Dublin planners prepared to allow high-rise building in Ballsbridge

Dublin City Council’s planners have made it clear to developer Sean Dunne that they are prepared to grant permission for a high-rise “landmark building” on the Jurys site in Ballsbridge in place of the 37-storey tower omitted from the current scheme. “It is the strong view of the planning authority that a landmark building of architectural excellence is required at this location, and equally that the building be of sufficient scale to act as a landmark,” according to a report by senior planner Kieran Rose. Referring to the junction of Pembroke Road and Lansdowne Road, where the 37-storey tower had been proposed, he says the planners “would consider by way of a new planning application a building that meets these criteria on this part of the site”. However, Mr Rose’s report makes it clear that it was not open to the planners to permit the proposed tower “despite the many positive aspects of the taller building, and having regard to the lack of sufficient policy support for a building of 37 storeys”. In its decision to grant planning permission for the proposed development, the council also omitted a 10-storey office block on the basis that it was “neither permissible nor open for consideration” under the existing Z1 residential zoning.

The Irish Times