Planning retention refused for Grafton Street souvenir shop

 Dublin City Council has refused planning retention for a souvenir shop on Dublin’s Grafton Street because, the council said, the outlet would set an undesirable precedent for similar type development and would devalue property in the vicinity. In refusing planning permission to Fashionflo Investments Ltd for planning retention for the Seasons of Ireland souvenir shop at 111 Grafton Street, the council also concluded that the retention of the unit would “not achieve an appropriate mix and balance of uses on this part of Grafton Street, in particular, higher order comparison retail outlets, to provide for a high-quality shopping area”. The council upheld the recommendation of its planner who concluded that the souvenir use “would not complement the area’s status as a premier shopping street”. The planning report also said that given the current mix of lower-order retail uses and comparison retail uses along this part of Grafton Street, “the retention of this unit as a souvenir shop would not promote an appropriate balance of higher-order retail uses on the street and prevent an over-concentration of non-fashion or fashion related uses”.

Read the full article @ The Irish Times

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Planning application to be made for first offshore wind farm in 20 years

 The first offshore wind farm in 20 years will lodge a planning application this week, seeking permission to install turbines off the Co Louth coast. Oriel Windfarm wants to erect 25 turbines with a tip height of 270 metres in waters between Cooley Point and Dunany Point. They would be 6km from shore at their closest point to land at Cooley Point and be spread out over an area covering almost 28 square kilometres. The windfarm would have the capacity to generate 375 megawatts of electricity, enough to power the equivalent of 300,000 homes. Ireland has just one offshore wind farm, the Arklow Bank Wind Park which has been running seven small turbines since 2004. Plans for six others are at an advanced stage but Oriel will be the first to submit its application to An Bord Pleanála.

Read the full article @ The Irish Independent 

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Residents of north Dublin ‘millionaires row’ lose planning battle over new development

 Residents at an upmarket estate in Malahide in north Dublin known as ‘Millionaires Row’ have failed in their bid to prevent a new nearby residential scheme getting the green light. This follows An Bord Pleanála granting planning permission to a Hollybrook Homes subsidiary, Kinwest Ltd, for the construction of 91 homes on the grounds of Auburn House at Little Auburn and Streamstown off the R107 Malahide Road. Auburn House was the Malahide home of Mary McEvaddy, the former wife of aviation tycoon Ulick McEvaddy. It was sold for an undisclosed price in 2019 to UK construction firm Hollybrook, headed by developer Michael Cox. The Kinwest scheme is made up of 44 houses, 34 apartments and 13 duplexes. In giving the scheme the go-ahead, the appeals board has dismissed the appeal lodged by Savaron Ltd, a management company representing residents of the nearby Abington estate. Abington was one of Dublin’s first purpose-built millionaires’ estates and comprises 50 luxurious homes that lie in 43 acres of parkland near Malahide Castle and marina.

Read the full article @ The Irish Independent 
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Business Crosbie 182-bedroom hotel plan meets opposition in Dublin’s Liberties

 Plans by a Harry Crosbie firm to develop a new 182-bedroom Vicar Street hotel will lead to a further saturation of hotels for Dublin’s Liberties, it has been claimed. The Liberties-Rialto branch of the Community Action Tenants’ Union (CATU) has lodged an objection against the proposal. In the two-page filing, the union also claims the plan “represents an intrusion of devotional privacy in regards to the Meath Street Grotto”. In April, Mr Crosbie’s Vicar Street Hotel Ltd lodged plans for the eight-storey building in Dublin 8. The hotel site is bounded by Vicar Street to the east and Molyneaux Yard to the west, and lies in proximity to Mr Crosbie’s Vicar Street entertainment venue.
Read the full article @ The Irish Times
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Housing Commission report - Ireland needs to build better and faster

 A leaked report from the Housing Commission has called for a massive ramping up of the State’s involvement in the housing sector, arguing a State “funding anchor” is needed for fundamental and systemic failings in the market to be addressed. New legislation, a new oversight body for housing, an expanded role for the State in funding housing, and overhauling of subsidies and schemes are among the recommendations from the Housing Commission’s report. Sections of the report seen by The Irish Times criticise interventions that have “not resolved failures that are fundamentally systemic” and outline a pattern of “ineffective decision making and reactive policymaking where risk aversion dominates”. It suggests there is an underlying housing deficit in Ireland of up to 256,000 homes.

Read the full article @ The Irish Times

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Turning empty offices into student blocks could be a win-win solution

 While proposals to convert offices into student accommodation or other forms of residential accommodation are regularly mooted, care is required as residential developments are subject to wholly different planning standards especially regarding open space. The Business Post's latest article on this shows the potential but not the how.

Ireland’s student accommodation sector is expected to be one of the markets to benefit from a stabilisation in both interest rates and construction cost inflation. Already the market is underpinned by student demand as reflected in Higher Education Authority (HEA) estimates that 75,640 student beds would be required by 2024. But supply is well short of that figure and according to the latest report from Mitchell McDermott property consultants, only 1,500 to 2,000 beds are being built annually so supply will reach only 55,000 beds by 2027. One way to accelerate delivery would be conversion of office buildings and John Dobbin of Shay Cleary Architects said that student accommodation (PBSA) could be a more suitable conversion project than residential apartments. Indeed, by providing PBSA more quickly this would also help to remove thousands of students from the wider residential rental market. Dobbin pointed out that older offices built in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are particularly suited for conversion compared to more modern ones because the older ones have narrower floor plates of 13 to 15 metres, central corridors, suitable floor-to-ceiling heights and fewer columns.

Read the full article @ The Business Post

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Co Wexford councillors raise concerns about use of log cabins

 The issue of 'off the peg' log cabins being imported into Ireland in kit form and erected instead of standard houses has been the subject of so many planning applications. National guidance on such buildings would be welcomed.

At a recent Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District meeting councillors raised concerns about the use of log cabins in the county. 

Cllr Mary Farrell asked if log cabins were permitted on land bought from Wexford County Council. She spoke of a young family that she is aware of that are currently living in a mobile home in the garden of their mother’s house in Gorey. “The County Development Plan facilitates log cabins where it complies with the standards but there is a difference between rural areas and someone in an urban setting where someone wants to put it in their back garden and they’re surrounded by their neighbours. It depends where it is and they will be assessed on a case by case basis,” said Director of Service, Elizabeth Hore in response to Cllr Farrell’s question.

Read the full article @ The Irish Independent

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