An Coimisiún Pleanála has given the go-ahead for the construction of 439 purpose-built student bed spaces on the former Smurfit Paper Mills site in Clonskeagh, Dublin 6.
The development by Bain Capital-backed firm, Harley Issuer DAC, will be spread across five blocks running from one to seven storeys in places. It will also include 16 residential apartments.
The case was before the planning body after appeals were lodged by Eglinton Residents Association as well as Ben McArdle and Dylan Greally against the grant of permission by Dublin City Council.
One party to call on An Coimisiún Pleanála to grant planning permission was UCD Students Union president Michael Roche. In a submission, Mr Roche said the proposed development “responds to a critical shortage of student accommodation”.
“It is one of the few remaining feasible sites for PBSA (purpose built student accommodation) within walking distance of Belfield,” he said.
Mr Roche said the site’s development for student accommodation was an appropriate and much needed use of underutilised land and any legitimate environmental concerns on the river setting and biodiversity can be mitigated through modern planning frameworks and approaches.
In granting planning permission, the appeals board said the proposed development was in keeping with the Dublin City Development Plan as it makes efficient use of an appropriately-zoned brownfield site in an inner suburban area of the city.
It concluded that the scheme would contribute to compact growth, would positively contribute to an increase in housing stock and purpose-built student accommodation at a location relatively close to UCD.
The scheme would be acceptable in terms of urban design, layout and building height and would provide an acceptable form of residential amenity for future occupants, An Coimisiún Pleanála found.
It also found that the scheme “would contribute to the protection and improvement of biodiversity as it would provide for a riparian refuge along the bank of the river and significantly improve the ability of fish to access the area upstream of the existing weir and it would provide flood defence and alleviation works in an area liable to flooding”.
