Ronan to appeal against council rejection of his 17-storey scheme

Developer’s firm ‘disappointed’ with decision to block Docklands plan

Dublin City Council has comprehensively rejected Johnny Ronan’s planned 17-storey mixed-use scheme for Dublin’s Docklands.

In February, Mr Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) lodged plans for the redevelopment of global banking giant Citigroup’s current European headquarters at 1 North Wall Quay in Dublin’s Docklands.

The scheme involves the demolition of Citigroup’s existing six-storey office building and the development of four buildings in its place ranging in height from nine storeys to 17 storeys.

RGRE firm NWQ Devco Limited is seeking a 10-year planning permission but the city council has refused planning permission on a number of grounds.

A spokesman for RGRE has confirmed that the group is to appeal against the refusal to An Bord Pleanála.

He said that RGRE “is disappointed with the decision of Dublin City Council”.

“There is a strong view in Irish planning and construction communities, and among the wider public, that there has been a missed opportunity over the past decade for increased heights and densities along Dublin’s north and south Docklands, where the River Liffey is at its widest point and good transport infrastructure is in place,” he said.

“With the pipeline of brownfield sites in the Docklands now almost exhausted, few opportunities remain for the construction of taller, more sustainable buildings in a location that is clearly appropriate.”

The council ruled that the proposed development, due to its height and excessive bulk and scale, “would constitute an insensitive form of development adjacent to existing residential development”.

The planning authority stated that the proposal would result “in a significant and unacceptable loss of daylight/ sunlight and resultant overshadowing to these properties and amenity areas, adversely impacting their residential amenity”.

The council said the proposed development “would therefore set an undesirable precedent and would devalue properties in the vicinity”.

The planning authority also ruled that the proposed development “would constitute an overly dominant form causing serious injury to the visual amenities” of the Liffey Quays – a conservation area.

The council also concluded that the proposed development contravened various policies of the Dublin City Development Plan, adversely impacting key views and vistas along the river corridor and the amenities of properties in the vicinity.

In another reason for refusal, the council said that in the absence of a comprehensive justification for demolition of the existing building where not all options were investigated, “the proposed wholescale demolition would be considered premature”.

The council said the planned demolition would be contrary to the development plan, which seeks to promote and support the retrofitting and reuse of existing buildings.

At the end of a 38-page planner’s report, the council said the proposed development “would set an undesirable precedent for wholescale demolition on similar sites across the city”.

“There has been a missed opportunity over the past decade for increased heights and densities along Dublin’s Docklands”