210 apartments planned for Adelaide hospital site

Planning permission is being sought for 210 apartments on the site of the former Adelaide hospital in Dublin, which closed down last year. The redevelopment will also include an office block with about 22,000 sq ft. Benton Property Holdings has sought permission to demolish most of the hospital buildings, some of them dating from 1858. However, it is planned to retain about one-third of the facade in a four-storey over basement block.

Sean Kelly of Benton said a survey of the central block and the other wing had shown that they were "not great structurally". He said that with the hospital on different levels, it would have made refurbishment and conversion into apartments extremely cumbersome and the end result would not have been satisfactory. He said the hospital was comprised of an amalgam of extensions completed over the last 100 years.

Earlier this year, Dublin Corporation moved to list the hospital for preservation on List 2. Benton appealed against the proposed changes and though the company has not yet been notified of the outcome, Mr Kelly says it understands from the planning office that two of the facades are listed for preservation. He said that while Benton is happy to retain the facade of the wing earmarked for office use, it planned to appeal against the retention of the facade of the central block because "the structural condition and the fabric of the external plaster makes it unsuitable for retention".

Benton paid £6.2 million at tender for the hospital, which stands on a site of 1.5 acres at Peter Street. The design by architects John O'Neill and Associates provides for the apartments to be built in three blocks around a courtyard. A fourth block will be offices.

The apartments, which will range in size from one-bedroom to three-bedroom, will be located in five-storey blocks with a penthouse level set back from the front. There will be 50 one-bedroom apartments with an average floor area of 550 sq ft, which are likely to go on the market between £125,000 and £140,000. A total of 140 two-bedroom apartments with around 830 sq ft are likely to make between £165,000 and £185,000; 11 three-bedroom apartments with 900 sq ft will cost around £240,000.

The penthouse level will include a mixture of two-bedroom and three-bedroom units ranging from £190,000 to £240,000.

Ken MacDonald of Hooke & MacDonald, who will be handling sales, says the hospital site is one of the best available in the south inner city.