Plans to demolish the eight-storey Carrisbrook House in Dublin 4 and replace it with a ten-storey office block are being opposed by local residents.
Last year, Atria V Lux SARL lodged plans for the demolition of the well known building that is located at the junction of Pembroke Road and Northumberland Road and across the road from the site of the former Jury’s hotel.
Carrisbrook House served as the home of the Israeli embassy in Ireland up until its relocation to nearby Shelbourne Road in 2019 and now Atria V Lux SARL’s plan includes a restaurant and café at ground floor level.
The new office block scheme at 12,690 sq metres will provide more than three times the gross floor area of the current Carrisbrook House which has a gross floor area of 3,757 sq metres.
However, the Pembroke Road Association and the Lansdowne and District Residents Association have lodged objections.
The Lansdowne and District Residents Association has told the city council that the houses on Pembroke Road will be dwarfed by the proposal.
The Residents Association also contend that the development at 10-storeys high on the most important facades results “in a sheer and brutalist structure sitting at this important junction”.
The association also says the site density and maximisation of the location for office space sets a dangerous precedent for the expected development of the Jury’s site for the Embassy of the United States.
Office space
The Pembroke Road Association contends that there "is a super abundance" of office space in the Pembroke district.
They state: “We would welcome an application for a smaller scale residential and mixed use building but not for office space alone.”
The association states that “the heights, bulk and massing of the proposed building are out of proportion with the scale of the historic residential district”.
The association also states that the celebrated sight-lines, views and vistas of Pembroke Rd "will be irrevocably altered”.
Planning consultants for the scheme, John Spain & Associates state that the proposal “represents a further opportunity to secure the improvement of an inner suburban site at a strategic location”.
Mr Spain states that the site already has an eight-storey office development - albeit of little architectural merit and with considerable environmental and built constraints in terms of its future use for office development.
He also states that the part-four storey to part-10 storey scheme put forward is a high quality replacement for the dated 1960s building.
