Planning green light for 90 units in €50m project in Dublin

Dublin City Council has given a company backed by Denis O’Brien the go-ahead for a €50m luxury apartment plan in Donnybrook despite concerns from D4 residents.

In its decision, the city council has given planning permission for the five-storey apartment blocks containing 90 apartments but has ordered that the top floor in the fifth block be omitted.

The council has also ruled that the development does not require the provision of a child-care facility after consultants for Mr O’Brien’s Purleigh Holdings Ltd made the case that the existing child-care facilities in the wider area would cope with any additional demand from the development.

In one of the 24 conditions, Purleigh Holdings is required to pay €994,464 to the council towards public infrastructure.

In the planner’s report recommending that planning be granted, the planner said that the proposal is considered to be acceptable and in line with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

In their objection against the plan, the Greenfield Residents Group had said the 90 units represented a “monolith” for a residential area.

Mr O’Brien acquired the site from UCD in 2008 when he gave the university €15m in cash and a three-acre site at Roebuck.

However, Mr O’Brien’s Purleigh — in a bid to maximise the return on the investment — lodged plans for the 90-unit development at the end of last year to replace a previous plan for 71 units.

Consultants for Purleigh, Hughes Planning and Development Consultants told the city council that the height of the plan increased from 13.8m to 16m, “thus remaining within the permissible height for sites in the Outer City area”.