Developer to appeal at Windmill site

Planning conditions relating to the size of apartments, ceiling heights and car-parking in a proposed major redevelopment of the Windmill site at the Digital Hub in Dublin's Liberties have been appealed by the developers to An Bord Pleanála.

Dublin City Council granted planning permission for the 45,000sq m (484,375sq ft) mixed-use development last December, in line with its ambition to create a €2.6 billion new cultural and commercial centre, dubbed SoHo, in the Liberties and, specifically, the Thomas Street area of the inner city.

The Windmill and associated site redevelopment involves 269 apartments, 6,422sq m (69,126sq ft) of office space for digital media, more than 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) of general office space, as well as 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) of retail, restaurant, crèche, gym and exhibition/ community space. The development incorporates nine structures, including a 16-storey residential tower.

The site is within an area defined by Thomas Street and James Street to the south, Wattling Street to the west, Bonham Street to the north and the IAWS building and Marshalsea Wall to the east. The developer is listed as P Elliott and Company.

Dublin City Council is keen that its new cultural quarter will combine higher standards of new homes with social and cultural facilities, including a new city festival, which is understood to be the thinking behind some of the conditions, which would see the creation of larger and more desirable living spaces than is currently the norm in city blocks.

According to the council, SoHo will include a "creative corridor" along Thomas Street with National College of Art and Design studios and galleries as an integral element. The "Thomas Street is Happening Festival" was held for the first time last June and coincided with the National College of Art and Design's open week in a deliberate move to bring vibrancy to the area.

At the heart of the proposed development is the Windmill, also known as the Conical Tower, which has been the subject of two third party appeals from neighbours who told An Bord Pleanála the new 16-storey block would dominate it. The developer's first party appeal, however, lists a number of conditions relating to the height of ceilings, the size of the apartments and car-parking. Condition two imposed by the council decreed that at least 50 per cent of the apartments should have a minimum of 80sq m (861sq ft), in order to encourage more family-friendly use of the buildings.

Condition number 3b decreed that any livingrooms facing into Roe's Lane should be double height, while condition 3f stated that ceilings in the apartments should be at least three metres high. Condition 24 decreed that at least one car-parking space should be provided per apartment. These were all appealed by the developer.