Planning | Bannon

New Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028 and Changes to Z15 Land Use Zoning

10th January 2023/in Events, Land, News, Planning

The new Dublin City Development Plan for the period 2022-2028 came into effect on 14^th December 2022. The Plan establishes the planning framework for the evolution of the City over a six-year period. One of the most notable changes brought about in this Plan are the restrictions placed on the potential future development of lands zoned ‘Z15 – Institutional and Community’. The Plan states that any residential or commercial development on such lands would only be considered in “highly exceptional circumstances”.

It is estimated that some 1,800 acres of land throughout the City Council administrative area are zoned Z15. While a significant portion of this total comprises existing educational and healthcare facilities, a significant proportion comprises lands privately owned by religious organisations including the Archdiocese of Dublin. In an era where consolidation of parishes is likely to become more prevalent, these properties, which are typically centrally located within local communities, could offer the potential for repurposing as social or private housing and go some way towards the addition of much needed residential stock across the capital. It appears contradictory that the new Development Plan has limited the future development potential of these lands in a time of chronic need and when creative solutions are required most.

Niall Brereton BSc MRICS MSCSI is a Registered Valuer and Director of Professional Services at Bannon.

Clonee land offers potential for 400,000sq ft logistics facility at €10m

24th March 2021/in Development, Land, News, Planning

With vacancy levels for prime industrial stock reaching record lows and limited development opportunities available along the main arterial routes around the capital, agent Bannon expects to see strong demand for a 22-acre land holding fronting on to the M3 motorway.

Located next to junction 4, less than five-minutes’ drive from the M50 and 15km from Dublin city centre, the M3 Gateway site is fully serviced and offers the potential for a logistics/distribution or data-centre development of about 400,000sq ft (37,161sq m) subject to planning permission.

The land adjoining the site has in recent years been transformed by the development of two hyper-scale data centres by Facebook. Further data centres are situated nearby in Blanchardstown and Mulhuddart where Amazon Web Services is progressing a 223,000sq ft facility. The area has also proven to be popular among pharmaceutical and logistics companies, with MSD, Astellas, Helsinn Birex, Geodis and Masterlink all situated nearby.

The commuter towns of Dunboyne and Clonee are situated on the opposite side of the M3 with rail stations at Dunboyne and the M3 Parkway park-and-ride facility at Pace.

The land has direct road frontage on to both the M3 slip road and the Kilbride road. Notably services including mains drainage, water and gas supply pass through the southern portion of the site and are capped for future connection. The presence of these services is expected by the selling agent to enhance the prospects for the land when brought forward for development. The entire holding is zoned “enterprise and employment” and “warehousing and distribution” within the Meath county development plan.

The property is being offered for sale by tender on Thursday, May 6th at a guide price of €10 million.

Commenting on the sale, Niall Brereton, director at Bannon, said: “In addition to the terrific data-centre potential the lands at M3 Gateway offer institutional investors an unrivalled opportunity, subject to planning permission, to enhance the logistics/distribution allocation within their portfolios and capitalise on the significant demand amongst third-party logistics providers, pharmaceutical companies and online retailers for modern industrial stock within touching distance of the M50 and the city’s main arterial corridors.”

Article by The Irish Times

Potential Planning Impacts

19th March 2020/in News, Planning

It is likely that the Government may introduce Emergency Legislation to extend/suspend the statutory timeframes which apply to planning applications and appeals. Currently a planning application which is not adjudicated upon within the 8 week timeframe (barring an F.I. & assuming no 3^rd party appeal) receives a grant of permission by default. The current planning process timeframe is as follows:

3^rd Party Observation Period:	5 weeks from receipt of application
Planning Authority Decision:	8 weeks from application validation
Further Information Receipt:	6 months from request
Appeals to ABP:	4 weeks from L.A decision
ABP Decision:	18 weeks (but can be unilaterally extended)

Any ongoing reviews of Local Area Plans or Development Plans are likely to be postponed as the requirements for Public Consultations cannot be adhered-to due to COVID-19. The Oral Hearing for the N6 Galway City Ring Road has also been postponed by ABP until the end of March at the earliest.

Pritzker Architecture Prize Goes to Two Women for the First Time

5th March 2020/in News, Planning

When designing a campus for a new University of Engineering and Technology in Lima, Peru, the Dublin-based architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara thought deeply about how to integrate the wind and the rain.

It is because of that sensitivity to the natural elements, as well as qualities like their emphasis on collaboration, that the pair was selected to receive the 2020 Pritzker Prize, making them the first two women to share the profession’s highest honor. The award was announced on Tuesday.

“Their approach to architecture is always honest, revealing an understanding of the processes of design and construction from large-scale structures to the smallest details,” the jury’s citation said. “It is often in these details, especially in buildings with modest budgets, where a big impact can be felt……continue reading full article.

“Great to see Fitzwilliam28 architects, Shelley & Yvonne, win the Pritzker. Their end-user lead approach to design with an environmental focus was an education.” Rod Nowlan of Bannon

IPUT granted permission for €75m centre in Carrickmines

3rd October 2019/in Development, News, Planning, Retail, Shopping Centre

Planning permission has been granted for a large new retail and residential development in south Dublin, despite strong opposition from the owners of the Dundrum Town Centre.

An Bord Pleanála has rejected an appeal by several parties including the Dundrum Retail Limited Partnership against the decision of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to approve a €75 million project that will form part of the existing retail park and office development at The Park in Carrickmines.

The developer IPUT has plans for a neighbourhood shopping centre including two supermarkets, retail warehouses, restaurant, café, seven-screen cinema, crèche, offices, car showroom, medical centre and indoor skydiving facility as well as 130 apartments on a 10.5 hectare site close to the M50.

The overall development will extend to almost 84,000 sq m in four blocks extending in height from two to six storeys.

Commenting on the ruling, IPUT said it was “a major step forward in realising our ambition to reinforce Carrickmines Park as the leading out-of-town retail destination in Dublin”.

The development was also opposed by the owners of the cinema multiplex in the Dundrum Town Centre as well as Olivia Buckley, a Fianna Fáil candidate for the Dundrum area in the recent local elections.

DRLP, which is a joint venture between UK property group Hammerson and German insurer Allianz, said it was not opposed to the new development in Carrickmines in principle.

However, it claimed the proposed level of retail floor space was excessive for a neighbourhood centre particularly given there was no significant immediate residential catchment population to justify its scale.

DRLP said the proposed cinema and leisure uses would undermine the viability of existing town and district centres in south Dublin and represented a material contravention of the council’s development plan as well as running contrary to a range of regional and national planning policies.

Ms Buckley opposed the development claiming there was no requirement for another large retail centre or massive cinema complex in south Dublin and expressed concern it would impact on other nearby centres including Dundrum, Stillorgan and Dún Laoghaire.

Oversubscribed

She claimed retail warehousing was already oversubscribed in the capital, while the extension of The Park would also create serious traffic congestion on the M50.

Ms Buckley said it was disingenuous to call what was proposed a neighbourhood centre and branded such a description as “seriously misleading and inaccurate”.

Movies@Dundrum claimed the proposed multi-screen cinema would impact on its business when it relied on the planning system to protect its investment.

However, IPUT said there was a clear and long-standing need for a neighbourhood centre in Carrickmines as it was located in a significant growth area.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council also said the development was an appropriate location for the centre as it would cater for new and emerging communities.

In its ruling, An Bord Pleanála said the centre would make a positive contribution to the urban character of the area.

The board said concerns relating to noise, vibration, dust and traffic could be satisfactorily mitigated by various measures and claimed the proposed development would have significant, direct, positive effects for the local population.

“Provision of neighbourhood centre facilities will reduce trips from the area to other locations,” it admitted.

IPUT successfully appealed a number of planning conditions imposed by the local authority that sought to deliver the project on a phased basis, which the developer claimed were overly prescriptive.

However, IPUT failed to overturn the condition which required it to construct a link road to Ballyogan Road before any other construction work began. IPUT claimed it was “unreasonable and unnecessary” and could impact on funding and the viability of the project.

It secured some minor concessions in its challenge to the scale of development contributions imposed by the local authority, which totalled almost €13 million.

Published Article

German architect outlines his vision for Dublin’s north inner city

5th April 2018/in Development, News, Planning, Retail

The man given the task of regenerating a significant portion of Dublin’s north inner city is nicknamed Golden Boots but when Friedrich Ludewig arrived in Ireland this week to outline his vision, he was wearing a comparatively sober pair of grey leopard print boots instead. The boots matched his coat.

The retail property developer Hammerson, which is behind the Dublin Central redevelopment covering six acres from Upper O’Connell Street to Parnell Street to Moore Street and Henry Street, has recruited the award-winning and distinctly dapper German architect to oversee the project and they are optimistic he will get it over the line.

It will be a long time coming.

Plans drawn up by previous owners almost a decade ago fell foul of the crash and of planners and of the families of the 1916 rebels who joined forces to fight for the future of Moore Street and to stop the area being turned into a shopping mall.

Today the plans for a shopping mall on the site appear dead and Ludewig’s ideas focus instead on urban regeneration and the creation of a warren of streets and squares to reinvigorate the area while respecting its place in history.

“The plan was to build a shopping centre but that is not what it should be about,” he told The Irish Times as he walked the site on Thursday evening. “That is not what urban regeneration is about.”

He had clearly done his history homework ahead of a series of meetings with stakeholders this week. And on the day he was officially unveiled as the architect responsible for creating Dublin Central he could pinpoint exactly where the 1916 rebels fled the GPO and he effortlessly plotted the route they took towards Moore Street.

“This is probably the most political project I have worked on but maybe not the most historic. Certainly my Chester client would dispute that. But there is a difference between working with Roman history and working with history where the direct descendants of those involved are still alive,” he said.

Brass plaques

Standing on Moore Lane behind Moore St, he pointed out that “many things that happened here between the Friday afternoon and the Saturday lunchtime happened not in the buildings but on the streets”.

He pointed to the granite cobble stones peeping out from under a blanket of tar beneath his boots.

“It would be nice to work with these and use ornamental brass plaques in the ground to tell the story of what happened on the streets, creating less of a museum experience and more of an experience which people can stumble upon and find things almost by accident.”

While 14-17 Moore St, where the rebels made their last stand, will be preserved as a national monument, other houses on the street will make way for the new.

“If some of these structures are 1960s crap with nothing behind them, it would be better to rebuild so they can complement buildings 14 to 17,” he said.

He also wants to create a better space for Moore Street market traders rather than pushing them out.

His tour of the plot brought him to O’Connell Street.

“One of the reasons the top of this street is so quiet is that all the pedestrian traffic turns into Henry St. There is a need for more connectivity between the two areas and what we are suggesting is a laneway from Moore Street to O’Connell Street. It won’t have to be big and what we are thinking is that we can go through number 19 Moore St although we are happy to discuss that.”

Prime street

He compares O’Connell Street to the Champs Elysee “in that it is the prime street of Dublin but we really have to change people’s perception of it and we have to stop it being [seen] as seedy. We need to work out ways to make people stay on all these streets so they becomes a place not just to walk through but to stop in.”

Simon Betty, the retail director of Hammerson in Ireland, suggested the project could be completed within four years creating 9,000 jobs – 6,000 in the construction and 3,000 long-term jobs in retail and office space created as part of the scheme.

“But this [is] not a race,” he insisted. “This is something we have to do right. We are about long-term investment and long-term returns and if we have to hit pause at the beginning for a period to make sure it is right then we are happy to do that.”

His words were welcomed by Brian O’Neill the chairman of the 1916 Families Committee. “We are in a much better place now than we were when we were dealing with the previous owners of the land,” he said.

“We have seen some positive things happen in recent weeks and Hammerson have started to engage with us but trust has to be built. They are now saying they don’t want to build a shopping centre and that is a very positive development.”

Article Published

State to offer more than 800 sites for at least 50,000 new homes

27th April 2017/in News, Planning, Real Estate

More than 800 sites owned by local authorities and public bodies will be offered to the private market to help boost housing supply.

Land banks totalling 2,000 hectares and controlled by city and county councils and other bodies including CIÉ, the IDA and HSE, are to be offered to private developers and housing associations in an effort to resolve the housing crisis and provide at least 50,000 new homes.

Four in Dublin alone are capable of providing 3,000 homes, including at least 1,000 social units.

Expressions of interest from developers will be sought over the coming days.

The Department of Housing has also identified 30 sites owned by public bodies in the main cities of Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford totalling around 200 hectares, another 73 controlled by the Housing Agency of 250 hectares and a massive 1,500 hectare land bank comprising 700 sites controlled by city and county councils.

They include 18 hectares near Galway Port, the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Department of Defence lands in Mullingar and more than two hectares at Connolly Station in Dublin.

Others are as small as one-10th of a hectare and could be used for co-operative housing.

The Irish Independent has learned that developers will be invited to build homes under a licensing arrangement where land could be sold, provided for free, subject to a long-term lease or arrangement where the land cost is repaid after units are sold.

Sources said the State would have to achieve a return for offering the lands, such as provision of new social homes.

Appraisals of each site will be completed prior to the lands being offered, to set out the maximum number of units possible.

The housing minister is putting it up to local authorities and other public bodies to deliver homes on State lands. “This is gigantic in scale, and a once in 100 years opportunity to get it right.”

Local authorities will be free to dictate the number of homes for each site, and mix of tenure types. They could also set upper price limits for starter homes or other units, and oblige developers to provide affordable rental, private rental or housing for the elderly.

Developments on local authority lands will also benefit from a fast-track planning process. The details will be revealed by Housing Minister Simon Coveney today at the launch of a new Housing Land Map, which sets out residentially owned lands and those in control of public bodies, which is suitable for housing.

Irish Independent

More than €20m to be spent on next phase of Galway’s Gateway Shopping Park

25th January 2017/in Investment, News, Planning, Retail

The new owners of the Gateway Shopping Park at Knocknacarra on the western suburbs of the city are to spend more than €20 million on a second phase of the park which will include an additional 11,148 sq. m (120,000 sq.ft) of retail space to accommodate between eight and 12 new traders. The extension, due to be completed in 2018, will bring the overall retail space to more than 29,729 sq.m (320,000 sq.ft). The planned extension will also include Grade A office accommodation extending to 3,344 sq m (36,000 sq.ft).

The Gateway was sold by Nama last year as part of the Hazel Portfolio which also included the high value asset Wilton Shopping centre in Cork and Drogheda Retail Park. A joint venture involving Clarendon Properties and US hedge fund York Capital Management bought the €120 million portfolio and subsequently sold on the two retail parks for more than €50 million to Targeted Investment Opportunities (TIO), a low profile group which invests in the Irish property market through specialist sub-funds.

TIO has now acquired assets with a gross development value of more than €1 billion including seven retail parks with more than one million sq ft of buildings and 50 acres of development land. It is also committed to developing several office buildings in Dublin and various residential schemes including a flagship Public Private Partnership at Greystones Marina Village.

The Gateway park is already producing a rental income of €1.4 million per annum and is managed by Sigma Retail Partners, a specialist company set up by retail adviser Marcus Wren. TIO is chaired by Justin Bickle, the managing director of Oaktree Capital Management, which also serves as investment manager, along with four other experienced directors, John Mulcahy, the former JLL chief executive and Nama executive, Barry O’Leary, the former chief executive of IDA Ireland; Jim Bennett of the Mullingar-based Bennett Construction and the financial services adviser Anthony Noonan.

The Galway park was developed around 2006 by property veteran Michael Whelan. It has considerable advantages over most out-of-town shopping centres because, like Childers Road Retail Park in Limerick and The Park in Carrickmines, it has planning approval for open use retailing. This has allowed it to accommodate a large Dunnes store outlet as well as B&Q, Next, New Look and McSharrys Pharmacy. Apart from this valuable planning consent, the grounds of the Gateway centre includes a 3.94 acre adjoining site which is now to be developed and a further 5.45 acres alongside the entrance which is also commercially zoned. More than 100 workers are expected to be employed on the construction phase with an additional 400 jobs likely to be created when the new shopping facilities have been completed.

Darren Peavoy of Bannon estate agents, who is marketing the planned new buildings on behalf of Sigma Retail Partners, said they had already received a large number of inquiries from both national and international retailers, many of them with long-standing requirements for trading opportunities in Galway. He said it was quite evident that Galway had been under served by international retail brands by comparison to other cities.

Irish Times reports

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Dublin’s Ilac Centre’s €1.5m revamp to be complete by this summer

12th January 2017/in Investment, News, Planning, Shopping Centre

Hammerson and Irish Life have started the works – which will see the creation of five new units – at the well known shopping centre.

The centre is adjacent to Henry Street, Ireland’s busiest shopping street and is home to 85 retail and catering units, including H&M, River Island, and Argos. New brands introduced to the centre in recent months include Tiger, Paese Cosmetics and Chopped.

The development, expected to be completed by this summer, involves an investment of some €1.5m – and forms part of a wider plan by the Ilac’s owners to improve the centre’s tenant mix.

The Ilac Centre currently comprises 291,808 sq.ft of retail accommodation and in the 12 months to December 31 last year had footfall of 17.8m people.

Agreements have already been exchanged for four of the five new units and these will see BB’s Coffee & Muffins, book retailer The Works, So Nutrition, and specialist catering equipment retailer, Nisbets join the Ilac Centre’s present compliment of 85 retail and food units.

Hammerson acquired 50% stakes in Dundrum, the Ilac, and the Pavilions after paying Nama €1.85bn for €2.6bn worth of loans connected to the developments.

Hammerson and German insurer Allianz acquired the so-called ‘Project Jewel’ loans from Nama, with all of the loans associated with developer Joe O’Reilly and his firm, Chartered Land.

Irish Life owns the other 50% of the Ilac. It also owns 25% of the Pavilions, with IPUT owning another 25%.

Hammerson also secured sole ownership of a prime Dublin city centre development area, and development land beside the Pavilions.

Simon Betty, Hammerson’s Director of Retail, Ireland, commented: “Investing in the retail experience and improving the tenant mix at the Ilac Centre will be a major priority over the course of 2017, and we look forward to working with Irish Life to achieve this. The centre is well located in the centre of Dublin, benefitting from high footfall and sales, and through this refurbishment and other asset management initiatives we will ensure that the centre continues to offer our customers the right mix of retail and food & beverage.”

Deirdre Hayes, Head of Property Asset Management at Irish Life, added: “The start of the Moore Mall South refurbishment underpins Irish Life’s commitment to retail in Dublin city centre and marks an important milestone for the Ilac Centre by enhancing the quality and mix of retail and leisure for the city’s considerable catchment area. We look forward to working with Hammerson on this and future projects.”

Independent reports

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North Wall warehouse gets go ahead for conversion to 60-bed hotel

11th January 2017/in Development, News, Planning

A new hotel has been given the go ahead on Dublin’s North Wall Quay in an area of the city currently receiving significant investment. Oakmount, the investment arm of serial property and hospitality investment duo Paddy McKillen jr and Matt Ryan has been granted permission to convert a derelict warehouse to a five storey 60 bed hotel at 82 North Wall Quay, with roof top bar and restaurant, ground floor bar and restaurant, coffee shop and terrace.

Designed by ODOS Architects the hotel is is due to open at the end of 2018. Construction will begin within three months. The property is estimated to have cost Oakmount around €5million in 2015, while a further investment of around €10m is anticipated.

There will be shared office co-working spaces at basement level. In addition permission has been given for the restoration of the early 19th century building at 81 North Wall Quay back to its former use as a pub.

This area of the north docklands is fast becoming one of Dublin’s most active development hotspots, with developments underway such as the new Central Bank HQ, the Exo building, which will be Ireland’s tallest structure, and Oxley’s 63,000 sq.m (680,000 sq.ft) residential and office development by Ballymore. The approval of the warehouse conversion into a hotel and bar will further add to the appeal of the area, which is located in a Strategic Development Zone to allow promoters to avail of fast-track planning with no third party planning objection.

A garden will be reinstated at the rear of the hotel and the buildings will be joined internally at ground floor level. Both buildings are protected structures.

An additional two floors with a planted flat roof will result in a five storey building. The new modern addition will feature corten steel and glass rising out from the protected former industrial warehouse and will enjoy panoramic views of the Liffey and surrounding docklands.