Kilmainham scheme gets approval

An Bord Pleanála has granted Charmside - a division of Treasury Holdings -permission to redevelop the former Nestle/Rowntree Mackintosh chocolate factory site in Kilmainham into a mixed scheme with 173 apartments, a 49-suite apartment hotel with a fitness centre, restaurant and a total of eight shops.

The plan also involves 7,184 sq m (77,328 sq ft) of office space, and exhibition and archive space, 36 live-work units, a creche at the courtyard-level and 310 car-parking spaces at basement-level.

The development will be laid out in five buildings ranging in height from three to nine stories. The higher building will be set back from the historic Kilmainham Gaol with the nine-storey accommodation block at the back of the site close to the railway line.

The scheme is designed by Anthony Reddy & Associates architects. Planning permission was granted by An Bord Pleanála with 25 conditions, one of which reduced the number of apartments from 195 to 173 while another condition required the redesign of the lobby of the apart-hotel.

Treasury Holdings has been involved in a two-year planning battle to redevelop the site. Over a year ago An Bord Pleanála overturned planning permission granted by Dublin City Council for an office block and technology park of 55,902 sq m (601,724 sq ft) on foot of appeals by local residents.

This time, three appeals were lodged against planning permission by Friends of Kilmainham Gaol, Tom Brunkard and Members of the Board of Visitors of Kilmainham Museum and Leo Birthistle.

In its appeal to An Bord Pleanála, the Friends of Kilmainham Gaol said the height and mass of the proposed development would "encroach on to and fail to respect" the historical protected structures nearby. It referred to the "box-like" facade of the building proposed for opposite Kilmainham Gaol and the building "is of such poor and inappropriate design that it would materially and adversely affect the setting of Kilmainham Gaol".

Other concerns were that the development would exacerbate car-parking problems in the immediate area and add to general traffic congestion. An Bord Pleanála in its ruling said the high density redevelopment of the site with "a mix of employment-generating and residential uses would be broadly consistent with the zoning and other objectives of the Dublin City Development Plan".