Greenlight for office plan for Limerick's Bannatyne Mill

Redevelopment would create office space for 350 workers

Image of Limerick's Bannatyne Mill from the Dockland Framework Strategy.

Planning permission has been granted for the redevelopment of the historic Bannatyne Mill on Limerick's Dock Road into an office development.

Owners of the mill, the Shannon Foynes Port Company, have received permission from Limerick City and County Council subject to 22 conditions.

The eight-bay, five-storey limestone former corn store, built in 1873-74 to a design by William Sidney Cox, is a protected structure and has lain disused for decades. The plans cover a gross floor area of 3,477 sq m, with capacity for about 350 office staff, though the port company has yet to identify an end user.

Works include three projecting glass windows on the northern, southern and eastern elevations, the demolition of a redundant compressor room and ESB substation, a new substation and heat pump enclosure, a widened eastern entrance, and the replacement of part of the Dock Road boundary wall with a lower wall and railings. The ground floor is to be raised from 4.08m to 4.86m as a flood-mitigation measure.

The application is a repeat of a scheme the council approved in 2019, which was not built due to market conditions and lapsed in 2025. The latest application, lodged last October, was the subject of a further information request in December covering eight items, including a Natura impact statement, an updated photographic record of the building, reduced car parking, and site access. The council had sought a left-turn-only exit onto Dock Road; the port company put forward two layouts, saying it preferred to retain a right-turn exit but would accept left-turn-only by condition.

The site forms part of the port company's Limerick Docklands Framework Strategy for bringing non-core port assets into commercial use.