Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has rejected IPUT plc’s €250 million plans for its latest phase of The Park mixed use scheme for Carrickmines in south Dublin.
The 'Quad Three' scheme put forward by Iput plc was to support 7,000 jobs and was made up of 440 residential units, 31,082 sqm of offices, and 21,041 sq of community, retail, and leisure facilities that was to include two supermarkets.
The 440 residential units include 308 'build to rent' apartments across four blocks including one reaching to 11 storeys in height.
An EY assessment of the scheme lodged with the application stated that during construction, the project is expected to support up to 2,770 jobs over 3.5 years with the delivery of commercial office and retail space supporting up to 4,000 jobs.
Zoned lands
However, the Council has refused planning permission after concluding that due to the significant proportion of residential use proposed within the overall scheme, a satisfactory balance of uses would not be achieved for the site which is primarily zoned for economic development.
The local authority stated that zoned lands at The Park, Carrickmines are suitable for significant additional employment related development to facilitate continued economic development and employment growth.
The Council pointed out that there is a limited quantum of undeveloped zoned economic development and employment lands available within the county and therefore the proposed scheme would undermine the County Development Plan, which seeks to ensure that sufficient serviced lands continue to be available for employment generation.
The Council also refused planning permission after concluding that the proposed layout and phasing of the scheme, comprising stand-alone residential blocks, further emphasises the overtly residential prominence of the scheme.
Detrimental impact
The council states that this undermined the vision of the Local Area Plan which concerns the delivery of a Neighbourhood Centre for the northeast quadrant of The Park, Carrickmines.
The Council also refused planning permission after concluding that the scheme due to its scale, height and massing, fails to have regard to its surrounding context and will have a detrimental impact on the character of the surrounding area.
The scheme did not face any objections and a spokesman for IPUT said on Wednesday: "Our ambition at Carrickmines is to create a neighbourhood scheme that will benefit all in the surrounding community. We are a long-term investor and are confident of the benefits that the scheme will bring to the Carrickmines community and the wider south Dublin area.”
Asked does IPUT intend to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala, the spokesman stated that IPUT is reviewing the decision and the feedback on the proposal.
The EY economic assessment stated that the scheme complements existing commercial infrastructure at Carrickmines Park “creating a new mixed-use neighbourhood centre, and generating significant employment and economic activity in the local area”.
The initial phases of The Park are home to well known retailers including Halford’s, Curry’s PC World, Woodie's DIY, Harvey Norman, TK Maxx, Lifestyle Sports and Petstop.
IPUT plc planned to commence construction of the residential element of the project in January of next year and was seeking a 10-year planning permission for the ambitious plan.
The site already has planning permission from 2019 for a neighbourhood centre and 130 residential units and the new scheme will be substantially larger with 80 per cent more office space planned and more than three times the number of residential units.
Planning consultants for the Henry J Lyons designed scheme, John Spain & Associates stated that “the proposed development will consolidate the range of services currently offered at the Park, Carrickmines and is suitably scaled to serve the existing and expanding communities at Carrickmines, Stepaside, Ballyogan and Glenamuck areas to the west of the M50”.
