It's back to the drawing-board for O'Malley Construction in its attempt to get planning permission for a scheme of 13 apartments at the former Chester Beatty Library on Shrewsbury Road, in Ballsbridge. Word filtered out this week that An Bord Pleanβla has refused permission for the three and four-block scheme over a basement car-park. This will come as a disappointment to many of the rich retiring couples in the area who may have fancied spending their golden years on, or just slightly off, Dublin's most expensive road.

The planners said that the development would be "unduly detrimental to the unique character of Shrewsbury Road and would constitute over-development of the site and seriously injure the amenities of the area and properties in the vicinity".

The Bord also felt that the scheme would set a bad example on the road for backland development - after all, there are plenty of acre and acre-plus gardens in the immediate area. O'Malley paid £7.2 million (€9.14m) for the one-acre site in November 1999. Undoubtedly it will come back with another proposal soon, but clearly any new scheme will be scrutinised by the residents of Shrewsbury Road - not an easy bunch to do business with.