Plans for St Teresa’s Gardens redevelopment scaled back

Proposals to build a 22-storey tower in Dublin 8 have been scaled back by the Land Development Agency (LDA) following local opposition to the size of the planned development.

The redesign of the development at the site of the St Teresa’s Gardens flat complex will see about 100 fewer homes built, a briefing for local politicians heard on Monday.

The revised plans will see the maximum height of the development reduced from 22 storeys to 15 storeys, councillors for the Dublin South-West inner-city area were told.

The number of homes expected to be delivered as part of the development is estimated to be reduced from 700 to about 540, according to three councillors briefed on the new plans.

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The site is beside the former Player Wills cigarette factory and Bailey Gibson packaging plant on the South Circular Road.

The LDA is redeveloping St Teresa's Gardens on behalf of Dublin City Council, which still owns the site. Under the plans 30 per cent of the homes will be retained for social housing and 70 per cent used for a cost-rental scheme aimed at low- and middle-income workers, where the rents are based on the cost of building and managing the apartments.

Height

There had been local opposition to the proposed size of the tallest apartment block in the development.

The previous design of the development, titled the Donore project, included four buildings, ranging in height from two to 22 storeys.

The latest plans represent a return to height limits of 15 storeys set out in a previous master plan agreed with councillors in 2017.

Labour Party councillor Darragh Moriarty described the revised plans as a "positive" move and a "more sustainable design" for the local area, while acknowledging it did involve "taking a hit" on the number of new homes provided.

The local community had been unfairly “tarred with a Nimby brush” for raising concerns about the previous 22-storey height of the largest block, he said.

Tina McVeigh, People Before Profit councillor, welcomed the fact the LDA appeared to have responded to the concerns of the community. The briefing for local representatives heard there would be a greater mix in the size of apartments built, with a bigger proportion of three-bed units to be delivered, she said.

Michael Pidgeon, Green Party councillor, said in principle he had "no problem with height", adding the development would have to be "high density" to work on the site in question. There was a "good mix" of one-bed and three-bed apartments under the new plans, he said.

A public consultation to brief the local community on the revised plans is to be held in the coming weeks.