Dublin city councillors are calling on planners to reject a proposal for a 32-storey tower block on the former U2 rehearsal studio site at Grand Canal Basin, Dublin.
The tower, if built, would reach 108.25 metres and be one of the tallest buildings in Ireland, twice the height of Liberty Hall and only just under 15 metres shorter than the Spire in O'Connell Street. The application, submitted by Candourity Ltd, a subsidiary of Treasury Holdings, proposes 150 residential apartments, a restaurant and a night-club on the site, which is adjacent to the old Boland's Mills.
Councillors from all political parties last night voted to recommend refusal of the application on the grounds that it was totally unsuited to the residential area. "For a community like this, this proposal is hugely out of place," Cllr Daithí Doolan (Sinn Féin) said. "It's outside any plans for high-rise in that area, it's absolutely atrocious and it brings no benefit to the local community."
Labour's Cllr Dermot Lacey said he agreed that a 32-storey building was "not on" in an area of predominantly single-storey and two-storey houses.
The plans will now be considered by the planning department, which two weeks ago approved the building of a 32-storey tower near Heuston Station.
