Drayne agrees to axe one storey from Malahide apartment development

NORTHERN Ireland-based Padraig Drayne has been forced to knock a storey off his planned luxury apartment development in the Dublin suburb of Malahide.

Drayne, who is a long time business partner of developer Paddy McKillen, received notification from Fingal County Council’s planning department that it had a range of concerns relating to the upmarket development.

Drayne was hoping to build a five-storey over-basement building consisting of 17 two-bed apartments and six one-bed apartments with an overall floor area of 2,539 square metres at Gas Yard Lane in the town. But the planners said that due to the limited separation distance to properties on the far side of the lane and “the path of the sun” the proposed development would cause overshadowing and have an overbearing impact.

The planners also raised concerns that the development does not comply with the latest design standards for new apartments because of the size of some bedrooms and the storage space provided.

Drayne’s own planning experts subsequently submitted new designs for the building and agreed to omit the fifth storey of the building.

The Northern Irish developer has a low profile but has worked with Paddy McKillen regularly over years and the pair built the Jervis Shopping Centre in Dublin over 20 years ago.

In 2014, the pair refinanced £110m (€128m) of debts from Ulster Bank with backing from Bank of Ireland. The loans were linked to assets that including the Forge Shopping Centre in Glasgow and the Ards Shopping Centre in Newtownards.

Drayne was one of the original investors in the €900m Derek Quinlan-led deal to buy the Maybourne hotel group, which included Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley. He was also at one stage involved in McKillen’s lengthy legal battle with the UK’s billionaire Barclay brothers in the fight to control the hotel group. It was reported earlier this year that the pair had revived for a new residential development in Dublin 2 that they had originally sought permission for in 1999.

Broadfield Development, a company owned by McKillen and Drayne, sought planning permission in February for the demolition of existing commercial buildings at Pembroke Row, Lad Lane and Hagan’s Court.

It is proposed that they will be replaced with a new six-storey building, which will include 20 apartments and will also have a communal roof garden, as well as a 370 square metre restaurant on the ground floor.