Phibsborough shopping centre co-living plans collapse

The conversion of the old Phibsborough shopping centre in Dublin into a 300 bed co-living development, one of the last co-living schemes to secure permission following a Government ban almost three years ago, cannot now go ahead, it has emerged.

While planning permission granted to MM Capital for the shared accommodation scheme lasts until 2026, the expiration of permission for an earlier development on the site has toppled the co-living plan.

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien in November 2020 announced a ban on co-living developments, where shared kitchen and living facilities serve multiple en suite rooms, that had been introduced by his immediate predecessor, Eoghan Murphy, two years previously.

However, the ban was not signed into law until December 22nd, 2020, and in the intervening weeks MM Capital, owner of the Phibsborough shopping centre, submitted an application to An Bord Pleanála for a shared accommodation scheme with 321 single rooms.

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The company already had planning permission to redevelop the 1960s complex, long regarded as an eyesore in the area, for student accommodation. This development, granted in 2018, would have provided accommodation for 341 students at the site.

In recommending permission be granted for the switch to co-living, the board’s inspector noted that although Mr O’Brien’s department had issued a circular to planning authorities advising of plans to end co-living, prior to the application being made, the change did not come into effect until after the application was received by the board, therefore the scheme had to be “assessed on its merits”.

[ Co-living apartments could become ‘glorified tenement living’ says Taoiseach ]

In April 2021 the board granted permission for the shared accommodation scheme, reducing the number of rooms from 321 to 297, with an expiry date of May 25th, 2026, for construction to start.

However, changes to planning legislation meant that as the new permission was for alterations to the permitted student complex, “substantial works” would have to be carried out on the new co-living scheme before the original permission ran out. The legislation, which came into force in 2021, also meant MM Capital couldn’t seek an extension of planning permission unless substantial works were started before the original permission ran out.

Permission for the student complex expired at the start of this month, with no work yet commenced on the co-living development.

Dublin City Council has confirmed the co-living permission has now fallen and said “the owners are aware of this”.

[ First Look – Dún Laoghaire’s new co-living development: is there room to swing a cat? ]

A spokesman for MM Capital said the company was “reviewing options for the centre” given the “viability challenges” in the construction sector. However, he said the company was “committed to the centre and [has] recently started upgrade works on the retail parade and are seeking new tenants”.

While applications for more than 2,700 co-living bed spaces were lodged before the ban took effect, fewer than half of these secured planning permission, with many still the subject of legal proceedings. Only a few hundred co-living apartments have been completed.

The ban followed widespread criticism of the co-living model with some housing activists and opposition politicians ranking them as modern-day bedsits, which would result in “tenements of the future”. Mr Murphy, who had introduced co-living in 2018, had described it as an “exciting” choice and similar to a “very trendy” boutique hotel. However, he later said he agreed with Mr O’Brien’s decision to discontinue the model.