An Bord Pleanála turns down €52m Trinity development

A plan by Trinity College Dublin for a €52 million student accommodation development has been refused permission by An Bord Pleanála.

In the plan, TCD wanted to demolish the existing five-storey Oisín House, which has been in use by the Department of Social Protection and other tenants on Dublin’s Pearse Street for more than 20 years. The college wanted to build a seven-storey, 13,800sq m (148,540sq ft) scheme with 278 student accommodation units.

Dublin City Council gave the go-ahead despite criticism from An Taisce and other objectors, including Trinity graduate Dr Kate Yeaton who branded the plans a "monstrosity".

The council decision resulted in An Taisce appealing the ruling to An Bord Pleanála. The scheme was due to be completed by 2018.

In its appeal, An Taisce claimed that the scheme as proposed “would constitute a disorderly, incoherent form of development with an overscaled building disrupting the scale and balance of the street and adversely affecting the adjacent historic college campus in an important Conservation Area”.

Following consideration of submissions, the appeals board has turned down planning for the development. In doing so, it disregarded the recommendation of its own inspector to grant planning.

Current crisis

A TCD spokeswoman said: “While Trinity is committed to providing more quality student accommodation and helping our students in the current crisis, we will have to review the An Bord Pleanála decision and its recommendation over the coming days and consider what is feasible.”

The appeals board said that due to the scale, mass and height of the proposed development, it considered it would represent overdevelopment, be overbearing and visually obtrusive.