Green light for scheme near Heuston

Hickey's Fabrics headquarters at Parkgate Street, Dublin 8 - opposite Heuston Railway Station - has got planning permission for an office and residential development on its prime 0.7-hectare site at the junction of Parkgate Street and Seán Heuston Bridge.

The scheme will incorporate 139 apartments in two nine-storey blocks, a public plaza overhanging the River Liffey, a six-storey glazed office block and a new pedestrianised street connecting Parkgate Street to the river.

It will also involve the repair and refurbishment of three protected structures on the site, including a stone archway, a turret, and a square tower on the river front.

Hickey's is redeveloping the site as a result of its expansion into the retail warehouse sector in recent years which has reduced the necessity for a city centre headquarters.

Scott Tallon Walker is designing the scheme which will involve the demolition of a number of buildings on the site, including the factory which was rebuilt after the demolition of the original Royal Phoenix Iron Works in the 1880s, an outbuilding and number 43, Parkgate House.

Hickey's will also make a break in the River Liffey Quay Wall, which is a protected structure, to provide views into the site and facilitate the construction of a public plaza overhanging the River Liffey.

Given the number of objections to the scheme to Dublin City Council, it is believed likely that it will be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

An Taisce was one of the objectors. It said that the scale of building was too large in a residential conservation area and would impact on the area. It asked that the development would be reduced in scale.

A number of residents from a nearby apartment scheme, Parkgate Place, as well as its management company, complained about the scale of the development and the proposal to take down part of the Liffey wall.

One objection said that the height of the scheme and its impact on views had been underestimated, and this would eradicate "more than half of the existing views of the Wellington Monument from the south quays, erasing one of the city's most prominent way-finding markers".

It said the proposed demolition of the historic building would further erode the character of the site, as it retains a number of original features and should be incorporated within the development.

The scheme will also include two retail units fronting onto Parkgate Street, a restaurant fronting onto the river, four own-door duplex office units and a new river walk way connecting to an existing walkway to the west of the site. Around 159 car-parking spaces will be provided at the scheme.