LOOK WHAT’S PLANNED FOR TRINITY STREET
SIX-STOREY APARTMENT BLOCK PROPOSED ON C&D SITE
A PROPOSAL for the demolition of the C&D Home and Hardware premises in Trinity Street and the building of a block of 45 apartments in its place, has been lodged with the Wexford County Council planning department.
The parent company of C&D Home and Hardware Store, HPC Sales LTD, which owns the entire site, has applied for permission to knock down the extensive building and to replace it with a complex of 45 apartments in a block which will be partly four-, five- and six-storey, incorporating one-bed, two-bed and three-bed units with balconies, terraces and roof gardens.
The application also includes a proposal for two retail units, a basement car park of 30 spaces and a surface car park of 41 spaces along with landscaped areas.
HPC closed the Trinity Street outlet last February, transferring the business to its C&D store in Larkin’s Cross, Wexford in a consolidatin move.
The site is zoned Town Centre and is identified under the Town Development Plan as a location for potential re-development with buildings of five to six stories.
The car park of the Talbot Hotel is adjacent and a longstanding apartment block, Seafield is situated on the other side of the street, while Wexford County Council has come up with a multi-million Euro master plan to develop the Trinity Wharf site across the road into a hotel, office and leisure hub.
A neighbouring property is the house of local architectural and historical importance dating back to the mid-1800s which was built for the manager of the old Wexford Gas Consumers Company formerly situated where Seafield apartment complex is now located.
In a letter submitted by PCOT Architects on behalf of the applicant company, architect Paul O’Toole said the proposed infill development respects the adjoining building line while complimenting the scale of the buildings in the immediate vicinity.
‘The proposed development is designed to a scale appropriate to the area and zoning, respecting both the existing amenity of adjacent residents and at the same time avoiding any overlooking,’ he said.
‘Our intention is to enhance the amenities of the adjoining residents by developing the
site which may currently have a negative impact on the surrounding area, to an appropriate scale and design which will revitalise the area socially, physically and commerciallty.’
‘Our proposal will by virtue of its modern and innovative design constitutes a positive urban response to the local context and contrbutes to the place making and identity of the area’, he added.
Pre-planning discussions took place with the local authority and resulted in some amendments to the plans including the omission of town houses at the rear and a reduction in scale in the immediate vicinity of the adjoining property.
Copies of reports on environmental and noise assessement and a Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment were submitted with the planning application.
C&D Home and Hardware was merged with C&D in Larkin’s Cross in February of this year, resulting in the closure of the Trinity Street branch.
At the time, group chief executive Sean Moran, whose name is listed on the planning application along with another director, Dennis O’Connor, said that following a strategic review of the overall HPC group business, it was decided that it was no longer in their best commercial interests to trade from two separate locations in Wexford.