The question of whether the Blood Transfusion Service Board's headquarters at Pelican House on Mespil Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, should be demolished to make way for a larger office development has resurfaced now that a new planning application for the site has been lodged.
Bracadale Ltd, a company controlled by John Ronan and Richard Barrett, has sought planning permission on the Mespil Road site for a seven-storey block with over 180,000 sq ft of space and 75 car-parking spaces at double basement level. Last January, Dublin Corporation granted planning permission for two interlinking "L" shaped, seven-storey blocks on Mespil Road and Burlington Road with a gross area of 257,000 sq ft. The development was to have involved the demolition of the 40,000 sq ft Pelican House, one of the finest office blocks dating from the 1960s, which has a beautiful south-facing courtyard and gardens featuring 50 Japanese maple trees. It was originally built as the headquarters of Irish Life.
The new planning application does not mention the demolition of Pelican House, but according to John Gannon of Bracadale's planning consultants, Frank Benson and Partners, it was not necessary to apply for permission to demolish the block "because the circumstances are clearly set out in legislation". He said the new application provided for "a slight revision of the footprint" of Block A which had previously been approved.
Architect Shane O'Toole of DOCOMOMO, the international institute for the documentation and conservation of buildings of historical importance, said Pelican House had probably the best gardens of any Dublin office block completed in the second half of the 20th century. It was one of a small number of office buildings "which gave something back to the community", along with the former Bord na Mona headquarters and the PJ Carroll building in Dublin. When Bracadale originally secured planning permission for the entire scheme on Mespil Road and Burlington Road, it announced that Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) would be relocating to the Mespil Road section of the new building.
Jim McMahon of BIAM told The Irish Times he was not aware that a new planning application had been lodged. "Terms have been agreed and there is no change as far as we are concerned. The issue of planning is dead, we have got full planning and all that is over. Any changes can only be of a technical nature, it can't change in any material way."
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