Beacon Hospital gets permission for €75m extension

The Denis O’Brien-controlled Beacon Hospital has secured permission for a €75 million, eight-storey extension.

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has given the go-ahead for the 70-bed extension at the facility in Sandyford, Dublin.

The scheme also includes new A&E facilities, cancer care provision and associated inpatient treatment rooms.

The planning application involves the substantive demolition of the Beacon Hotel, purchased in late 2020 from the MHL Collection hotel group, which is backed by American billionaire John Malone.

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The local authority found that the hospital extension did not detract from the amenities of the area and was consistent with the provisions of the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Development Plan.

The council granted permission despite a comprehensive group objection lodged by the 70 owners and tenants of the Beacon One apartment complex.

Beacon One Management CLG lodged an initial objection last September and followed up with a fresh submission earlier this month in response to further information lodged by the applicants.

Proposal ‘incompatible’

In the latest submission, BPS Planning Consultants, on behalf of the apartment owners and tenants, reiterated their clients’ call to refuse permission.

Brendan Buxk, a director at BPS, said his clients believed the proposed A&E and hospital use was incompatible with the old hotel building.

Mr Buck contended that the scheme was not in accordance with the proper planning and development of the area and the issues raised in the council’s request for further information had not been addressed.

Homeowner Jennifer Clarke said she purchased her apartment on the basis that the existing access arrangements would be retained.

In a submission, Ms Clarke said that “these are now to be altered in a manner that I did not agree with”.

Ms Clarke said she did not wish to live in the building for the duration of the demolition and construction phase.

Outlining the need for the development, planning consultants for the hospital stated that it had undergone significant exponential growth, particularly in the past seven years, due to the increase in demand for its services.