Locals alarmed at stadium height: Residents near Lansdowne Road have until February 15th to respond to plans to re-develop Lansdowne Road Stadium. According to a residents action group, the stadium will be one of the highest and most imposing sports stadiums near any city centre in the world.
Lansdowne Road Stadium will be almost as high as Liberty Hall at 17 storeys and will span nine acres and, according to locals, will run right up against surrounding gardens and residential streets. Locals are concerned that the development will require the part demolition of a Victorian residential terrace on Shelbourne Road.
They say the developers have not explained "the huge disparity" between height and capacity. "The capacity of the proposed stadium is only 1,000 greater than the 49,000 capacity of the current stadium but it is 50 per cent taller. Why is all this extra height and bulk needed?" Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company Ltd (LRSD) wants to keep the Lansdowne Rugby Football Club back pitch behind the proposed stadium and build a car-park underneath it. Locals believe that LRSD intends to exploit this site for future commercial development while concentrating the rest of the development into taller buildings.
Redevelopment for Lamb Doyles
Lamb Doyles pub off Blackglen Road in Sandyford, Dublin 18 is looking to knock the public house and build a residential development with adjoining shops and pub on its current site. The pub is seeking permission to demolish all buildings on the 0.5-hectare site and replace them with 41 apartments, two retail units, a pub, and restaurant. If approved, the scheme will comprise three blocks of three to five storeys and 148 car-parking spaces. The new-look Lamb Doyles pub will be 5,958sq m (632,500sq ft) and accompanied by two 85sq m (907sq ft) retail units.
Brendan Balfe correction
An item in this column on January 26th last said, in error, that "former RTÉ broadcaster Brendan Balfe" was among the objectors to a high-rise development in Beaumont, Dublin 9. Mr Balfe is not an objector to the development and, in addition, he is not a former broadcaster but continues to be a presenter and producer with RTÉ Radio 1. The objector is another Brendan Balfe. The errors are regretted.
