The contentious €500 million redevelopment of a 5.5-acre plot stretching from O’Connell Street to Moore Street, parts of which have been vacant for close on 50 years, has finally been approved by An Bord Pleanála.
UK property group Hammerson in June 2021 lodged three applications for a mixed retail, office and residential scheme on the vast city block formerly known as the Carlton site, which runs west from O’Connell Street to Moore Street, and north from Henry Street to Parnell Street.
Dublin City Council approved the applications in early 2022 but they were appealed to the board by a number of Moore Street preservation and 1916 Rising relatives organisations, as well as local businesses and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.
More than two and a half years later, the board has confirmed the council’s decisions with little alteration other than an extension of the duration of permission allowing the Hammersons up to 12 years to start onsite.
The most controversial of the three applications involves sites surrounding the 1916 Rising National Monument buildings at 14-17 Moore Street. These State-owned buildings are due to be developed separately as a Rising Commemorative Centre, a project expected to cost at least €16.25 million. Several parties opposing the development sought the wider protections for buildings surrounding the monument, however the board has approved the alterations and demolitions sought by Hammerson.
The construction of an archway beside the national monument which broke up the Moore Street terrace, which was opposed by appellants, has also been approved as part of this application.
The second application, which deals with buildings on Henry Street and the southern end of Moore Street, involves the construction of a nine-storey hotel, and the demolition of two buildings: 38 Henry Street which will be replaced with a passageway and 41 Henry Street, at the corner of Moore Street, will be replaced with a new building.
The third application, for a site towards the northern end of Moore Street at O’Rahilly Parade includes a single building up to six storeys tall as well as development of part of a public square.
Planning permission on the application surrounding the National Monument will last for seven years with a 12 year duration on the other two. Three more applications are expected to be lodged by Hammerson to complete other parts of the vast site.
A representative of the Moore Street Preservation Trust and Relatives of the 1916 Signatories James Connolly Heron described the board’s decisions as “deeply disappointing” but said the “battle is not over” for Moore Street.
“The battle to save intact this hugely important 1916 heritage site is not over. The Moore Street Preservation Trust will now study An Bord Pleanála’s decision in detail and consider our response.”
Green Party councillor and 1916 relative Donna Cooney said she was particularly concerned by the lengthy duration of permission for the sites. “We need to revitalise Moore Street and its market and I can’t see that happening with a 12 year construction duration, it will be a dead zone.”
Cllr Cooney said many of the businesses on the street may not survive such a lengthy construction project. “I can see businesses deciding to take a judicial review against the board’s decision.”
Hammerson in 2019 decided to scrap the existing 2010 planning permission for a €1.25 billion enclosed shopping complex on the site in favour of a more open scheme, which it said will restore the historic street pattern, and includes a new east-west pedestrian street between O’Connell Street and Moore Street, two new civic squares, shops, offices, apartments, hotels and an underground station for the new Metrolink rail line.
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