21 objections to €1.25bn 'Dublin Central' plan

PLANNING&DEVELOPMENT:Dublin City Council has received around 23 objections and submissions to Joe O'Reilly's plans for the Carlton cinema site on O'Connell Street, writes Edel Morgan.

DEVELOPER JOE O'Reilly's ambitious proposal for a €1.25 billion "Dublin Central" retail and residential scheme encompassing 5.5 acres of the north city centre has attracted considerable opposition.

Dublin City Council received 21 objections to the scheme, which incorporates a "Park in the Sky" 50 metres above Henry Street and the redevelopment of the former Carlton cinema site on O'Connell Street.

The list of objectors include Treasury Holdings, An Taisce, husband and wife Cllr Emer Costello and Joe Costello TD, the Irish Georgian Society, Dublin Transportation Office, Dublin Bus and the Save 16 Moore Street Committee.

A few submissions, including one from some members of the Moore Street Traders Committee, express support for the scheme.

Joe O'Reilly's Chartered Land lodged a planning application in April for a shopping and restaurant quarter on the site which, as well as a shopping centre, would incorporate two new streets - one linking Henry Street to O'Connell Street and the other linking O'Connell Street to Moore Street. A small public square at the confluence of Moore Street, Henry Street and the GPO Arcade would lead to a new street that Arnotts is planning between the GPO Arcade and Middle Abbey Street.

The project would involve moving the Carlton cinema 50 metres north and redeveloping it as a 18,600sq m (200,209sq ft) John Lewis department store. There would be over 100 shops, around 100 apartments and 1,000 underground car-parking spaces, accessible from Parnell Street.

The proposal is also for 17 restaurants on the upper tier of the shopping centre under a transparent roof screen.

A triangular 12-storey building with a "Park in the Sky" with a viewing platform and an arts space in a reconstructed O'Connell Hall would be part of the cultural offering.

The developer is also looking to turn numbers 14-17 Moore Street into a commemorative centre - the buildings are designated as national monuments and were reputed to have been used by the leaders of the 1916 Rising for their last stand.

In its objection, Treasury Holdings - which owns a number of properties in proximity to the application site (17-19 Moore Lane and 35 Henry Street) - says it welcomes the development "in principle" but says the proposals for car parking are excessive, the traffic movements have been underestimated and the access proposals "do not respect or have regard" for the Moore Street area.

It suggests a reduction in the number of car-parking spaces to the development plan cap of 309 and says the redevelopment offers "an excellent opportunity" to rejuvenate Moore Lane, O'Rahilly Parade and Henry Place - primarily used as service streets - and bring them into public use with retail or residential use.

It also suggests that an opportunity exists to provide pedestrian links with Parnell Street and Parnell Square.

The objection criticises the shopping mall aspect of the scheme, saying that restaurant and night-time activity will be above street level, "and will effectively operate as mall-style food courts rather than a vibrant part of the city street life. Residential units are divorced from the street levels to the extent that there is a lack of neighbourhood structure to the scheme, providing for little natural overlooking of street level activity and no real sense of development mix".

An Taisce lodged a detailed objection which called the plan "seriously ill-conceived" in its scale and impact on the design quality and the historic fabric of the surrounding area, and that the viewing platform and mass of building proposed would detract from the Spire and GPO "as iconic focal point landmarks of O'Connell Street".

It says the proposal for a commemorative centre at 14-17 Moore Street doesn't maintain the contextual relationship between the 1916 surrender meeting location and the GPO, and the high-rise portion of the development would "inappropriately dominate the setting of these buildings which need to be restored and managed in conjunction with a new visitor and exhibition facility in the GPO in advance of the 2016 rising centenary".

An Taisce also refers to the "overstated and unsympathetic" architectural treatment of the proposed large new opening on O'Connell Street and is against the proposed demolition of 45 Upper O'Connell Street, which forms part of an older group of buildings "including the rare surviving original brick fronted Georgian House, Number 42".

Writing in support of "a number of Dublin residents", Cllr Emer Costello and Joe Costello TD question the appropriateness of modern high-rise development on O'Connell Street, which is designated an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA), and say the proposed public plaza on O'Connell Street "breaks the symmetry of the streetscape and creates a gaping hole in the street". They express concern that a sky garden on the Henry Street side "could cause problems in later years" and say the apartments might be targeted by investors and not families.

In its submission, Dublin Bus requests that Dublin City Council review the car parking and proposed access arrangements while Geoff Power, with an address in Chapelizod, Dublin 14, is concerned about the impact on Moore Street "which has taken on a new demeanour that is vibrant, exciting and representative of new Ireland". He maintains that the proposed redevelopment of the Carlton site "promises dull, generic gentrification with barely more than 1 per cent of the cultural quota".

However, four traders from the Moore Street Traders Committee wrote in support of the proposed development, provided they are allowed keep their current working hours, saying: "This part of the city has long been forgotten when it came to investment and development so we are very pleased to see any new works or upgrades so as to enhance the area."

Paul Clinton of Clinton Associates wrote in support of the principle of rejuvenation in the area but said that, while he supported the idea of a commemorative centre, he believed 16 Moore Street, which he formerly owned, "is not the correct 1916 building. We were always told the commemorative plaque was on the wrong building and I raised concerns in our submission to the city council at the time of the proposed addition to the list of protected structures. While the building should still be a commemorative centre for the historic 1916 events, an incorrect listing and National Monuments Order (which is being judicially reviewed) would distort the planning process".

Clinton himself secured planning permission to redevelop the Carlton site in 1999. Dublin City Council later made the purchase order on the site after deciding that the Carlton Group had neither the finance nor the development expertise to advance the project.

Dominic Deeny, chief executive of Chartered Land, said the objections and submissions come as no surprise to the company and address issues "that we expected people to be concerned about". He says the company took those concerns on board when putting the planning application together "but will have to consider what is being said".

He says he expects Chartered Land will be engaged in further discussions with the planning authorities and is "confident" of securing "a positive outcome".