{"id":421927,"date":"2026-04-28T17:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421927\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T17:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:01:10","slug":"stephens-green-shopping-centre-revamp-stalled-by-athlone-based-objector-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421927\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen\u2019s Green Shopping Centre revamp stalled by Athlone-based objector \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u20ac100 million partial demolition and rejuvenation of Stephen\u2019s Green<\/a> Shopping Centre in Dublin<\/a> has been stalled by an Athlone-based objector.<\/p>\n

Oliver Donoghue lodged a third-party appeal with An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la<\/a> against Dublin City Council<\/a>\u2019s decision last week to grant planning permission to DTDL Ltd for the contentious project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The plans attracted more than 60 submissions, with most opposed to the redevelopment. Donoghue\u2019s appeal is set to be the first of a number to be lodged before the May 18th closing date.<\/p>\n

The proposed redevelopment will have capacity for 3,000 office workers and 19,000sq m (204,500 sq ft) of retail floor space.<\/p>\n

In his objection against the centre, Donoghue of Moydrum, Athlone, Co Westmeath, said \u201cwe don\u2019t want our history erased\u201d.<\/p>\n

In his appeal document lodged with An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la, Donoghue said the permitted scheme, with a gross floor area of approximately 87,158sq m \u2013 a substantial net increase over the existing development \u2013 \u201crepresents excessive intensification of a constrained inner-city site\u201d. <\/p>\n

Dublin residents give their views on the plans for Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre. Video: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

He said the scale and density of the scheme prioritised commercial yield over coherent urban design and spatial quality.<\/p>\n

Donoghue said the permitted increase in height \u2013 reaching up to eight storeys \u2013 would disrupt the established skyline of the historic core, visually compete with protected structures and established landmark buildings, and introduce undue visual dominance in long and short-range views.<\/p>\n

He contended that the development would adversely affect the visual enclosure and character of St Stephen\u2019s Green, introduce an overly bulky and commercial frontage, and diminish the architectural coherence of its surrounding streetscape.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018It doesn\u2019t belong there\u2019: Public reacts to Stephen\u2019s Green Shopping Centre planned new lookOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Donoghue added that the dominance of office floor space represented an over-concentration of a single use within a prime city-centre location. <\/p>\n

He said this approach undermined the vitality and diversity of the city core and weakened the traditional retail, cultural and civic function of the area.<\/p>\n

If the council decision is upheld, it risks incremental erosion of historic character and progressive increases in building height and bulk, he added.<\/p>\n

In recommending planning permission, the council planner\u2019s report noted that \u201cthe deep retrofit of the Stephen\u2019s Green Shopping Centre will result in an improved visitor and retailer experience associated with the centre\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u20ac100 million partial demolition and rejuvenation of Stephen\u2019s Green Shopping Centre in Dublin has been stalled by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[75,615,13288,42,43,45546,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-421927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-an-coimisiun-pleanala","tag-dublin","tag-dublin-city-council","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-st-stephen-s-green","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}