Proposed Heuston South Quarter development meets opposition

Plans to build a hotel and office buildings at Dublin’s Heuston South Quarter (HSQ) are facing opposition, amid a court challenge to an adjacent development.

Last month, HPREF HSQ Investments Ltd lodged plans with Dublin City Council for a five-storey, 238 bedroom hotel and a 12-storey office block.

The site is next to the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, widely seen as an important heritage site. Planning consultants for the new mixed scheme have told the council that the proposed office element will consolidate and enhance the employment capacity and potential of the HSQ, while the hotel will provide tourist accommodation that is lacking in the area.

However, in response to the mixed-use scheme, An Taisce’s Dublin city planning officer, Kevin Duff, has told the council that the scheme should be refused planning permission. Mr Duff said the Royal Hospital Kilmainham should be treated to the highest level of international best practice in the conservation and protection of its landscape setting and overall ensemble. He stated that the current proposal, which he said is premature pending the outcome of a High Court judicial review on a nearby planned development, would be contrary to these imperatives.

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In a separate submission, former environment editor of The Irish Times Frank McDonald told the council that the Royal Hospital “is the most significant 17th-century building in Ireland so what is built in its vicinity is of pre-eminent importance”.

He said that it would be infinitely preferable if the current scheme was withdrawn or rejected as premature pending the outcome of the judicial review proceedings on an adjacent development. Mr McDonald and architect Paul Leech have sought the High Court review of the decision by An Bord Pleanála granting permission for the same developer to build 399 apartments across five blocks at the HSQ.

In his own submission, Paul Leech has also called on the council to refuse planning permission.