Plans revealed for twin 12-storey buildings at TU Dublin campus

Plans for twin 12-storey office towers at Grangegorman, the tallest buildings to date at the TU Dublin campus, will be lodged with Dublin City Council within weeks.

The two office blocks flanking St Brendan’s Way at the Broadstone entrance to the campus will be the new European HQ of US financial management software company Workday with up to 3,500 workers.

Two plots at the eastern side of the campus were earmarked for buildings of 10-12 storeys under the Grangegorman Strategic Development Zone (SDZ,) a planning scheme designed to govern the development of a consolidated campus for the then Dublin Institute of Technology at the 70-acre former St Brendan’s psychiatric hospital site in the north inner city.

Fifteen storeys high

Under SDZ rules planning applications which adhere to the scheme can be granted directly by Dublin City Council, and cannot be subject to objections or appeals. However, when An Bord Pleanála approved the SDZ scheme in 2012 it ruled that four proposed structures, of between nine and 15 storeys high, could not be built using the SDZ “fast track” process and would instead have to go through the standard planning process because of their potential impact on the city skyline.

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This provision applies to the two plots now owned by Workday at the eastern end of the campus, where the board also noted the potential impact of the taller buildings on protected structures at Broadstone and the Kings Inns at Constitution Hill. Standard planning permission will also be required for a mixed-use development site to the south of the Workday plots, and a proposed student accommodation building at the western quad, which could be up to 15 storeys tall. However, an application for this residential building is not expected to be made for several years.

The effect of this provision is that the Workday application could be appealed to An Bord Pleanála. The company plans to submit its application for the two buildings, both of which will have 12-, 10- and eight-storey elements, to the council by the start of next month and hopes to start construction in 2024 beginning with the northern plot just behind the Broadstone Luas stop. It hopes to open this building in November 2027, followed by the second building in February 2029.

Plans on display

Graham Abell site lead for Workday in Ireland, said the new buildings will allow the company to “decant” its workforce from its two existing sites in Smithfield and in the Docklands into one location and will be the company’s first university campus-based location. The company first came to Ireland in 2008 when it bought Irish technology firm Cape Clear.

The plans are on display at the Grangegorman eastern quad today (Thursday from 3.30-7.30pm).

About 10,000 TU Dublin students have already relocated to Grangegorman from the university’s constituent colleges which were at 39 separate locations around the city. Within the next decade 22,000 students will be located at Grangegorman with 2,000 student bed spaces also planned.

A 26-classroom primary school has also recently been completed on the campus as well as two Health Service Executive buildings. Planning has recently been submitted for a HSE facility of 100 homes for the elderly along with a 10-bed dementia unit.