Planning&Development: Over 900 apartments and a 194-bed hotel are part of plans for a major redevelopment of the former Clancy Barracks close to Dublin city centre. Fiona Tyrrell reports.
The 13.65-acre barracks site was sold for €25.4 million in June 2002 to Florence Properties (Ireland) Ltd, a construction company registered in both Britain and Ireland.
A key figure in the Jersey-based company is Irish developer David Kennedy.
Florence Properties and Chanterwork Properties are looking to build 959 apartments and a 194-bed hotel on the site of the 19th century Clancy Barracks in Islandbridge.
The development will involve the refurbishment of existing buildings and changing them from military use to residential and commercial use.
The development will also incorporate a fitness centre, a pharmacy and medical centre, a restaurant, five workshops, a crèche, community and cultural space and over 2,000 sq ft (186 sq m) of retail and commercial space.
Over 1,200 car-parking spaces will be provided and the development will be accessed via South Circular Road, near the junction with Saint John's Road.
The entire scheme will be built in 45 separate blocks, 11 of which will be existing buildings, protected structures which will be refurbished.
An additional 35 new buildings will be constructed and 31 buildings, also protected structures, are to be demolished if the developers get approval.
Most of the buildings will be between one and seven storeys high. However, some of the residential buildings will be up to nine storeys high.
The hotel will comprise a renovated officers mess and two adjoining buildings, one of which will be three storeys high and the second will be a 10 to 15-storey building.
Dublin City Council attempted to buy Clancy Barracks for social housing when the site was first put up for sale in 2001. However neither the council's bid nor a second bid from a private developer met the guide price of €25.4 million.
Clancy Barracks is located close to the Phoenix Park and Heuston Station. Originally known as Islandbridge Barracks, it dates from the mid-1850s.
It was taken over by the army on December 15th, 1922, and renamed in 1942 in memory of Peadar Clancy, a republican prisoner shot on November 21st, 1920.
