KIRMBURN LTD, a company owned by well-known property developers Jerry O'Reillyand David Courtney, has been refused planning permission to develop the Faculty Building on Shelbourne Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 into a nine-storey office building.
Dublin City Councilhas turned down the proposal for the site next to the Berkeley Court Hotel because its scale would injure nearby residential amenities in Ballsbridge and because of its lack of visual integration with its surroundings.
The developers were looking to demolish the six-storey office building and replace it with a taller building that would range in height between five and eight storeys fronting Shelbourne Road with a total floor area of 9,952sq m (107,122sq ft).
The overall height of the building would be nine storeys, with a three-level basement to accommodate 50 car-parking spaces.
Businessman Dermot Desmond, a high profile opponent of a number of developments in Ballsbridge – including Sean Dunne's recently rejected proposal for a 37-storey tower on the Jurys/Berkeley Court site and David Daly's plans to build an eight storey office building at Franklin House – also lodged an objection to this development.
He asked the council to refuse permission, saying it is premature pending the implementation of a local area plan.
Kirmburn bought the Faculty Building from the Office of Public Works for €35.9 million at the height of the Ballsbridge buying frenzy in March 2006.
Courtney and O'Reilly have undertaken a number of major developments, most notably the award-winning Elm Park development beside the Dart in south Co Dublin, where Bernard McNamarais also a partner.
