A ruling rejecting plans for what would be the country’s tallest building has been appealed to An Bord Pleanala.
Propotron was refused permission by Fingal County Council last month for a proposed scheme just off the M50 including a 28-storey hotel.
The project, dubbed Junction 6, would include a 459-bedroom hotel, office blocks and retail space at the site of a former gym in Castleknock.
A number of objections were lodged against the scheme by residents and local councillors. The council ruled it would be “seriously injurious to the visual amenity of the area”.
Rejecting the scheme last month, the council said that the proposed development would represent and “intensive overdevelopment” and would be “seriously out of character with the pattern of development in the area”.
It said that the proposed project would involve a high density of employment development in a location “removed from high-capacity public transport”.
The hotel could accommodate about 900 people, while the planned office space could have as many as 7,000 workers.
Senator Emer Currie (FG), one of those who objected, noted that as a result of the pandemic demand for hotels and office space on such a scale had dramatically reduced as more people chose to work remotely.
She added: “The application for a hotel of this size seems ill-timed. We do not know if there will be demand for a 459-bedroom hotel and 34,195sqm of commercial office space in a suburban location in the future.”
She said the proposal “constitutes serious overdevelopment” and would have “very serious adverse impacts to the residential suburbs located near the site in terms of bulk, height and density”.
She added: “If planning permission is approved the proposed hotel of 28 storeys would be the tallest building in the State. It would dominate the skyline throughout the Dublin 15 area and the visual amenity of local residential communities.”
A ruling on the appeal is due next April.
