Johnny Ronan’s plan to redevelop former Irish Glass Bottle site at Poolbeg suffers major setback

Johnny Ronan

Plans to redevelop the former Irish Glass Bottle site at Poolbeg in Dublin for further housing have suffered a major setback.

Dublin City Council has refused planning permission to a Johnny Ronan RGRE led consortium to construct 516 apartments there.

In May of last year, Pembroke Beach DAC lodged plans for the 516 apartments comprising 143 ‘build to rent’ apartments, 52 social housing units, 77 affordable housing units and 244 apartments.

NAMA, with a 20pc shareholding, and co-owner of Lionor Developments, Oaktree Capital are also part of the consortium and the Pembroke Beach DAC scheme for the Poolbeg West Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) was to be provided in two blocks ranging from four to 10 storeys in height on a five acre site.

The mixed use scheme included residential amenity facilities; a childcare facility and 17 retail spaces including a food hall and five café/restaurants.

The council refused planning permission after concluding the scheme would by itself and by the precedent it would set for other development, seriously injure the residential amenities of future residents of the development.

The 100-page council planner's report said a reduction in apartments from 516 to 393 would allow for light penetration into the courtyard areas and also into the units that face it.

However, the report said this level of alteration at decision stage "is extremely regrettable and would not be considered appropriate to achieve compliance within the development".

The council planner's report said the applicant has failed to take the necessary steps to redesign the proposal to the necessary level to ensure that the issues raised by the council were adequately addressed.

The council said it is not appropriate that such changes can or should be made by way of condition as it would require a wholesale redesign "involving the omission of large portions of the development which may make it unviable for the applicant".

The council report concluded that the proposed development be refused permission "based on the unacceptably poor levels of residential amenity that the current design would afford its future residents, both in terms of the daylight/sunlight availability internally within the apartments and also within the courtyard spaces, providing a poor outlook for the courtyard facing apartments".

The council said while it is noted that there is a great need for housing units of every type and tenure, "this does not warrant poor levels of compliance with standards which have been put in place for the protection of the residential amenities of future occupants".

The council also refused planning permission over the applicant's failure to submit a finalised Natura Impact Statement connected to the scheme.

The council pointed out the proposed development site is 200m from the South Dublin Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and 220m from the South Dublin Bay and River Tolka Estuary Special Protection Area (SPA).

The Department of Heritage had expressed concerns that bird species for the SPA will be at risk of increased disturbance by dogs and walkers within the SPA as result of the increased human population in Poolbeg due to the development and the Council had asked the applicants to address these concerns.

The council said no information was submitted by the applicant on the SPA disturbance issue.

As a result of the absence of a finalised NIS, the Council said it cannot be satisfied, beyond reasonable scientific doubt, that the proposed development would not adversely affect the integrity of these European sites in view of the sites’ conservation objectives.

The council did state that the applicant's response that a finalised NIS would be submitted prior to commencement of development is not a situation that the Council could accommodate due to the legislative requirements in place.

The refused mixed use scheme represents Phase Two of the 37.2 acre redevelopment of the Irish Glass Bottle and Fabrizia sites at Poolbeg West, Dublin 4.

In February, Pembroke Beach DAC did secure planning permission for 324 units at the former Irish Glass Bottle site in a separate planning application.

Already, the council has granted a parent permission for the Irish Glass site redevelopment in January 2020 permitting streets, transportation, water services, utilities infrastructure and public realm and public amenity spaces.

In December 2020, NAMA confirmed that Johnny Ronan and Oaktree signed up to purchase 80 per cent of the former Irish Glass Bottle site and adjoining plot.

It was reported at the time that the winning bid for the controlling interest came to a higher than expected €200 million.

Both Mr Ronan's RGRE and NAMA declined to comment on the decision.