Hearing opens into children's hospital site

A PUBLIC hearing on the controversial plans for a National Children’s Hospital on the grounds of the Mater hospital in Dublin was yesterday opened by An Bord Pleanála.

The planning board expects the hearing, which will hear evidence from more than 30 parties, to take three weeks to complete.

The hospital, which is expected to cost €650 million, would be able to accommodate clinical facilities for the provision of paediatric care, including 392 beds, 53 daycare beds, 13 operating theatres, overnight beds for parents and a family resource centre. The application also seeks to develop play areas, a school, external gardens and courtyards.

The development, which is intended to be up to 16 storeys in height on a two-hectare site, is due for completion in late 2016.

The National Children’s Hospital Development Board applied for planning permission for the facility last July following Government approval of the Eccles Street site as the location for the new hospital.

The Government decision followed the recommendation of an independent review group that the Mater site was the correct one for the project. However, several groups that will later provide evidence to the hearing believe the inner-city site is too constrained, leading to access problems, and of an inappropriate scale and height.

A number of parties also claim the application is in conflict with statutory development plans, and would have an unacceptable effect on the surrounding historic core of the city.

Architects representing the board told the hearing that the site offered an opportunity to provide “world-class” facilities in co-location with an adult hospital and eventually a maternity hospital.

Architect Clare White acknowledged that many submissions had raised concerns about the effect on the historic Georgian area, particularly protected structures.

“Almost every building on Eccles Street is a protected structure and we considered this context from the very outset.” Many “temporary” buildings had been added to the original 1861 hospital over the 20th century. These had become permanent but were inappropriate and the development of the new hospital presented a “perfect opportunity” to clear these buildings and restore where possible the 150-year-old building.

The context and setting of protected buildings would be enhanced by the removal of these structures and the reinstatement of the street-line frontage on Eccles Street, which was broken by demolition in the 1980s, she said.

Plans to locate a 16-storey “landmark” building on the site were consistent with Dublin City Council’s local area plan, Ms White said. The heights proposed for Eccles Street had been limited to four storeys rather than the six to 12 which would have been permitted by the council’s plan, she said. An eight-storey block, set back from Eccles Street, was planned but this would have “minimal impact on existing vistas or protected structures” and would be similar in height to the Mater adult hospital currently under construction.

Seán Mahon, another architect representing the board, said the scale of development required would have some impact on the architectural heritage and conservation of the city and would be visible from a number of points in the city, including O’Connell Street.

However, he said the buildings were designed on the basis that they would be visible within the city. “We believe that the new children’s hospital is such an important national building that it is entirely appropriate that it is visible in view from the main street in the city, as a marker of our investment in our children’s health in the 21st century,” Mr Mahon said.

The construction of the hospital at the Mater site is being opposed by a number of parties, including local residents, An Taisce, the Irish Georgian Society, Tallaght Hospital Action Group and the New Children’s Hospital Alliance.