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

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