An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission to one of the country's best-known publicans, Tom Cleary, for a new hotel for Dublin’s Temple Bar area.
Mr Cleary is the owner of one of Ireland’s best known pubs, The Temple Bar in Temple Bar and the appeals board has refused planning permission to Mr Cleary's Chambers Properties Ltd for the 47 bedroom hotel facing onto Dame Street and Eustace Street as a planned roof extension of the scheme"would be an overly dominant and obtrusive form of development".
The application involves the change of use of a building known as the Shamrock Chambers which is a five storey over basement building comprising a vacant restaurant, shop and vacant office uses to a six storey hotel. The ground floor of the new scheme was to provide a new bar/restaurant.
However, the appeals board ruled that the roof extension is of excessive height, scale, and massing and would be injurious to the character and appearance of the host building, which is of heritage value, the visual amenity of the surrounding conservation area, and the streetscape on Dame street.
In its rejection of the scheme, the appeals board has also ruled that the proposed removal of a Dame Street shopfront and subsequent design alterations would seriously injure the character and distinctiveness of the building.
The appeals board concluded that the proposed development would be contrary to policies in the City Development Plan, which seek to protect the special interest and character of protected structures and would set an undesirable precedent for similar type development.
The reasons for refusal do provide Mr Cleary’s firm the option to lodge revised plans where the issue of the roof extension and the Dame Street shopfront can be addressed by design alterations.
The City Council did refuse planning permission due to fears that the planned hotel could lead to an over-concentration of hotels for the area.
However, the appeals board did not uphold that reason for refusal.
This followed the inspector in the case, Terence McLellan finding that the Council "has not demonstrated that there would be an overconcentration of hotels in this location".
Mr McLellan said that he concurred with the applicant that hotels are generally more numerous in city centres due to locational characteristics.
He acknowledged that there "must be a limit to hotel provision within an area before it starts to significantly alter that area’s character".
However, Mr McLellan pointed out that hotel use has previously been permitted on this site.
Mr McLellan concluded that a single additional hotel on the appeal site, albeit slightly larger than the previous permission, would not tip the balance of the immediate area such that there would be a significant or detrimental change in character of use, vitality, or vibrancy.
Planning permission was previously granted for an application lodged in 2017 for the change of use to a hotel on the same site and the construction of an additional floor but this application has expired.
A planning report by Thornton O’Connor Town Planning lodged with the Chambers Properties Ltd 47 room hotel plan stated that the hotel site is "in the very centre of Dublin’s tourism offering in terms of attractions, entertainment, dining/drinking and culture".
The Thornton O’Connor report stated that the planned restaurant/bar will add to the vibrancy of Dame Street.
Patricia Thornton stated that "the proposed change of use and additional storey are a positive proposition for Shamrock Chambers, bringing an under-utilised but historic and characterful property back into a more active and sustainable state and use".
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
