TV’s Dermot hits snag over revamp of his family home
IT’S the sort of glitch TV architect Dermot Bannon is well used to on his hit RTÉ show Room To Improve – and now he will have to overcome it in his new house.
Plans to revamp his Dublin pad have been held up after his neighbours on either side of the home wrote to make ‘observations’ about the works.
New details of why the build is being delayed has come to light with the main sticking point by his immediate neighbours, Frank and Mary McCormack on Valentia Road, Drumcondra, north Dublin, about a ‘plant room’ next to an adjoining wall between the houses.
The submission does not specify exactly what the plant is, but it is expected it is a pump or boiler in the utility room downstairs.
The neighbours said in a letter to Dublin City Council: ‘Conditions of planning approval should ensure no noise or vibration from the plant in question will adversely affect the peaceful enjoyment of the adding property. If this standard cannot be guaranteed, the plant room should be relocated away from the party wall.’
A plant room – sometimes referred to as a mechanical room or boiler room – is a dedicated space containing the equipment required to provide or supply building services such as; ventilation, electrical distribution and water.
Although a famous TV architect, Bannon is not taking his work home.
Instead, despite talk about a fronting a possible TV show about the refurbishment in Drumcondra, he has farmed it out to fellow architect Ciaran Devine, based in Chapelizod, Dublin. Permission has not yet been granted and it is not known if the council will approve it or impose conditions.
Mr Devine said yesterday: ‘Permission has not been granted yet. Probably three or four weeks, I’d say. They’re not objections, they’re called submissions which is all part of the process.’
The planning application was submitted by Louise Garry at Ciaran Devine’s office in Chapelizod.
If the plans are given the green light, the house will have four bedrooms, one each for their three children, with an en-suite bathroom for the master bedroom, an en-suite loo in one of the other bedrooms and an upstairs ‘den’, where the children can play or do their homework.
The plans for the new home include knocking down a garage and side passage, and building of a two-storey extension to the side and back of the house. Bannon also wants to expand the front drive.
One neighbour said the proposed side gable roof design was ‘out of character of similar properties in the area’, and asked that the roof be ‘hipped or stepped down’ to mitigate the effect on his neighbouring property.
He also objected to large and small gable windows, which though opaque, ‘could potentially at a later stage cause overlooking’.
Bannon’s office said he was out of the country yesterday when asked to comment.
The home was initially on sale for €795,000 but the rising property market and strong interest in the house as a ‘fixer-upper’ saw it finally sell for €100,000 more at €895,000.
Bannon’s own home in nearby Bantry Road also benefited from the strong market. It was asking €649,000 but sold for more than €30,000 extra a €680,000 on August 10.