Digital Hub office plan scaled back

PLANNING & DEVELOPMENTCavan-based developer P Elliott has come back with another proposal for the Windmill site at the Digital Hub in Dublin's Liberties, this time concentrating on the digital media office element of the site.

Last October An Bord Pleanála rejected the developer's proposal for a 45,000sq m (484,375sq ft) mixed-use development with a 16-storey residential tower, overturning planning permission granted by Dublin City Council for the scheme.

The developer was also looking to build 269 apartments, 6,422sq m (69,126sq ft) of office space for digital media, more than 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) of general office space, as well as 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) of retail, restaurant, crèche, gym and exhibition/community space.

As well as citing its excessive height, the board said the "unsatisfactory design and layout of the blocks" would give rise to "undue overlooking and overshadowing between apartments and present poorly composed and unsatisfactory elevations to Thomas, Watling and Bonham streets". It also said the high-rise cluster would detract from the setting of the 18th century Guinness Windmill, a protected structure.

However this time around P Elliott has submitted a planning application for just 8,713sq m (93,786sq ft) of development - mostly comprising of digital media office space - in two blocks on around a quarter of the 3.2-acre site.

A spokesperson for P Elliott says a further planning application for the site will be submitted in May or June, which may include a residential element. He did not elaborate on why the company has decided to submit planning applications for the site in a number of stages but it may well be an attempt to expedite planning permission for the office element - crucial to the success of the Digital Hub where the Digital Hub Development Agency want to keep companies geographically close to create synergy but there is currently little space available for companies looking to expand.

P Elliott and the developer of the adjacent site, Manor Park Homebuilders, have a deadline of June this year to get planning permission with an extension to February 2009 if they are referred to An Bord Pleanála.

The tallest block proposed for the P Elliott site now is eight storeys - 30.5 metres high - fronting Thomas Street and adjoining the IAWS site. It will have a café and 3,487sq m (37,534sq ft) of digital media office space.

Another block fronting Thomas Street and adjoining 164 Thomas Street, a protected structure, is five storeys - 20 metres high - and has two retail/service units, 2,398sq m (25,812sq ft) of digital media space, a restaurant and café at ground and basement level with links to 164 Thomas Street, where a change of use to a café/restaurant is sought.

Also part of the planning application is the refurbishment of the Windmill, also known as the conical tower, to a café, restaurant and cultural space, with access to an underground exhibition, education and public performance space.

The adjacent 2.5-acre site owned by Manor Park Homebuilders is awaiting a decision from Dublin City Council for a high-rise mixed-use development. Initially dubbed "mini Manhattan" - because it proposed Ireland's tallest building of 53 storeys - the developer has already submitted plans for a scaled down version of the development, the highest building being 26 storeys.

The development would be 59,500sq m (640,452sq ft) with over 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) of retail, 47,000sq m (505,903sq ft) of office space, 1,200sq m (12,917sq ft) of bar or public space, a public observatory and 25 apartments, all spread over eight blocks. Both sites sold for €118 million but the State accepted part payment in the form of office buildings reducing the cash payment to €72 million.