Dublin City Council has granted planning permission to Ventaway for a 14-storey office block scheme for a site on the former City Arts Centre at City Quay in Dublin 2.
The council has granted planning permission to the firm, headed up by developer, David Kennan and Winthrop engineering group founder, Barry English, despite opposition from the Office of Public Works (OPW), an inner city primary school, a religious trust and An Taisce.
In granting planning permission to Ventaway Ltd, a Council planner’s report concluded that the scheme “will result in the redevelopment of a massively underutilised vacant site in a prominent location within the city centre”.
The report found that the proposed alterations “ensure that the development will not only create valuable commercial space but will also add much needed artistic spaces, while also providing managed space for the adjoining school”.
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Underlining the scale of the scheme, the council has ordered Ventaway to pay €3.18 million in planning contributions towards public infrastructure and €1.08 million towards Luas works.
The current plans follow An Bord Pleanala refusing planning permission in May 2024 to Ventaway to develop what would have been Dublin’s tallest building at 24 storeys for the same site.
Ventaway lodged its revised plans last December and the scheme – designed by architects, Henry J Lyons – is 61.05m tall, which is a 46.95m lower than the high scheme refused in 2024.
Principal of City Quay National School, Philip Kelly, told the council that the school’s board of management were objecting “in the strongest possible terms” to the new planning application.
The OPW is the State agency charged with the care and management of the James Gandon-designed Custom House and in its objection, the OPW stated that the construction of a building at this scale and magnitude “has the potential to adversely impact the historic and architectural character of the Custom House”.
In a separate objection on behalf of St Laurence O’Toole Trust and The Administrator of the Parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, planning consultant, Declan Brassil stated that the scheme “represents a significant overdevelopment of the site”.
The country’s largest industry lobby group, Ibec also weighed in, stating that approval should be granted.
Ibec’s Head of Infrastructure and Environmental Sustainability, Aidan Sweeney told the Council that the proposal “offers an effective revitalisation of a prime location in the city centre and is exactly the sort of project Dublin requires going forward”.
