Construction company seeking revisions to Faulkner site plans

By Aideen O’Flaherty

A CONSTRUCTION company is seeking revisions to a previously submitted application for the development of 171 apartments and a childcare facility at the site of the former Faulkner Industries Factory in Chapelizod, which was granted permission by An Bord Pleanala last December.

Applicant Midgard Construction Ltd is seeking permission to increase the number of units to 174 and for the development to provide for a ‘build to rent’ scheme.

The applicant is seeking permission for this planned increase to be housed within three previously permitted apartments blocks, now to consist of 84 one-bedroom units, 88 two-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units across three five-storey apartment blocks.

It is proposed that Block A will consist of 40 residential units, while Block B will provide 80 residential units, with balconies and terraces located on all elevations.

There are plans for the final block, Block C, to contain 54 units.

Permission is also being sought for a reduction in the size of the previously permitted childcare facility, and for the provision of additional amenity facilities including a community room, a gym and a recreational area, all to be housed in Block A.

A reduction in the provision for basement level car parking spaces, from 202 to 123, and a reduction in basement level motorbike parking from 13 to 9, are included in the application.

Reduction in the basement floor area

It is also proposed that there will be a reduction in the basement floor area, however, there are plans for an increase in the number of basement level bicycle parking spaces, to increase from 188 to 280.

In their previous application for planning permission concerning this site, Midgard was refused permission by Dublin City Council as they viewed the proposed development’s location as “sitting forward of the established building line, scale and massing in this prominent location on the brow of a hill, within an area characterised by an almost-country-lane layout to the east”.

The council also refused permission on the grounds that the development would represent overdevelopment in Chapelizod, with a density of 162 housing units per hectare.

However, the applicant submitted a successful appeal with An Bord Pleanála (ABP) last August, and in December ABP granted permission for the development.

A decision on the current application, seeking permission for the aforementioned amendments, has not yet been made by Dublin City Council.