Trinity College Dublin is considering an ambitious expansion project aimed at opening up its walled Nassau Street face to limited commercial development and establishing a pedestrian walkway for tourists from the National Gallery of Ireland on Merrion Square to the college library complex where the Book of Kells is housed.
The proposal is included in the second phase of the college's development control plan and is intended not only to maximise the number of visitors to the college but also to give a much needed financial boost to the substantial construction projects around Pearse Street and Westland Row.
This latest expansion plan has yet to go before Dublin City Council (DCC) but if the scheme was granted planning permission it would dramatically alter the congested character of Nassau Street and render the college's frontage less introverted and more accessible to the surrounding community.
In the past, Trinity has been criticised by local residents on the Pearse Street side for turning the area into a "ghost town" by blocking up shops and allowing the many buildings it owns on the street to remain derelict. The college has earmarked the Pearse Street area for a massive rejuvenation project to include a self-financing sports complex, a computer science building and a pharmaceutical science block. It aimed to part-fund the enterprise through the rent it could earn on a handful of commercial units on the street.
However, according to Trinity's head of building, Mr Tim Cooper, the heavy traffic congestion in the area means any retail development on the street would not be "commercially self-sustaining".
He added that the DCC's recent rejection of the college's plan to demolish listed buildings on the street had further delayed the regeneration of Trinity's north eastern corner and forced the development committee to discuss alternative means of funding its expansion plans.
The Nassau Street project is designed to maximise revenue from the college's main tourist attraction, the Book of Kells, and generate substantial commercial rents from a select number of mixed-use buildings along Nassau Street. It is understood the buildings would include retail outlets on the ground floor and office or residential units on the upper floors.
The project is expected to maintain Trinity's traditional separation from the city but the current fortress-like wall and railings may be lowered to offer 'framed' views of the rugby and cricket grounds between gaps in the newly planned buildings.
Mr Cooper said Trinity "would obviously want to benefit from any commercial development" by encouraging more visitors to the Old Library and said the objective was to establish "some sort of pedestrian link between the campus and the National Gallery of Ireland".
It is not yet clear how Trinity's development committee intends to create such a thoroughfare nor how the development on Nassau Street would eradicate the queues of tour buses that Mr Cooper describes as placing "enormous environmental stress on the street".
However, he stressed the Nassau Street proposal was still very sensitive and at an early stage.
He said any development plans would be of "the highest architectural standard" and would be "thoroughly discussed with all relevant parties." The "opening up of Nassau Street would benefit both the college and the city", he said.
Trinity believes the greater pedestrian use of Nassau Street makes it a more attractive commercial development area than Pearse Street, which Mr Cooper once described as a "massive traffic highway".
It is expected that a large portion of the rental income from the new buildings would then be channelled into the many construction projects proposed for around Pearse Street.
While Mr Cooper was unable to provide an investment figure for the project, it is understood some of the money would be tapped from the €475 million capital spending budget announced last year at the launch of the college's five-year strategic plan.
In the proposal Trinity pledged to "transform the make-up of its student body" as well as significantly develop the physical infrastructure of the college.