The immense shortage of office space in Dublin city centre will be eased over the coming years if planning approval is granted for a huge office development at South Bank Road, in Ringsend, Dublin 4.
The £230 million scheme will have 16 office blocks, including a 30-storey circular tower, which has been designed as a landmark building on the edge of Dublin Bay. It will also serve as a gateway to the Poolbeg peninsula.
Fabrizia Developments, a company controlled by Liam Carroll's Zoe Group, has lodged a planning application for 1.38 million sq ft of offices and a hotel on the 12.35acre site beside Irish Glass, which was acquired from AIB for over £20 million. The South Bank scheme will also have almost 20,000 sq ft of retail space, 55,000 sq ft of conference and ancillary facilities and over 2,000 car-parking spaces.
A great deal of the debate about the scheme is likely to revolve around the plan for the circular glass tower, which will be seen from a wide number of vantage points around the city. The tower will be 122 m high - double the height of Liberty Hall. It will have a glass double skin facade
The planning application for the tower is being made in advance of the the publication of Dublin Corporation's high rise study, which will set firm guidelines for where high buildings should be located. The report will inevitably suggest that the docklands area has the capacity to absorb some tower blocks.
David Bagnall of planning consultants Brady Shipman Martin said the Ringsend site was an ideal location for a tall building as it was not going to affect any of the heritage areas of the city and would not over shadow residential area. "It will have room to breathe and will be a real landmark on the edge of Dublin Bay."
The South Bank office development is the largest proposed for the city after Spencer Dock, which is due to have 2.2 million sq ft. An Bord Pleanala is due to decide on the Spencer Dock appeal by July 17th.
If the Zoe scheme is approved, it will replicate the East Point Business Park where the final three blocks are to be completed next year to bring the overall size of the complex up to 1.1 million sq ft. It is one of the most successful office developments in Dublin over the past decade.
The city planners are likely to look favourably on the South Bank proposal since it will help the city to compete against suburban business parks which have sprung up in south, west and north Dublin. At the beginning of this year, 55 per cent of the available space in Dublin was located in three office parks at Blanchardstown, Cherrywood in Loughlinstown, and Park West.
The South Bank promoters will argue that it will be an ideal location for companies in the International Financial Services Centre which need to expand or to move back office operations off-site.
The design of South Bank has been handled by O'Mahony Pike, which is also responsible for the much-praised apartment tower built by Zoe Developments at Charlotte Quay. It has also designed a nine-storey circular glazed apartment building within the retained Victorian gas holder on a Zoe site at Barrow Street.
The South Bank development will have a series of five-storey to 10-storey buildings forming a base from which the tower will rise.
It will form a focal point of key vistas along the bay shore and from the direct routes to the city centre. The hotel, with restaurants and bars, will be located at the other focal point near Strand Road.
