Objectors have failed in their efforts to stop the €646 million redevelopment of the former Holy Cross College in Drumcondra.
An Coimisiún Pleanála has cleared the way for the Irish arm of property giant, Hines to start work on 1,131 homes planned for the site on Clonliffe Rd.
Dublin City Council had granted permission for the scheme last August but the proposal was stalled by an appeal lodged with An Coimisiún Pleanála by Ciarán Lynam and Anne Loughlin of nearby Drumcondra Park.
The appeals board said the scheme “makes efficient use of an appropriately zoned site within the built urban area on the northside of Dublin” in a 32-page ruling that attaches 29 conditions attached to the permission.
The proposed development will contribute to compact growth and will positively contribute to an increase in housing stock and physical and social infrastructure in the area, the planning permission, signed off by planning commissioner, Paul Caprani, concluded.
The 1,131 apartments will comprise 268 studios, 282 one bed apartments, 392 two bed apartments, 132 three bed units and 57 four bed units. An Coimisiún Pleanála granted Hines partner fund, CWTC Multi-Family ICAV a 10-year permission for the scheme which will rise to 13 storeys in one of the planned blocks.
It also concluded that the scheme would facilitate the reuse and continued occupation of protected structures on the site and appropriately protect their settings and would be acceptable in terms of urban design, layout and building height.
The approval comes four and a half years after Hines lodged its original plan for 1,614 apartments, including an 18-torey tower – on the site in July 2021.
An Bord Pleanála granted permission under the Strategic Housing Development regime for the development – which included an 18 storey tower – but that was quashed by the High Court after a challenge brought by Fionnuala Sherwin, a resident of Knocksinna Grove, Foxrock, Dublin 18.
Hines failed in a Supreme Court challenge to that decision before lodging the scaled down plan with the city council last July.
At that time, Hines put an indicative price tag of €64.57 million on 113 apartments and studios it intends to sell for social housing to Dublin City Council. The indicative prices range from €717,843 for each of two bed four-person units to €569,892 for one-bedroom apartments and €360,266 for studios.
With the final grant of permission issued, the council and Hines will now enter negotiations on a final price for those apartments.