U2 guitarist David Evans (The Edge) secured planning permission for a new family home on the site of Sorrento Cottage in Dalkey, south Dublin.
In granting planning permission, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council concluded that the scheme would not detract from the amenities of the area and was consistent with the provisions of the current Council Development Plan.
The council granted planning after its conservation division said it welcomed the proposal to restore the original dwelling to become a primary residence.
The division said the development should be sufficiently screened by mature landscaping so as not to have a detrimental impact on the architectural conservation area (ACA).
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The green light for Mr Evans to renovate and build a three-level extension to his Sorrento Cottage property comes more than two decades after his last failed attempt to redevelop the site on the Vico and Sorrento roads which overlooks Killiney Bay.
Only one submission was made to the council by local Michael Shiell who told the council of his concerns over the scheme’s planned fencing. He said “this area is a special amenities area and must be protected”.
In response, the council has included a condition that the boundary walls would be maintained at their existing height.
The “innovative’ scheme by ODAA Architects includes a recording studio and a separate bathhouse containing a plunge pool and sauna.
Sorrento Cottage has been vacant since the mid-1990s and ODAA Architects told the council that its brief “was to bring the existing structure back into use as our client’s primary dwelling”.
The architects said it had adopted a sensitive approach to the refurbishment of the existing residential structure and the design of the new additions, and said “the proposed development will have a positive impact on the visual character of the area”.
The plan for the 2.75-acre site is to also include a security hut and planning documents lodged with the application said a key aspect of the proposal would “be to meet the unique safety needs of the Evans family associated with the high profile profession of Mr Evans. It is mandatory that 24-hour security is provided on site.”
The planning permission comes 22 years after an An Bord Pleanála decision in October 2001 refusing Mr Evans planning permission for a new two-storey dwelling on the lands. The case came before An Bord Pleanála following an appeal by An Taisce. It didn’t make a submission on the new application.
Mr Evans took a High Court judicial review of the appeals board refusal and, in November 2003, the High Court upheld the decision.
