Revised hotel proposal for Dublin convention centre

TREASURY HOLDINGS is to submit revised plans for one of Dublin’s biggest hotels on the site of the new convention centre in Spencer Dock. Planning permission for a 35-storey hotel with 488 bedrooms adjacent to the convention centre was refused two years ago.

A hotel on site is regarded as an integral part of the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) which is on schedule to open in September.

Treasury Holdings is part of a consortium building the centre on behalf of the state.

CCD chairman Dermod Dwyer said he was confident that a revised hotel plan with a similar capacity will have a better chance of success given that Dublin City Council has earmarked Spencer Dock as one of the places for high-rise in the city.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen was given a tour of the €380 million facility yesterday.

In total, 35 conventions have been confirmed for the facility, most notably the International Bar Association conference which takes place in October 2012 with more than 3,000 delegates. The CCD will host a number of medical conventions in its first month.

A further 150 organisations have booked time provisionally for conferences, and the CCD has expressions of interest up to 2021 and definite bookings up to 2017.