Cork City office proposal referred to appeals board

The recent decision of Cork City Council to allow a previously-permitted development change from retail to mostly office use has been referred to An Bord Pleanála.

The approval for plans for Stapleton House on Oliver Plunkett Street in the city centre also saw retention given for a fourth-floor office in the building. Padlake Ltd applied last April for the change of use of the first, second and third floors from retail to office.

After submitting further information sought by planning officials in July, the application was granted conditional permission in August.

The plans have now been referred to the appeals board by a third party and the application is not now due for a final decision until the end of next January.

A nursing home in Kilmainham in Dublin 8 has been approved by An Bord Pleanála in plans that sought to adapt a previously-approved project.

The application from Belmont Care Limited in August last year related to a small site of one-fifth of an acre near the main entrance to the Royal Hospital/Irish Museum of Modern Art.

There was an existing permission on foot of a 2009 applcation, which had proposed an 80-bedroom nursing home on part of the existing site. Since then, the site has been expanded slightly and the proposed six-storey development would incorporate an existing building at Bow Bridge.

The plans for the site at the junction of Irwin Street and Irwin Court were refused in April by Dublin City Council. The company’s referral of the application to the appeals board included some design changes to address the council’s concerns and reduced the capacity to 84 bedrooms.

A planning inspector recommended granting permission and An Bord Pleanála did so a fortnight ago.

Cork City Council has been asked to allow a hotel near University College Cork be converted to student accommodation apartments.

At the end of August, Variety Holdings lodged plans that would see the change of use at the Brookfield hotel and leisure centre complex. The plans for the centre off College Road are due for decision later this month by Cork City Council.