Keith Craddock's Redrock Glenageary has secured the green light for a seven storey 138 unit apartment scheme for Glenageary in south Dublin despite local opposition.
In its decision, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has granted planning permission after a 97 page planner’s report concluded that the scheme "is not considered likely to adversely impact on the amenity of adjoining sites".
The planner’s report stated that the scheme "to be of a high architectural quality" and will not result in undue overshadowing of neighbouring properties.
The council’s planner’s report acknowledged that the scale and density of the scheme "is new to Sallynoggin and that no precedent for a similar scaled development has been permitted" within Sallynoggin.
However, the report concluded that the streetscape of Sallynoggin can accommodate taller buildings.
Mr Craddock's Redrock application is a renewed attempt to build on the site after An Bord Pleanala in April 2022 refused planning permission to Redrock for a 147 unit build to rent Strategic Housing Development (SHD) after the proposal encountered strong local opposition.
The firm withdrew plans for a 140 unit apartment scheme at the same location last September and lodged its current LRD scheme on October 31.
The new Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) scheme also includes a neighbourhood centre that will include commercial and retail units, a public plaza and a childcare facility at the junction of Sallynoggin Road and Glenageary Avenue, and Glenageary Roundabout, Glenageary.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council received 26 submissions concerning the new proposal and in their submission, the Bellevue, Glenageary and Rochestown Residents Association told the council that it welcomes any and all proposals that will provide for a suitable and sustainable development of this particular site but "in this instance, we believe that this planning application will provide neither".
Local resident, Nicola Coleman told the council that "communities across Dublin are sick to the teeth of plans for unruly development and the incessant battle for ordinary people to have their voice heard in a system where the property industry has huge lobbying powers and is heard at the highest level while the citizen is largely ignored".
Ms Coleman said: "The height and scale of this development is excessive in the context of the site. The proposed development in particular the inclusion of a seven-storey block is excessively high."
Ms Coleman said that the scheme’s failure "to take cognisance of the scale, height and proximity of neighbouring properties is a key concern".
She said that the the applicant describes it as "a focal point however it is much more than that. It is a looming bulk of edifices higher than anything in the area and will tower over us".
Local resident, Douglas Barry said "architecturally, this will not be a statement building enhancing the built environment, but equally, unfortunately more like 'stick out like a sore thumb’ building dominating the small urban street landscape of single storey terraces".
Michele Macari and Cristina Magana told the council that they strongly object to the granting of planning permission for the application as the scheme does the opposite to protecting or improving facilities for neighbourhood’.
In a planning report lodged with the new application, planning consultants, Brock McClure stated that "the height of the development has been reduced significantly from the previously refused scheme and the subject scheme proposed "provides appropriate height and the development at its highest of seven storeys in positioned the least sensitive areas of the site and provides appropriate setbacks"
The consultants state that the applicant has a newly appointed design team which has provided a fresh outlook on the site constraints and opportunities in the design of the proposed scheme.
The consultants state that from the outset, it was the Applicant’s full intention to address the reasons for refusal.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
