Council could cap height of Ballsbridge building

Plans for a 32-storey building on the Jurys and Berkeley Court hotel sites in Ballsbridge, Dublin, could be affected by a new city council development plan that will restrict the height of buildings in the area.

The Ballsbridge Local Area Plan will have statutory powers to govern all future development in one of the most exclusive areas of the city, which houses major landmarks including the RDS, the American embassy and Lansdowne Road stadium.

The plan, written by town planning consultants Urban Initiatives, has been presented to the local city councillors and will be put out to public consultation later this month.

It focuses on the "urban village" centre of Ballsbridge around the junction of Pembroke Road, Shelbourne Road and Merrion Road, especially the development opportunities presented by large sites such as the seven-acre Jurys/Berkeley Court site bought by developer Sean Dunne for €380 million last year.

The plan puts forward a strategy for the protection of the natural and built environment, the creation of public open spaces and community facilities, as well as residential, commercial and retail developments.

In particular it sets out criteria for the height of new buildings, with three specific heights related to the surrounding architecture. The "contextual height" - the height of buildings appropriate to the mature residential buildings - has been set at a four-storey frontage with one additional storey set back at roof level. The "standard height" - which would be allowable in the centre of the village and in most of Mr Dunne's site - would be a maximum of six storeys plus an additional two set back.

The tallest buildings - referred to as "cluster height" - would be eight storeys plus two set back. These would be restricted to a small number of sites and could be included in part of the Jurys/Berkeley Court site.

All these possible building heights fall far short of the 32-storey glazed tower proposed as part of Mr Dunne's development. Provision has been made in the plan for "landmark" buildings and the height of these developments has not been specified. While this does give room for an application for a taller building, it is unlikely that 32 storeys will be permissible.

The planning consultants have told councillors that the landmark buildings would be assessed on their "distinctive and high-quality design" rather than height. In most European countries the maximum height of a landmark building is twice the height of surrounding structures, consultants said, making a 16-storey frontage a likely maximum.

However, even this level of flexibility could be removed from the plan by councillors. Following a public consultation phase the plan will be put back before the councillors in the local area who may then make any amendments, based either on the public response or their own views, before it is put before the full council for ratification.

Councillors who attended the consultants' briefing on the plan earlier this week were uncomfortable with the ambiguity of the references to landmark buildings and are likely to include a height restriction in the plan.

A number of 12-storey buildings are included in Mr Dunne's plans.