Green light for 899 student bed scheme in Dublin

An Bord Pleanála has given the green light for a 13 storey 899 student bed space scheme at Gowan House on Dublin’s Naas Rd.

The appeals board’s grant of planning permission to Malclose Ltd overturns a Dublin City Council planning refusal and a recommendation by its own inspector to refuse planning permission for the scheme at Carriglea Business Park.

The green light followed Malclose putting forward a 13 storey scheme as a new option at appeal stage after the Council refused planning permission for a 15 storey 941 bed space student accommodation scheme.

Malclose – which is a subsidiary of Michael Cox’s Hollybrook Homes – is proposing to also utilise the bed spaces for short-term lets during student holiday periods.

The council refused planning permission for the site on Dublin’s Naas Rd after concluding that the scheme “fails to align with the principle of a 15-minute city” and a number of other grounds.

The council refused planning permission on five separate grounds in a comprehensive rejection of the scheme.

However, in its ruling, the appeals board stated that it disagreed with both the Council and its inspector that the scheme didn’t accord with the principle of a 15 minute city.

The appeals board stated that with retail outlets within a 15 minute radius, a LUAS stop only 150 metres from the site and that the area is in transition, show that the development accords with the City Development Plan.

The appeals board said that the revised and scaled down design has had regard to the context and emerging height that has been permitted on sites to the south and west.

The board concluded that the revised design reduces the scale, bulk and prominence of the building in the street-scape by stepping the height.

The appeals board stated that the amendments in reducing the height of the scheme ensures that the design of the building does not undermine the status of the identified Landmark Buildings within the Strategic Development and Regeneration Area (SDRA) for the Naas Rd.

The board concluded that the scheme addresses the provision of more student accommodation with public transport links easily accessible from the site. The appeals board stated that the scheme’s high standard of design creates an attractive place, which will enliven the area without dominating the streetscape and regenerate a brownfield site to a high standard.