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BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre Dome saved as planning permission for €100m redevelopment refused
One of Dublin's most famous landmarks - the Dome at St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre has been saved - for now. This follows An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) refusing planning permission to contentious plans for the €100m redevelopment of St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre in Dublin. Advertisement The refusal by ACP overturns a grant of permission made to DTDL Ltd issued by Dublin City Council in December 2023. The largest component of the new scheme was to be office use providing for 35,043 sq metres of offices and ancillary spaces and the applicants increased the level of retail and Food & Beverage space after the Council expressed concerns. In its refusal, ACP concluded that the scheme "lacks a strong sense of original aesthetic and would not achieve a sufficiently high standard of placemaking, urban design and architecture at this key city centre location". As a result, ACP has concluded that the scheme would be contrary to a number of policies in the area of High Quality Architecture, Architectural Design and Brownfield, Regeneration Sites and Large Scale Development of the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028. Advertisement ACP states that these policies 'aim to encourage innovative, high quality urban design and architectural detail in all new development proposals, that positively contribute to the city's built and natural environment and incorporate exemplar standards of high-quality, sustainable and inclusive urban design and architecture befitting the city's environment and heritage'. ACP concluded that the proposed development would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. The board of ACP upheld a recommendation by its own inspector in the case to refuse planning permission. However, in its order, the board of ACP included a note that it did not share the view expressed by the inspector that the existing shopping centre represents an exemplar twentieth century building. Advertisement Opening the door for a new application in the future, ACP concluded that the replacement of the existing façade, including the existing external trellis detailing and dome, would not contravene the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028, subject to an appropriately high quality design solution for this key city centre location. The appeal came before ACP following three third party appeals by An Taisce, former Environment Editor at The Irish Times, Frank McDonald and St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre trader, Emmett Rogers. In his appeal, Mr Rogers told the appeals board that if the redevelopment proceeds 'I see Dublin losing another bit of its unique identity to developers'. Mr Rogers has been operating the Tribe outlet at the St Stephen's Green shopping centre since 1992. Advertisement In the appeal, Mr Rogers stated that he was 'horrified' that the Council had granted planning permission to the mixed use scheme. The An Taisce appeal, jointly signed off by Dublin City Planning Officer, Kevin Duff and Heritage Officer, Ian Lumley, stated that the predominantly large office development 'lacks architectural sensitivity towards St Stephen's Green and results in the loss of an impressive naturally lit space'. In his appeal, Frank McDonald told the appeals board that what is proposed to replace the existing St Stephen's Green shopping centre 'is simply not good enough and does not qualify as a building of 'exceptional design and outstanding architectural quality'. In recommending a grant of permission, a 51 page City Council planner's report concluded that "the proposed reductions to the scale and massing of the building significantly reduces the visual impact on this sensitive environment'. Advertisement The planner's report acknowledged that the existing shopping centre is a local landmark but this was not due to the quality of its architecture and stated that the shopping centre is not a Protected Structure. An architectural design statement drawn up by architects for the ambitious plan, BKD architects stated that since opening in 1988, the St St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre has faced many difficulties in attracting sustainable retailers. The report stated that these include that most unit sizes are too small and the smaller shop units particularly those at the upper levels trade poorly and can operate only on short term leases. Planning consultants for the scheme, John Spain & Associates told the Council that the existing building "has become outdated" and the proposal seeks to enhance a high quality shopping centre and office facility on a centrally located site. Plans were first lodged in January 2023 and Mr Spain argued that the proposal represents a significant rejuvenation of a key site at the gateway to Dublin's south retail core. The report stated that the St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre 'is currently underperforming in its retail function and the proposal through the provision of medium sized units, which are currently in demand by higher order retailers, has the potential to significantly improve the retail offering in the area.
Irish Times
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Liffey Swim: Dispute over running annual event resolved, High Court hears
A dispute between two organisations over the right to run the annual Dublin city Liffey Swim has been resolved, the High Court has heard. Details of the settlement between Leinster Open Sea CLG and Swim Ireland were not disclosed in open court, but Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy was told the historic event would go ahead this year. Leinster Open Sea CLG, a volunteer sponsorship-funded body which organises about 30 sea races every year in partnership with local clubs, had brought proceedings against the Irish Amateur Swimming Association CLG, trading as Swim Ireland, the State-funded governing body for the sport.. Leinster Open Sea had sought orders restraining Swim Ireland from holding both the Liffey Swim and the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Swim. READ MORE As a result of the dispute, two separate Liffey swims took place last year. Dublin City Council, which grants permission for the event to go ahead, indicated it did not want the same thing to happen this year, the court previously heard. Both parties argued they held the rights to operate the Liffey Swim, which has occurred annually since 1920, and the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Swim. Last week, at the conclusion of a hearing into Leinster Open Sea's application for a temporary injunction against Swim Ireland, Mr Justice Mulcahy urged the parties to settle their differences, warning the event was at risk of not going ahead this year. On Tuesday, Michael O'Doherty BL, for Leinster Open Sea, told the judge the parties had settled their difference on Monday night. Mr O'Doherty said he spoke for both parties in thanking the judge for comments he made at last week's hearing, stating that it focused the minds of both sides in coming to a resolution. Counsel said the proceedings could be struck out with no further order. Peter Bland SC, for Swim Ireland, said his side was consenting to the strikeout, and added that the swims would go ahead this year.
BreakingNews.ie
22-07-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Dispute over Liffey Swim resolved
A dispute between two organisations over the right to run the annual Dublin City Liffey Swim has been resolved, the High Court has heard. Details of the settlement between Leinster Open Sea and Swim Ireland were not disclosed in open court, but Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy was told the historic event would go ahead this year. Advertisement Leinster Open Sea CLG, a volunteer sponsorship-funded body which organises about 30 sea races every year in partnership with local clubs, had brought proceedings against the Irish Amateur Swimming Association CLG, trading as the State-funded national governing body for swimming, Swim Ireland. Leinster Open Sea had sought orders restraining Swim Ireland from holding both the Liffey Swim and the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Swim. As a result of the dispute, two separate Liffey swims took place last year, and Dublin City Council, which grants permission for the event to go ahead, indicated that it did not want the same thing to happen this year, the court previously heard. Both parties argued that they held the rights to operate the Liffey Swim, which has occurred annually since 1920, and the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Swim. Advertisement Last week, at the conclusion of a hearing into Leinster Open Sea's application for a temporary injunction against Swim Ireland, Mr Justice Mulcahy urged the parties to settle their differences, warning that the event was at risk of not going ahead this year. On Tuesday, Michael O'Doherty BL, for Leinster Open Sea, told the judge the parties had settled their difference on Monday night. Mr O'Doherty said he spoke for both parties in thanking the judge for comments he made at last week's hearing, stating that it focused the minds of both sides in coming to a resolution. Counsel said the proceedings could be struck out with no further order. Peter Bland SC, for Swim Ireland, said his side was consenting to the strikeout, and added that the swims would go ahead this year.
Irish Times
20-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Dublin's new tallest building: This tower of darkness should never have been allowed
The random tower that has reared up on Tara Street in Dublin photobombs itself into almost every important vista in the city centre. It intrudes into the historic precincts of Trinity College as well as College Green and looms up behind O'Connell Bridge House in views along the Liffey quays. It can also be seen from Lower Grafton Street, Parnell Square East, St Stephen's Green West and numerous other locations. Although some high-rise cheerleaders are no doubt thrilled by such a brazen jump in scale within the city's historic core, there is nothing elegant about Marlet Property Group 's vertical slab of build-to-rent apartments rising from the top of Longstone House, an 11-storey office block opposite Mulligan's pub on Poolbeg Street. It's a dark and brooding alien edifice redolent of a sci-fi portal of darkness and as menacing as Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Why it presents such a black picture is a story in itself. As originally designed by Henry J Lyons Architects , it was light in colour and intended to have 'a calm presence ... to reflect and converse with the Dublin sky'. But the three members of An Bord Pleanála who dealt with an appeal by An Taisce against Dublin City Council 's decision to grant permission decreed that it should be redesigned – to have more impact. Light or dark, the new tower should never have been built. There was no provision for it either in the Dublin city development plan 2016-2022 or in the 2009 George's Quay local area plan. While this local plan envisaged that there might be a 'mid-rise marker building' at the corner of Tara Street and Poolbeg Street, it clearly specified that any such building on the site 'shall not exceed a maximum of 12 storeys in height'. READ MORE What Dublin got instead is now the city's tallest building, at 82m – 3m higher than the dreary brick-clad Capital Dock tower on Sir John Rogerson's Quay, designed by O'Mahony Pike Architects for Kennedy Wilson. But that tower created its own environment at the nether end of Docklands, whereas Marlet's erection – part of its College Square development, of which Longstone House forms two sides – has been inserted into the Georgian city, between the Custom House and Trinity College. The only tall building envisaged by the George's Quay local area plan was for a site directly adjoining Tara Street station, specified to be 'a maximum of 22 storeys (88 metres)' in height. These were the precise dimensions of a tower proposed by the developer Johnny Ronan – also designed by Henry J Lyons Architects – that An Bord Pleanála finally approved in April 2019 after it had been refused twice by Dublin City Council and once by the board itself. Using this as a precedent, and apparently emboldened by the promulgation in December 2018 of ultraliberal building-height guidelines by Eoghan Murphy, as minister for housing, Pat Crean's Marlet subsidiary Atlas GP opened pre-application consultations with Dublin City Council planners in June 2019 on its audacious proposal to diversify the redevelopment of Apollo House, Hawkins House and College House by adding a 10-storey 'vertical extension'. [ From the archive: Hawkins House to be knocked, but what about its ugly neighbours? Opens in new window ] Marlet's planning consultant Brady Shipman Martin referenced a High Court judgment by Mr Justice Garrett Simons on May 30th, 2019, to suggest that the planners could 'rely on the guidelines to disapply objectives of the local area plan'; in fact, Mr Justice Simons found exactly the opposite: that the building height guidelines 'do not authorise a planning authority to disapply the criteria prescribed under a planning scheme…' Crean's approach paid off. Instead of being treated as a material contravention of both the Dublin city development plan 2016-2022 and the George's Quay local area plan – which would require the approval of city councillors – Atlas GP's tower proposal was evidently welcomed by one of the council's senior planners, Garrett Hughes, who had previously condemned Ronan Group 's tower as 'unacceptably conspicuous' in its context. Tower of darkness: plans for the redesigned, blue-black residential tower at College Square. Illustration: HJL/Marlet While noting that Marlet's proposal 'will have a visual impact' on College Green and Trinity College, he considered this 'acceptable given the inventive nature of the design', with a scale that was intended to 'sit in tandem' with Ronan Group's still unbuilt tower at Tara Street station. 'Overall, the impact is considered to be positive given the modern and assertive design and the overall upgrading of the existing urban block'. Hughes also noted that the 'perceived height' would be 'moderated by the architectural treatment of the upper and lower parts of the building', with the office-block element having a blue-black terracotta frame, 'whereas the upper residential tower adopts a comparatively lighter character with the use of fritted glass and white ceramic fin detailing' – the facade finishes that Henry J Lyons Architects suggested would give it a 'calm presence'. [ From the Irish Times archive: The little known architectural firm that is transforming Dublin Opens in new window ] Dublin City Council's decision to grant permission in December 2019 was appealed by An Taisce , which warned that Dublin was 'heading toward an incoherent Manchester or Brussels-type townscape with modern high-rise towers randomly inserted into the historic urban structure'. The Irish Georgian Society said it would also 'exacerbate the negative impact' on the skyline of the tower approved at Tara Street station. The Bord Pleanála planning inspector Irené McCormack, in her 40-page report to the board, said Marlet's building would not be 'dominant or uncharacteristic with its surrounding built context', as it was 'notably slender in form and light in colour and reflective'; on the contrary, it 'would generate a strong sense of place through the diversification of the skyline and make a positive contribution to the urban character of the area'. The board triumvirate that dealt with the case consisted of its only architect members – the former deputy chairman Paul Hyde , who would later be convicted on two counts of failing to make full declarations of his property interests, and Michelle Fagan , a former president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland – along with Terry Prendergast, previously senior planner with Grangegorman Development Agency. The new Longstone House/College Square building development over the Dublin skyline. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The new Longstone House/College Square building development over the Dublin skyline seen from College Green. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The new Longstone House/College Square building development over the Dublin skyline seen from inside Trinity. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni As 'presenting board member' in charge of the case, Hyde convened a meeting with Fagan and Prendergast to discuss it three days after McCormack submitted her report. The trio were apparently so unhappy with the scheme that they decided to issue a rare notice under section 132 of the 2000 Planning Act to Atlas GP requesting significant design revisions to respond to 'this pivotal and highly visible location' in the city centre. In sending the Henry J Lyons team back to their designs, the board bluntly stated that the reason for doing so was that 'the proposed development, due to its architectural design quality and materiality, does not successfully address the opportunities provided by the site, does not protect or enhance the skyline at this location nor does it, in its present form, make a positive contribution to the urban character of the area'. It considered that the design and materiality of the tower 'contrasts negatively with that of the lower blocks' on Marlet's huge site while its 'horizontal emphasis ... and lack of facade articulation provides an unsatisfactory response to its context'. But matching the 'materiality' of the build-to-rent tower with the dark-terracotta frame of the office block beneath it inevitably meant that its skyline impact would be more strident. [ Dublin's disappearing venues: A promised 500-seat theatre is shrouded in mystery Opens in new window ] In its response, submitted in July 2020, Henry J Lyons did exactly what it was told by redesigning the tower 'using the same materials, profiles and rhythm of the base building', as it explained, while also giving it a 'strong vertical emphasis' with a frame of blue-black terracotta fins – similar to the office floors below – reinforced by a 'double order' expression, meaning that horizontal profiles occur at every second floor. Henry J Lyons claimed that its darker finish would contrast with the lighter stone of historic buildings in Trinity College, allowing these to be 'read independently and not to be confused with the backdrop'. Does that sound like grasping at straws? A revised townscape assessment by the Paul Hogarth Company conceded that the tower would be 'more noticeable' on the skyline and would also have a 'heavier' presence in views along the Liffey quays. After holding two further meetings to consider the case, the board's triumvirate decided unanimously on September 14th, 2020, to grant permission for the proposed development 'as superseded and/or amended by the plans and particulars submitted in response to the section 132 request', with the order signed by Paul Hyde. It was, to paraphrase Yeats, 'all changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born ...' In March 2022 Dublin City Council approved Marlet's plan to add a floor, increasing the number of build-to-rent apartments from 54 to 58, including a large penthouse on the 21st floor; this raised the tower's overall height to 22 storeys, topped by a 'crown' that appears peculiarly unresolved. One can just imagine how discordant this high-rise luxury tenement will look at night, with light in some windows and not in others. The view from Lower O'Connell Street towards Burgh Quay, originally designed by the Wide Streets Commission as a uniform composition, has been so spoiled by uncoordinated redevelopment in recent decades that it resembles the urban-design equivalent of a dog's dinner – now trumped by a tower of darkness on Tara Street that will sadly stand for decades as a monument to developer-led 'planning' in Dublin.
Times
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
This is what spending the night at Trinity College feels like
As you step through the gates, the clamour of the city slips away behind you. Inside the cobbled quadrangle of Trinity College Dublin, the air feels older, heavier, and the hush has a faintly illicit quality — as though you've wandered into a part of the city where you're not allowed to be, which is, of course, the allure. Each summer Trinity opens its student accommodation to the public, a canny blend of tourist-savvy pragmatism and romantic fantasy. For a night (or several), you can sleep within the same walls as Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett and Bram Stoker. You can walk the same quads once stalked by the revolutionaries Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet, both famously banished from the university for their radical politics. Founded in 1592 under a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I, Trinity is Ireland's oldest surviving seat of learning. But its story runs deeper than mortar and manuscript. For centuries, it stood as a symbol of colonial power — a bastion of Protestant ascendancy that excluded Catholics until 1793, when legal reforms lifted the bar on admission. Even then, however, Trinity remained an enclave of elite privilege and exclusivity. The architecture offers a trace of this hauteur. At the heart of the campus stands a statue of George Salmon, a former provost who famously declared that women would be admitted to Trinity 'over my dead body'. As fate would have it, Salmon died in 1904, and women were admitted that year. Despite the grandeur, checking in for the night is a briskly modern, informal affair in a carpeted office just off Trinity's Parliament Square, staffed by unfailingly polite students in blue polo shirts. No need to queue again on your way out — simply leave your key behind. My room was in the Rubrics, the college's oldest building, completed in about 1701 and standing like a red-brick sentry over the cobbles. Inside, it's less Downton Abbey, more out-of-town Ikea — pale woods, clean lines and a minimalist finish that nods to the past without indulging it. Accessibility, as you might expect from an 18th-century building, is limited: no lift, steep stairs and only a handful of ground-floor rooms. The sash windows in the room framed a postcard view of the square below, and although mere steps from the city's main arteries, the night passed in ecclesiastical silence. By day, the campus teems with tour groups and lounging Gen Zs basking in the sun behind the Campanile. The overall effect is oddly cinematic — think Normal People meets Harry Potter, with accents from every corner of the globe. Breakfast is served from 7.30am to 10am downstairs in the college's subterranean canteen — a utilitarian space that contrasts sharply with the splendour above ground, but delivers a solid buffet of hot food, fruit, cereals and pastries. It's certainly not the Hogwarts grand hall, but the buffet is hearty and the coffee strong — enough to set up even the fussiest eaters for a day of exploring Dublin. Trinity's location is, however, its trump card. It sits squarely in the city's cultural and retail core, just a three-minute walk from Grafton Street with its buskers and boutiques, and a stone's throw from some of Dublin's renowned pubs. James Joyce fans will know that the short stroll from Trinity's gates to Grafton Street retraces the author's first meeting with Nora Barnacle in June 1904 — the courtship that inspired Ulysses and Bloomsday. Still, wandering the quad after dusk, I couldn't shake the feeling that the college had more secrets than it let on. As a history lover, I found the official campus tour a touch too tidy. Yes, it covers the essentials — the Long Room, the Book of Kells, a look inside the Museum Building and an impressive roll call of alumni, but it largely sidesteps the stranger, darker stories. Take Edward Ford, for instance, a fellow of the college who met his end in the Rubrics, just two doors down from my room, in 1734. Annoyed by a group of students carousing outside his quarters, he reportedly demanded quiet — at which point they fired a musket through his door, fatally injuring the infamous disciplinarian. The tale is well documented but conspicuously absent from the official script. Perhaps it has been scrubbed to avoid alarming more delicate guests — but for lovers of dark tourism or true crime, it's a chilling reminder of how thin the walls of history really are. Would I stay a week? Unlikely. The magic lies in the brevity — and in the quiet sense of trespass. One night is enough to flirt with one's long-lost student self, to soak in the scholarly hush of cloisters and centuries-old setting. It's not luxurious. It's not flashy. But it is quietly profound — like bedding down inside the mind of the city itself, all faded grandeur, fierce intellect and ghosts who never quite left. Details Trinity College Dublin offers summer accommodation until August 30, room-only from €91 a night;
