Grand Social operator objects to development to rear of Woollen Mills

The company that operates Dublin venue The Grand Social is objecting to new plans for an eight-storey mixed use scheme near the Ha’penny Bridge.

The scheme to the rear of The Woollen Mills restaurant has been proposed by SRM Book and Cook Ltd. It would include six three-bed apartments, a two-bedroom penthouse unit and a restaurant at ground floor level. Other objectors to the development include An Taisce and independent member of Dublin City Council, Mannix Flynn.

SRM Book and Cook Ltd operates the Woollen Mills Eating House restaurant at Ormond Quay and the firm’s owners through a holding company are listed as Brian, Joyce, Hannah and Sarah Montague.

In a submission on the plans lodged by Brock McClure on behalf of The Grand Social operator, Taurus Management Consultancy, Suzanne McClure states that the scheme “would have a profoundly negative impact on The Grand Social and its ongoing commercial viability”.

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She argues that it would represent over-development and would detract from the quality of the public realm being developed by the city council.

The Grand Social effectively wraps around the proposed scheme, Ms McClure argues, and there is an obligation on any new development to ensure that it is adequately protected from noise arising from the venue, which has not been done in this case.

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Dublin City planning officer with An Taisce, Kevin Duff, has told the council that “the Liffey Quays is of great cultural significance in the historical development and evolution of the city”.

Mr Duff states that the proposed development “would constitute unsustainable development and would harm important vistas”.

He said: “This is the wrong place for a pop-up tower.”

In his submission, Mr Flynn argues that the scheme if granted “will lead to an erosion of an already threatened cultural offering for artists and public in the city”.

However, documentation lodged with the plans states that the proposal has been “sensitively designed” to positively reinforce the context of the local streetscape.

The planning report contends that the proposed development “will not be injurious to the City Quays conservation area” and corresponds “in a harmonious manner with the surrounding area”.

A decision is due on the application next month.