Planning lodged for 970-bed student accommodation

A planning application for Dublin’s largest off-campus student accommodation has been lodged with Dublin City Council.

Designed to cater for up to 970 third-level students, the proposed development is beside the 3 Arena, within the Dublin Docklands strategic development zone.

Envisaged are two blocks of six and eight storeys with “student clusters” of between five- and eight-bed spaces, as well as twin and single study units.

The scheme was designed by TP Bennett Architects, a specialist in student accommodation.

The application for planning permission for the scheme was lodged by Declan McDonald of accountancy firm PwC on behalf of the site owners Wintertide Limited which is in receivership, Nama and CIÉ.

Luas terminus

The site is located within City Block 5, fronting Point Square and the Luas terminus. It is also adjacent to the Gibson Hotel, 3 Arena and the proposed EXO building for which a planning application was recently submitted.

The accommodation will be within walking or cycling distance of the National College of Ireland and Trinity College. The position beside the Luas offers access to a wide range of colleges as far away as , and including the relocated Dublin Institute of Technology in Grangegorman.

Proposed development

With almost 1,000 bed spaces the proposed development is designed to help address the current pressure on the supply of quality student accommodation in Dublin city.

However, according to a recent Higher Education Authority report on student accommodation, Dublin universities have a total of 79,000 students but are only in a position to offer on-campus accommodation to approximately 6,000 of these.

Nama has an interest in 75 per cent of the 22 hectares of available land in the docklands strategic zone and is working with debtors and receivers to bring forward plans that would have a social dividend – such as student accommodation – and which would bring economic benefits to Dublin and the wider economy.