An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission to ambitious plans for a 28-storey hotel and office scheme for a major junction on the M50 on the outskirts of Dublin.
The plans by Propotron Limited involve a 459 bedroom hotel in a 28-storey block and three other office blocks ranging in height from six to 13 storeys providing a total of 34,320 sq metres in office space at Junction 6 of the N3 and the M50 motorway near Castleknock.
Propotron is owned 50/50 by Pamela Keating and Anthony Dunne and in response to the scheme, the appeals board has concluded due to its scale and location on an island site at an intersection of national roads, it would result in an intensive overdevelopment of the site.
The appeals board ruled that the scheme would be contrary to "Urban Development and Building Height Guidelines for Planning Authorities".
The board also concluded that the proposed development would result in an under provision of car-parking and would adversely affect the strategic function, efficiency and carrying capacity of surrounding national roads and would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard.
Opposition
One of those opposed to the scheme was Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman.
In a joint submission with his Green Party colleague, Cllr Pamela Conroy, the two contended that the proposed development is overdevelopment of the site and would dominate the skyline in Dublin West.
The joint submission by the two states that there are no other buildings of such scale nearby and the scheme “would have a negative impact on adjoining residential areas”.
The proposed site of the planned scheme is currently occupied by a health and leisure centres Total Fitness and the appeals board decision upholds a refusal of the scheme by Fingal County Council in October 2020.
The Council refused planning permission on four grounds after Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) contended that the scheme would have an adverse impact on the national road and associated junction and would be at variance with national policy.
In the appeal lodged in November 2020, John Fleming Architects argued that the junction of the N3 with the M50 is one of the most significant intersections in Ireland and probably the most prominent in Dublin.
The architects stated that the scheme “should be judged with other cities that develop tall buildings around their periphery”.
The appeal stated that the quantum of building is in response to the expanse of the site and the scale of the adjoining development, the M50.
