Dundrum city center owners reveal plan to build 889 apartments

The owners of Dundrum Town Center, Hammerson, have confirmed their plans to build 889 apartments in Dundrum.

A Hammerson subsidiary, Dundrum Retail GP DAC, has begun consulting with An Bord Pleanala for the construction of 889 apartments in « Old Dundrum Shopping Center and other properties, Main Street, Dundrum ».

In a notice published by An Bord Pleanala, he confirms that the counseling will continue until December 6.

At this point, after an outline examination of the plans in consultation with planners from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, the Board of Appeal will inform Hammerson if the scheme constitutes a reasonable basis for a Strategic Housing Development (SHD) application or requires further modification.

It will then be open to Hammerson to provide a « fast-track » planning application under the SHD system. There are no publicly available details yet regarding the number or height of apartment buildings in the proposed development.

Expected application

The anticipated implementation of the SHD is expected to form part of a flood of planning requests that will be submitted by developers under the SHD system in the coming months, with the SHD process set to conclude in February next year.

The SHD process allows developers to bypass local authorities, as the Appeals Board has to deliver decisions 16 weeks after applications are submitted.

As the SHD deadline approaches, another developer has entered into consultation talks with the Appeals Board for a larger development in the capital.

A separate notice published by the Board of Appeals confirms that one of the most famous developers of the Celtic Tiger era, builder Gerry Gannon, Gerard Gannon, is seeking planning permission to build 2,718 condominiums.

As part of the Belcamp Hall, Malahide Road and R139 scheme, Belcamp, Dublin 17, Gerard Gannon Properties Ltd is seeking permission to build 2,233 apartments, 485 homes, two children’s crates and all associated site work.

The consultation period for this application will also end on December 6, prior to the submission of the official SHD application.

to reject

The publication of the two notices comes as planning permission for Richard Barrett, Bartra’s « fast-track » application for SHD for 142 apartments at Tolka Industrial Park, Ballyboggan Rd, Dublin 11, has been denied planning permission.

The Appeals Board denied planning permission after stating that the site is for « employment/enterprise ».

The council stated that any housing proposal for the site should be subordinate to the main uses for employment generation and not conflict with the zoning of “employment/enterprise” zoning.

The Board stated that the proposal failed to meet these policy requirements. Dublin City Council also recommended rejection on this ground.

The board inspector in the case, Karen Kenny, also recommended that planning be rejected because the scheme would be premature pending completion of the zoning review and would set an undesirable precedent for the ad hoc and fragmented development of ‘staffing/enterprise areas’.