A consortium headed by the multi-millionaire businessman Mr Denis O'Brien has relodged plans with Dublin City Council for a 26-storey tower facing the end of Morehampton Road in Donnybrook.
The glazed cylindrical tower, designed by deBlacam and Meagher Architects, has been proposed for a pivotal site previously occupied by BizQuip, which the O'Brien-led consortium acquired four years ago.
Located between Donnybrook Garda station and the local fire station, it would rise from a four-storey brick-clad base and double-basement car-park.
It would be visible all along Morehampton Road and also from Stillorgan Road.
The base would contain four floors of commercial use - such as an upmarket delicatessen or a small fashion-based department store - while the tower itself would house a total of 44 apartments for long- or short-term letting.
"It's an elegant glass tower shooting up from brick walls into the air," said Mr John Meagher, the architect in charge of the project. The apartments would be arranged in pairs of two per floor, with glazed balconies that could be opened up to let air in from both sides. Provision has also been made for a gym, terrace and "party rooms" at fifth-floor level.
"The facade of the tower is entirely made of fretted glass, so there would be no need for curtains or anything like that," Mr Meagher explained. "And because it will have a double-skin, it complies fully with building regulations." He noted the city plan permits high-rise blocks in certain locations which are well-served by public transport - in this case, the Stillorgan Road quality bus corridor - and where other buildings would not be overshadowed.
"The city is full of sites like that," Mr Meagher said. Because of its location and relative slenderness, the tower proposed for Donnybrook would "cast its shadow out on the road" rather than on adjoining buildings.
Asked if his clients would settle for something lower, the architect said: "Maybe. But this tower is very small in diameter and if it's not high, it won't be elegant. We wouldn't want to end up with something like a stump."
A senior city council official, who did not wish to be quoted on the record, described the proposal as "a very fine building, but not for the middle of Donnybrook. Its scale is out of proportion with the fabric of the village."
He said the same architects had been involved in an earlier scheme for a five-storey block that would have incorporated two council-owned sites - one used for surface car-parking and the other in front of the fire station.
The fire station, which would play a crucial role if there was a fire in the nearby RTÉ studios, would be able to continue functioning because provision was made in the design for sufficient clearance to allow fire engines in and out.
However, this scheme would have required the approval of the elected councillors and was regarded by officials as politically difficult because the council would have been "selling property to someone as controversial as Denis O'Brien".
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, who is one of the TDs for Dublin South East, has already expressed his opposition to the tower as an inappropriate development for Donnybrook and urged his constituents to do likewise.
A spokesman for the city council's planning department said a technical deficiency in the original application by the developers, Partenay Ltd, meant the plans had to be relodged. A decision is now due by January 17th next. "Given the nature of the area, it would be surprising if this scheme did not generate a lot of objections," he added.
