Around the Block

 Irish lose out on Chelsea pitchIrish property developer Paddy Shovlin, who has done more than anyone to transform Sandyford from a drab industrial ghetto to a trendy residential enclave, has been pipped at the post to buy Chelsea barracks in central London.

Shovlin and a consortium that included Gerry Purcell were early favourites to take the 13-acre site between Belgravia and Chelsea but were outbid by a Qatar Sheik and London developer Christian Candy who are thought to have paid a staggering £600 million (€883 million).

Also in the shake-up for what was described as "the most significant land sale" in London for over a decade was Seán Mulryan's Ballymore group, who as the largest landowner in the London docklands, have a vast building programme ahead of them in the run up to the London Olympics.

More than 1,500 new homes are expected to be built on the Chelsea site. Large family homes in the area have risen in value by 32 per cent in the last year.

There are also rumours that the American Embassy will relocate from Mayfair to the redeveloped Chelsea barracks.

Season in full swing

The big selling season gets into full swing this week with the most expensive houses due to come on in the short window between Easter, Whit and the general election. The year has been dogged so far by a combination of higher interest rates, stamp duty worries, a hangover of properties from last year and a series of sporting and social events that get in the way of serious property activity. With so many wealthy folk now dividing their time between Dublin and anywhere from Dubai to Durban, estate agents have to get the timing right to nab the right buyer. Stamp duty is largely irrelevant for these well heeled folk. It's more a matter of location and style.

The choice is now so good as to be mind-boggling with the big agencies playing down the sheer volume on their books. Despite the set-backs in the early part of the year, agents are continuing to put properties to auction, knowing that the buyers are out there, if only they would overlook some of the doom and gloom that continues to stream out of the Sunday newspapers.

Bertie hasn't blinked on the stamp duty issue yet, though in the longer term Fianna Fáil will have to cobble together something that will ease the 9 per cent hit at the top end of the second-hand market to allow those trading up to get a move on.

Salthill scheme sunk

Former Galway city mayor Val Hanley has failed in his bid to get planning permission for a nine-storey office and apartment block on a coastal site just outside Salthill in Galway.

Hanley, a former Fianna Fáil councillor and a publican, and his business partner Ronan Lawless, were seeking permission to redevelop the two-storey Spinnaker House Hotel located on a prime seaside site beside Galway Golf Course on the coast road between Salthill and Barna.

Their plans were initially refused by Galway City Council planners. In their appeal to An Bord Pleanála the pair argued that the scheme's "high quality design" would result in "a visually striking entry beacon in and out of Galway for seafaring passengers".

They highlighted the use of maritime themes in the design, including sail type walls and textured panels to replicate fish scales.

The duo's arguments cut no ice with the planning board, who ruled that the scheme "would form a strident and visually obtrusive feature on the scenic landscape", which would "seriously detract from the visual amenities of the area" and interfere with protected views.

The decision should come as no surprise, given that the planning board previously refused a three-storey hotel development on the site because it would interfere with views. No doubt the pair will be back again soon with a scaled down version.