The owners of Limerick's historic Royal George Hotel have applied for planning permission to carry out a major revamp of the area which will include the development of retail and commercial units at the rear and side of the O'Connell Street hotel.

However, the Irish Georgian Society has objected to the planned demolition of three terraced Georgian buildings on Shannon Street and a former stone granary on Henry Street.

The project, expected to cost more than £10 million (€12.7m), would result in the development of Henry Street opposite the Howley's Quay apartments. Retail units would provide a link between the new Dunnes Stores shopping centre being completed at the former Spaights site and O'Connell Street.

One side of Shannon Street, of the few remaining undeveloped parts of the city centre, would receive a facelift, if planning permission is granted.

White's Garage, a former pizza restaurant and the old Carlton cinema are also earmarked for demolition but the building currently occupied by the Irish Permanent on the corner of O'Connell Street and Shannon Street will be retained.

But Mr Liam Irwin, chairman of the Limerick chapter of the Irish Georgian Society, said that behind the plasterwork of the cinema building was the stonework of the old Russells flour warehouses. "Those warehouses are very much part of the architecture of that part of the city.

"Right across the road, Aidan Brooks is doing an excellent conversion of that granary into apartments." He said the Georgian buildings dated from the early 19th century and were examples of the earliest buildings of their type in the commercial heart of the city. "We are looking to protect these buildings on their merits but also on the precedent that would be created if they went. "There seems to be a feeling amongst the Corporation and planners that Georgian Limerick is just the Crescent and Pery Square."

The plan for the Royal George Hotel envisages a new six-storey 45,500 sq ft building incorporating a 56-bedroom extension to the hotel, conference rooms and a new hotel entrance on Shannon Street. It is intended to refurbish the existing 52-bedroom hotel to provide 30 bedrooms and provide a 647-space car-park. The hotel's Gallery Nightclub will also be extended under the plan and a seven-storey building will be built on the corner of Shannon Street and Henry Street, providing 21 apartments and 6,100 sq ft of restaurant and retail units.

The historic Royal George, the only hotel on O'Connell Street, was purchased a year ago by its new owners, Hillard Developments, from the Costello family.

The hotel was once housed in a Georgian building which was demolished in the 1960s. Along with the former Cruises Hotel, the Royal George is the most famous family-run Limerick hotel.

The current planning application is the second one the owners have made this year. Limerick Corporation requested revised plans after stating that the elevation of the original application did not fit in with Shannon Street. Provision for car-parking was not made either, the corporation noted.

The Irish Georgian Society also objected to that application, which only envisaged the demolition of 3 Shannon Street, "a significant part in the Georgian character of the Newtown Pery area of Limerick", according to the objection.

One of the most famous guests to stay at the hotel was the late British inventor, Wing Commander Frank Whittle of the RAF who, in 1942, hid his plans for the jet engine under his mattress because of fears they would be stolen by the IRA.

He continued his journey from the Foynes seaplane base to the US, delivering the plans safely.