A MAJOR social housing regeneration project which was to have been built as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) with Dublin City Council has been shelved for at least three years.
The demolition and rebuilding of the Charlemont Street flat complex near Ranelagh was the only major public-private partnership housing project in the city to have survived the collapse of the system in 2008.
Alcove Properties, owned by developer Seán Reilly, was last May granted planning permission for the redevelopment of the dilapidated complex, parts of which date back to the 1940s.
The project was to involve the demolition of almost 200 flats on a five-acre site on Charlemont Street and Tom Kelly Road, most of which were built in the late 1950s, apart from one block, Ffrench-Mullan House, which was built in 1944. The vacant site of the former St Ultan’s flats, demolished in 2001, is also part of the development.
Some 253 apartments were to have been built, 139 of which were allocated for social housing, 16 were to be offered under the affordable housing scheme and the remaining 105 were intended to be private apartments.
Shops, restaurants, a sports centre and a multiplex cinema were also to be included in the scheme and unlike previous social housing developments, it had a significant office space element of about 20,000sq m.
Alcove had applied to build five blocks ranging up to eight storeys in height, but in granting permission An Bord Pleanála directed that the maximum height of any block would be six storeys. The board also reduced the number of apartments permissible from 260 to 253, and ordered the alteration of five two-bedroom apartments to larger one-bed units.
The company has now decided the scheme is no longer viable following the cuts made by the board, and has told the council it will have to restart the planning process.
The council said it was now unlikely construction would start until after 2014.
“An Bord Pleanála, for planning reasons, decided to remove some of the commercial units and made some other changes. The proposers looking at sums in relation to the project decided that this had tipped the balance a little bit too much to one side,” assistant city manager Dick Brady said.
Alcove intended to reapply for permission in the hope of “rebalancing” the project by securing more commercial development, he said. “At the end of the day if a PPP is to work it does have to make commercial sense.”
Mr Brady said he appreciated the residents were disappointed by the delays and that they had been “extremely patient” in relation to the project. He said he was hopeful it would still go ahead.
Local Labour TD Kevin Humphreys said the postponement of the project was a huge shock for the local community.
“When planning permission was granted earlier this year people very much hoped that it would then go ahead. The place is in a fairly bad state of disrepair, such a long delay will be a huge morale blow for the community,” he said.
