Developers are seeking permission for a €12.42 million scheme to transform a site in Foxrock that currently has a single home into a 10-house development, according to newly filed planning documents.
Helnwin Ltd has applied to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for planning permission for the scheme that would see the seven-bed, six-bath Ashley on Hainault Road in Foxrock be demolished.
It is proposed that the 430 sq m property would be replaced by 10 three-storey, detached houses. The housing will be comprised of two four-bed houses and eight three-bedroom homes.
Each home would have two car parking spaces alongside electric vehicle charging points and visitors bicycle spaces. The 0.245 hectare site will have a density of 41 units per hectare, according to planning consultants John Spain Associates, with the homes being part-two, part-three storeys in height to “respond to the nature of the site and the surrounding residential dwellings”.
The homes would be built in two rows leading away from the road, a site layout that the developer said was chosen to “avoid negative impacts” on neighbouring properties.
The application referenced a precedent set by the approval of a similar planning application, which saw the lavish home of the late Liam Maye, Weaver’s Hall demolished and replaced by a block containing 50 apartments and a single bungalow.
The house, called Ashley, sold for in the region of €2 million in February 2024, but the sale was delayed as the occupiers were seeking alternative housing following the deal. The property had been advertised as having “excellent potential” for further development in a “deservedly popular residential location”.
Stephen Day of Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty in Blackrock said the property had been sold to a housing developer “with a very good track record of developing properties in South Dublin”.
The sale price is included in a costing for the development attached to the planning application. The document details a total cost for the 10-home development of €12.42 million, including VAT, noting the per-unit cost of €1.24 million.
Developers are seeking permission for a €12.42 million scheme to transform a single Foxrock house into a 10-house development, according to newly filed planning documents. Photograph: John Spain Associates.
Helnwin Ltd is a partnership between developer Myles Crofton and fellow property developer Bernard Doyle. Mr Crofton is the owner of the Renesca mansion on Cross Avenue, which he previously sought to demolish and replace with a series of homes.
Mr Crofton built the Renesca home on the grounds of Chesterfield on Cross Avenue in Blackrock. He paid €47 million for the property in 2004, at the time making it the second most expensive Dublin home ever sold, second only to Walford, on Shrewsbury Road, which was sold for €58 million in 2005.
Karin Crofton and Fionnuala Sherry are also listed as directors of the company in their filings to the Companies Registration Office (CRO). Ms Sherry is a former Eurovision winner, with the violinist winning the competition for Norway in 1995, and the wife of Mr Doyle.
The developers had engaged in pre-application consultation with the council and amended the application in light of feedback from the local authority. Among the issues raised by the council was the lack of open space in the scheme.
John Spain Associates noted in a report included in the application that “it is not feasible to provide good quality, accessible and usable public open space” in such a small site and suggested a contribution be paid to the council in lieu.