Billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien’s Jepview has secured planning permission for a 15-storey office block in Dublin’s docklands.
Jepview Ltd has secured planning permission for ‘Two Grand Canal Quay’ after revising its original plans for the office block involving a part-15 storey high office block and second part-eight storey high office block scheme in response to Dublin City Council expressing concerns over the scale of the proposal in Dublin’s docklands.
The Council planner’s report, which recommended planning permission, stated that the scheme “will upgrade a prominent location on Grand Canal Quay, contribute to employment in the area and will allow for the construction of a modern building in an inner city location proximate to public transport and other amenities”.
The planner’s report also stated that the scheme will facilitate high quality office accommodation, with a café at ground floor level and is unlikely to have a detrimental visual impact on the streetscape.
The former Esat building, in which Mr O’Brien has his penthouse office, is next door at No 1 Grand Canal Quay.
Trinity swap
Mr O’Brien’s Jepview sought planning permission for the 15-storey office block after acquiring the site through a swap deal with Trinity College Dublin.
No objections were lodged against the scheme and as part of the conditions attached to the permission, the City Council is requiring that Jepview pay €1.54 million in planning contributions towards public infrastructure.
The site currently comprises a single storey warehouse which extends to the full area of the site and in December, the Council sought revised plans after expressing “serious concerns in relation to the scale and massing of the proposed building”.
In response to the Council concerns, architects for the scheme, De Blacam & Meagher Architects deployed a number of revisions to the scheme.
One of the measures includes the top two floors at the western corner of the main block to be redesigned to now contain a two and a half storey high winter garden.
An adjacent eight-storey block is to contain an eight floor roof terrace enclosed by a screen of pleached trees and low shrubs in stainless steel planter boxes.
The designers also reduced the width of the main block by 1.7m at its western side.
