock Development Company, part-owned by Treasury Holdings, has also sought leave to appeal DCC's verdict to An Bord Pleanála.
Dunne is due in court on Wednesday in a commercial court case involving a dispute over fees with his former property advisers, CBRE.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Council allows developer retain €83m building
DEVELOPER Liam Carroll has been granted permission to retain a controversial eight-storey office block development on Dublin's north quays.
The €83m building will be allowed remain standing despite the High Court ruling late last year that it should not have been constructed because the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) had accepted land from the developer as part of a confidential deal which allowed the building's go-ahead.
But yesterday Dublin City Council granted retention permission to Mr Carroll -- subject to 20 conditions -- which means that the office block intended as the new HQ for Anglo Irish Bank will be allowed remain in place.
The building was developed by Liam Carroll's company, North Quay Investments Ltd, as part of a larger €200m development on the former Brooks Thomas site at North Wall Quay.
In return for the permission, the developer will have to pay almost €1.8m towards the cost of constructing Metro North, another €3.5m to the council towards the cost of providing roads, sewerage and other utilities and allow the public have access to the ground-floor restaurant.
Challenge
Construction of the building was the subject of a successful legal challenge from rival developer Sean Dunne who claimed the DDDA should not have certified the office block as being exempt from planning permission in July 2007 under a device called a Section 25.
The effect of a section 25 approval is to exempt a development from the normal planning process, under which a planning application would be made to a local authority and then be open to public objections and possibly appeals to An Bord Pleanála.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The €83m building will be allowed remain standing despite the High Court ruling late last year that it should not have been constructed because the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) had accepted land from the developer as part of a confidential deal which allowed the building's go-ahead.
But yesterday Dublin City Council granted retention permission to Mr Carroll -- subject to 20 conditions -- which means that the office block intended as the new HQ for Anglo Irish Bank will be allowed remain in place.
The building was developed by Liam Carroll's company, North Quay Investments Ltd, as part of a larger €200m development on the former Brooks Thomas site at North Wall Quay.
In return for the permission, the developer will have to pay almost €1.8m towards the cost of constructing Metro North, another €3.5m to the council towards the cost of providing roads, sewerage and other utilities and allow the public have access to the ground-floor restaurant.
Challenge
Construction of the building was the subject of a successful legal challenge from rival developer Sean Dunne who claimed the DDDA should not have certified the office block as being exempt from planning permission in July 2007 under a device called a Section 25.
The effect of a section 25 approval is to exempt a development from the normal planning process, under which a planning application would be made to a local authority and then be open to public objections and possibly appeals to An Bord Pleanála.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 2 November 2008
Google office extension refusal a blow to Carroll
Property developer Liam Carroll has suffered a significant blow with planners blocking a major expansion of the building he owns which houses the Irish headquarters of Google.
Carroll has been told he cannot extend the Google office block in Dublin 4 by 5,000 square metres. An Bord Pleanala ruled against the extension last week.
"I am not convinced that there is an overriding need for an extension of the office building or that the extension will cater for all, future or proposed expansion of Google in the area and consider that future office requirements can be satisfactorily catered for by the existing and proposed office developments in the immediate area of the existing offices," wrote planner Jenny Kelly.
Carroll, who has been selling off stakes he held in a number of companies, has been told by the appeals board that the proposed extension "would seriously injure the residential and visual amenities of the area, would depreciate the value of properties in the vicinity and would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area."
A report by Reid Associates for Carroll had claimed that Google was looking to double its workforce to 3,000 employees. However, Google did not supply any documentation supporting that claim.
It is understood Google had not requested the extension.
Labour councillor Kevin Humphreys welcomed the decision and said he had been surprised that Dublin City Council had originally given it the go-ahead.
"This is not a case of trying to stop development or jobs, this is a case of inappropriate development in the wrong location," he said.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Carroll has been told he cannot extend the Google office block in Dublin 4 by 5,000 square metres. An Bord Pleanala ruled against the extension last week.
"I am not convinced that there is an overriding need for an extension of the office building or that the extension will cater for all, future or proposed expansion of Google in the area and consider that future office requirements can be satisfactorily catered for by the existing and proposed office developments in the immediate area of the existing offices," wrote planner Jenny Kelly.
Carroll, who has been selling off stakes he held in a number of companies, has been told by the appeals board that the proposed extension "would seriously injure the residential and visual amenities of the area, would depreciate the value of properties in the vicinity and would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area."
A report by Reid Associates for Carroll had claimed that Google was looking to double its workforce to 3,000 employees. However, Google did not supply any documentation supporting that claim.
It is understood Google had not requested the extension.
Labour councillor Kevin Humphreys welcomed the decision and said he had been surprised that Dublin City Council had originally given it the go-ahead.
"This is not a case of trying to stop development or jobs, this is a case of inappropriate development in the wrong location," he said.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 25 August 2008
Developer Carroll plans 15-storey tower at Dublin Port
PROPERTY developer Liam Carroll has submitted plans for a 15-storey tower block as part of a redevelopment project on East Road near Dublin Port.
The tower is part of a four-building scheme which will see the construction of almost 60,500 square metres of office accommodation – more than the combined proposed Ballsbridge high-rise developments of Ray Grehan and Seán Dunne.
Besides offices, the 15-storey tower will include shops and cafes on the ground floor as well as a rooftop restaurant which will feature a balcony offering views over the city.
The scheme will be located on a 5.48-acre site acquired by Carroll in 2006 which includes the former Cookes Bakery, owned by chef Johnny Cooke before it went into examinership in 2006 and was bought out by the McCambridge Bakery Group.
Under Carroll's plans, the tower will be surrounded by three smaller buildings ranging in height from four to eight storeys, one of which will house a 165-bed hotel. The other two buildings will consist almost entirely of offices.
The four blocks will share a two-storey underground car park with 770 parking spaces along with parking for over 420 bicycles. Access to the development will be from the East Road.
Despite the ongoing property slowdown and concerns about oversupply in the Dublin office market, Carroll has proceeded with plans for several high-profile developments, including plans to replace Dublin department store Frawley's with offices and apartments.
It is understand that Carroll has around €1bn in finance at the moment, having securitised his future rental incomes using two banks, one of which was Bank of Scotland (Ireland), last year.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The tower is part of a four-building scheme which will see the construction of almost 60,500 square metres of office accommodation – more than the combined proposed Ballsbridge high-rise developments of Ray Grehan and Seán Dunne.
Besides offices, the 15-storey tower will include shops and cafes on the ground floor as well as a rooftop restaurant which will feature a balcony offering views over the city.
The scheme will be located on a 5.48-acre site acquired by Carroll in 2006 which includes the former Cookes Bakery, owned by chef Johnny Cooke before it went into examinership in 2006 and was bought out by the McCambridge Bakery Group.
Under Carroll's plans, the tower will be surrounded by three smaller buildings ranging in height from four to eight storeys, one of which will house a 165-bed hotel. The other two buildings will consist almost entirely of offices.
The four blocks will share a two-storey underground car park with 770 parking spaces along with parking for over 420 bicycles. Access to the development will be from the East Road.
Despite the ongoing property slowdown and concerns about oversupply in the Dublin office market, Carroll has proceeded with plans for several high-profile developments, including plans to replace Dublin department store Frawley's with offices and apartments.
It is understand that Carroll has around €1bn in finance at the moment, having securitised his future rental incomes using two banks, one of which was Bank of Scotland (Ireland), last year.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Developer Carroll plans 15-storey tower at Dublin Port
PROPERTY developer Liam Carroll has submitted plans for a 15-storey tower block as part of a redevelopment project on East Road near Dublin Port.
The tower is part of a four-building scheme which will see the construction of almost 60,500 square metres of office accommodation – more than the combined proposed Ballsbridge high-rise developments of Ray Grehan and Seán Dunne.
Besides offices, the 15-storey tower will include shops and cafes on the ground floor as well as a rooftop restaurant which will feature a balcony offering views over the city.
The scheme will be located on a 5.48-acre site acquired by Carroll in 2006 which includes the former Cookes Bakery, owned by chef Johnny Cooke before it went into examinership in 2006 and was bought out by the McCambridge Bakery Group.
Under Carroll's plans, the tower will be surrounded by three smaller buildings ranging in height from four to eight storeys, one of which will house a 165-bed hotel. The other two buildings will consist almost entirely of offices.
The four blocks will share a two-storey underground car park with 770 parking spaces along with parking for over 420 bicycles. Access to the development will be from the East Road.
Despite the ongoing property slowdown and concerns about oversupply in the Dublin office market, Carroll has proceeded with plans for several high-profile developments, including plans to replace Dublin department store Frawley's with offices and apartments.
It is understand that Carroll has around €1bn in finance at the moment, having securitised his future rental incomes using two banks, one of which was Bank of Scotland (Ireland), last year.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The tower is part of a four-building scheme which will see the construction of almost 60,500 square metres of office accommodation – more than the combined proposed Ballsbridge high-rise developments of Ray Grehan and Seán Dunne.
Besides offices, the 15-storey tower will include shops and cafes on the ground floor as well as a rooftop restaurant which will feature a balcony offering views over the city.
The scheme will be located on a 5.48-acre site acquired by Carroll in 2006 which includes the former Cookes Bakery, owned by chef Johnny Cooke before it went into examinership in 2006 and was bought out by the McCambridge Bakery Group.
Under Carroll's plans, the tower will be surrounded by three smaller buildings ranging in height from four to eight storeys, one of which will house a 165-bed hotel. The other two buildings will consist almost entirely of offices.
The four blocks will share a two-storey underground car park with 770 parking spaces along with parking for over 420 bicycles. Access to the development will be from the East Road.
Despite the ongoing property slowdown and concerns about oversupply in the Dublin office market, Carroll has proceeded with plans for several high-profile developments, including plans to replace Dublin department store Frawley's with offices and apartments.
It is understand that Carroll has around €1bn in finance at the moment, having securitised his future rental incomes using two banks, one of which was Bank of Scotland (Ireland), last year.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Liam Carroll's plan to demolish D8 apartment block appealed
A PROPOSAL by developer Liam Carroll of Zoe Developments to demolish a late-1990s apartment block and replace it with a six-storey office building on the corner of Island Street and Watling Street in Dublin 8 has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
Carroll built the New Maltings block of 47 apartments in 1998 and retained ownership, renting them out.
The block was built in the same complex as another earlier apartment development called The Maltings, also built by Carroll.
Dublin City Council approved the demolition saying the apartments provide "a very poor residential amenity with small units" and said it has "a significant number of north-facing apartments and poor private open space and storage facilities".
A planner's report said residents are concerned about the loss of a residential amenity but said that the future development at the nearby Digital Hub should provide better residential amenity.
However, in an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, a resident of the Maltings said knocking an apartment block would effectively set a precedent for other Section 23 developments "to consider a more commercially attractive office or retail use, to the potential detriment of residential communities". Section 23 reliefs on the apartments are due to run out at the end of July this year.
The appellant points to the Dublin City development plan which says that it is council policy to discourage the demolition of habitable houses "unless the streetscape, environmental and amenity considerations are satisfied and there is a net increase in the number of dwellings provided".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Carroll built the New Maltings block of 47 apartments in 1998 and retained ownership, renting them out.
The block was built in the same complex as another earlier apartment development called The Maltings, also built by Carroll.
Dublin City Council approved the demolition saying the apartments provide "a very poor residential amenity with small units" and said it has "a significant number of north-facing apartments and poor private open space and storage facilities".
A planner's report said residents are concerned about the loss of a residential amenity but said that the future development at the nearby Digital Hub should provide better residential amenity.
However, in an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, a resident of the Maltings said knocking an apartment block would effectively set a precedent for other Section 23 developments "to consider a more commercially attractive office or retail use, to the potential detriment of residential communities". Section 23 reliefs on the apartments are due to run out at the end of July this year.
The appellant points to the Dublin City development plan which says that it is council policy to discourage the demolition of habitable houses "unless the streetscape, environmental and amenity considerations are satisfied and there is a net increase in the number of dwellings provided".
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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