There will be no planning free-for-all on the lands surrounding Dublin Airport, according to Fingal County Council, which recently voted for the retention of agricultural status for the lands, pending a major study of the development potential of the area. The draft county plan published earlier this year proposed the rezoning of the area around the airport to mixed industrial use. This would facilitate the expansion of the airport's ancillary services. A rethink prompted by fears of compensation claims, resulted in the rescinding of the "MU1" zoning, which allows mixed use.
"The study will indicate more precisely where development should take place. The process will end up the same but without compensation complications," says Mark Walsh of Fingal County Council.
As a result, plans for industrial developments in this area have been frozen pending completion of the study and ratification by the council. The entire process should take the better part of a year. In the meantime, there is an acute shortage of industrial warehousing close to the airport and space is achieving premium rents.
Aer Rianta has plans for part of 2,500 acres of airport perimeter lands it owns. Development potential on much of this is limited by substantial wedge-shaped safety zones which mark flight paths. These radiate outwards from the ends of the runways and planners say it is almost impossible to get planning in "red safety" zones.
Aer Rianta is currently applying to build a second major east-west runway, parallel to the existing one, on 800 acres of airport land. If this goes ahead, the area protected by safety zones will be further extended. In January, Dunloe Ewart announced a joint venture agreement with Aer Rianta for the development of a £100 million business park on an 80-acre site adjacent to the airport. Plans for a mixed development of offices and warehouses on 44 acres at Harristown, close to the M50 junction at Ballymun are currently being finalised. Development could start by the end of the year, say Dunloe Ewart. Air Rianta has a track record in joint ventures with industry. A 50-acre business park is being development at Cork and Virgin Airlines has rented space at Aer Rianta's 40-acre business park at Shannon. Ken Rohan's North Ring Business Park close to Dublin airport is up and running and all but four of the units have been let. These are from 4,000 up to 36,000 sq ft in size. Rents vary according to floor area but most units cost between £700 and £750 per sq ft, says William Tuite of letting agent Jones Lang Wootton.
Proximity to the airport is cited as the main attraction of the development for tenants - particularly as any further development in the area is at least a year down the road and could be delayed at the planning stage.
Another business scheme under way is WI Limited's Finglas Business Park, at Jamestown Road, Finglas. The first phase of this 51-unit scheme on 220,000 sq ft of land is under construction and these will be sold by Jones Lang Wootton at approximately £75 per sq ft. Woodford development's large Santry Demesne scheme is the most significant of the new developments in the pipeline in terms of size. The plan provides for an office campus of over 820,000 sq ft with two five-storey car parks. In addition, there will be 1,100 apartments in 26 blocks, a four-star hotel and an office park.
An amenity block comprising a supermarket, gym and neighbourhood stores is also planned for the complex. Woodford is going to upgrade 75 acres of the park and hand it back to the council for use by the public.
Tough times have been signalled for retail development proposals not conforming to planning guidelines for the area. Last week, An Bord Pleanala reversed a county council decision to grant permission for a large-scale retail warehouse park at Swords. The grounds given by Inspector Simon Clear included lack of a sufficiently high quality road network.
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