€480m scheme planned for SCR site

Planning&DevelopmentA massive mixed-use scheme on the seven-acre site of a former cigarette factory in Dublin 8 is on the cards. Edel Morgan reports

The former John Player cigarette factory on the South Circular Road, Dublin 8, will be turned into a massive €480 million mixed-use development if a planning application to Dublin City Council is successful.

The plan for the seven-acre site by UK firm Bee Bee developments and Irish construction firm P J Walls is for 484 residential units, almost 10,000sq m (107,639sq ft) of retail space, over 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) of education and community facilities, and 2,000sq m (21,528sq ft) of office space.

A new 16-classroom school is also part of the plan.

Last year, a proposal for a development on the site - incorporating a 27-storey residential tower - was turned down by Dublin City Council.

The developers withdrew a subsequent appeal to An Bord Pleanála and agreed not to submit further plans for the site until a development plan for the area was drawn up in consultation with the local community.

The National Association of Building Co-operatives (NABCO), one of the developers at the time along with Bee Bee and PJ Walls, pulled out of the venture. The highest building in the new proposal is 11 storeys, which the developers say follows a precedent set by a new 12-storey building on nearby Cork Street.

There would also be basement car-parking for 670 cars and access points to the development on Donore Avenue and the South Circular Road. Hooke & MacDonald will be the agent for the residential scheme and NAI Mason Owen and Lyons for the commercial element.

The proposed development is part of a framework plan for the area and aims to bring the former industrial site back into the community with new streets and squares and open spaces.

Industrial buildings to the front of the site on the South Circular Road would be removed and the development given a modern frontage, with retail on the ground floor, and offices and residential on the upper floors.

Part of the retail would be an anchor grocery and home goods store of 4,500sq m (48,438sq ft) in the central square. The school would be situated in a small park adjacent to the church on Donore Avenue.

The developers also own the Bailey Gibson site adjoining the John Player buildings but a planning application hasn't been submitted for this as yet.

The developers say they are awaiting further consultation with regard to the Coombe Hospital in advance of finalising any plans for the site.

Bee Bee developments is part of a private development group specialising in urban regeneration and the bulk of its work to date has been in London, in areas like Clerkenwell and Holborn.

Among P J Walls' current projects is the Northern Cross development on the Malahide Road in north Dublin.