Permission sought to develop Docklands

Planning permission is being sought from Dublin Corporation for the largest urban development ever envisaged in Ireland, a mixed-use scheme of six million sq ft in the heart of the Docklands, including the national conference centre.

In one of the most voluminous applications yet submitted to any planning authority in the State, Spencer Dock Development Company (SDDC) is seeking an early decision on the £1.2 billion project, so that work can start as soon as possible.

SDDC, led by Treasury Holdings, won the contract last year to build the long-delayed conference centre. It is to be located on the Liffey side frontage of a 51-acre CIE-owned site at Spencer Dock, where the Royal Canal enters the river.

Apart from the conference centre, the scheme would include 3,012 apartments in 11 blocks, ranging in height from nine to 17 storeys; nine office blocks of six to 22 storeys in height which would contain more than two million square feet of space; and two hotels with a total of 371 bedrooms.

It also includes 144,000 square feet of retail space, arranged around the edges of its promenades and open spaces, and a "Technopole" associated with Trinity College which would cater for knowledge-based enterprises, and parking for around 2,000 cars. Three listed buildings, the former Midland Hotel, the former London and North Western Railway Station and the Woolstore, off North Wall Quay, will be restored. A new mainline rail terminus is proposed for this area.

The developers are stressing that substantial changes have been made to the high-rise scheme unveiled last December by Mr Kevin Roche, the internationally renowned Irish-born architect, who is designing the project.

Dublin Corporation has set up a special project team, including the city architect, Mr Jim Barrett, to assess the latest scheme. Outside experts may also be called in to assist in dealing with some technical aspects of the planning application and a detailed environmental impact statement.

The developers made it clear last autumn that they intended to take the Spencer Dock project through the normal planning process. This followed a breakdown in relations between them and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

It is understood that the DDDA is currently finalising its own planning scheme for the 51-acre Spencer Dock site and that a draft is likely to be published later this month. According to sources, the planning scheme will have at least one million square feet less than what SDDC is now proposing.

In his letter to Dublin Corporation, Mr Roche says the latest version of the Spencer Dock scheme responds to the concerns expressed by senior corporation officials at a series of meetings over the past two months. These primarily related to the height of buildings and their visual impact.

The highest building, an office tower, now stands 88 metres above a seven-metre podium in the centre of the site, compared to 128 metres in the earlier version. The average height of the remaining office buildings is given as 76 metres, with residential buildings at 51 metres.

The developers are now seeking full planning permission for the first phase, the conference centre, one 17-storey block of 223 apartments, four retail units and underground parking for 962 cars. They are also seeking outline permission for the balance, to be developed over 10 years.

According to SDDC's planning consultants, Frank L. Benson and Partners, the project "accords fully with Government objectives and with the local authority's policies".