RedevelopmentSite: The Irish Lights Commission has got the green light to redevelop its 3.73-acre site at Dún Laoghaire harbour despite objections from An Taisce and locals, writes Edel Morgan

The Irish Lights Commission has got the go-ahead from An Bord Pleanála to build a marine engineering, technical and administrative centre at its depot site at Dún Laoghaire Harbour, Co Dublin.

The 5,589sq m (60,160sq ft) centre has been approved by the planning board despite opposition by An Taisce and two other parties.

An Taisce had called the mass and scale of the development "inappropriate" in such a sensitive location, within an Architectural Conservation Area, where the Irish Lights depot is flanked by two protected structures, the Coast Guard station, built in 1840 and the Irish Yacht club.

The plan is to demolish existing workshops and offices on the 3.73-acre site and replace them with what the Irish Lights office calls "a modern and more rational layout".

The complex will comprise a glazed circular office building linked to new engineering maintenance and operational facilities.

Irish Lights says the aim was so that the facility will be as low profile as possible "to minimise its visual impact on the surrounding environment".

Two buildings will be connected by a corridor with the engineering works grouped at the western end of the site.

The remaining functions generally comprise administration, technical, and common support facilities and will mainly be in an open-plan building to the east. There will be a car-parking zone to the south, leaving the remaining site to the north as a quayside operational area.

An Bord Pleanála's decision will come as a blow to An Taisce which contended that the harbour should be conserved for "absolutely essential harbour uses". It says Irish Lights' administrative offices need not be located at its depot, "which should be retained primarily for workshops and stores".

An appeal by Liam Fitzpatrick and Mabel McClelland, who have an address at Crofton Road, Dún Laoghaire, expressed concerns over the levels of noise when buoys are being tested.

An appeal by local Ann Mulcrone said the height and bulk of the development would block views of the harbour from Crofton Road and Harbour Road,

However, An Bord Pleanála ruled in favour of the development, saying that the office use "is intrinsically linked to the main marine related use on the site" and would "not seriously detract from a view of special amenity value or interest, or from the character or setting of Protected Structures in the Architectural Conservation Area".