Ballymore gets permission for second phase of new Connolly Quarter

Dublin City Council has granted planning permission to Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore Group for the second phase of a new urban quarter beside Connolly Station in Dublin.

The city council gave the green light to Connolly Quarter Development Company Ltd despite Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claiming that the Dublin Arch project had too few social housing units and an excessive number of build-to-rent homes.

The latest grant of permission concerns the second phase of the Dublin Arch project, which includes four office blocks ranging from 12 to 16 storeys in height.

The scheme also includes two blocks containing 187 build-to-rent apartments, retail units and 7,380sq m of public open space.

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Of the 187 build-to-rent units, 19 will be made available for social housing.

Ballymore got planning permission in February 2021 for the first phase of the project. It includes a 42,670sq m commercial development including two office buildings, a 246-bedroom hotel and space for 10 retail units.

The overall Dublin Arch scheme promises to provide more than 1,000 direct construction jobs over five years.

Underlining the scale of the new phase, the council said the Ballymore firm must pay €6.68 million in planning contributions towards public infrastructure and an additional €2.37 million in Luas C1 Line scheme contributions.

The council granted planning permission after its planner in the case found that the scheme would provide a planning gain to the area “by way of the proposed regeneration of an underutilised brownfield site, with a new urban quarter which includes new public streets and spaces, including the proposed new Connolly Square and Connolly Steps”.

The planner’s report also stated that the 187 build-to-rent residential units would provide “for an acceptable standard of residential amenity, with an acceptable quantum of private and communal open space”.

It found that the proposal “provides for a significant scale and quantum of development on the site ... in a city centre location adjacent to a major transport interchange at Connolly Station”.