Dublin City Council gave both barrels to developer Joe Linders when they rejected his plan for the redevelopment of the former Irish Distillers’ headquarters in Smithfield. They told him that his plan for four shops and nearly 16,600sq m (178,680sq ft) of offices would represent significant overdevelopment and would be seriously detrimental to the amenities of the area.

They also felt that the total demolition of the existing buildings, which were formerly used as a stone warehouse, would be contrary to the development plan because the building is of historic interest. They pointed out that there is an existing public sewer on Bow Street, adjacent to the proposed building, and that building adjacent to such a sewer is not permitted, and followed that up by saying that the proposed layout would compromise Luas operations and standards and that the scheme would overshadow the upper levels of apartments nearby.

Back to the drawing board, Joe.