A developer has reduced the scale of a planned seven-storey office block in Dublin city centre in response to security concerns by the Chief State Solicitor that the proposal could compromise top-secret papers in her office.
Galway-based builder JJ Rhatigan's Luxor Investments Ltd submitted revised plans containing "considerable revisions" with Dublin City Council that reduce the height of the office block and also include additional measures to protect the privacy of the Chief State Solicitor's office.
In response to the original plan, Chief State Solicitor Maria Browne had expressed concerns over the office block overlooking her offices on Ship Street Little.
At the time, she told the city council: “This office has particular security requirements given the sensitive nature of the work carried out for and behalf of Government.
“The nature of the documentation handled and processed in this office is of national importance and can extend to top-secret papers, which if compromised from a private/security aspect could be problematic.”
The nearby Chester Beatty Library also objected to the plan on grounds that it could compromises the security of its collections.
Library
Now, Luxor Investments Ltd states that it reduced the scale of its scheme in order to address the concerns by both the Chief State Solicitor and the Chester Beatty Library.
Consultants for Luxor said the sixth-floor level of the scheme had now been set back “to reduce the alleged impact on the Chief State Solicitor’s Office”.
Luxor is also proposing to have opaque glazing in the windows on the second, third and fourth floors facing on to the Chief Solicitor’s Office “to avoid any potential for the proposed building’s occupants to overlook the Chief State Solicitor’s Office”.
Consultants for Luxor also state that it had now omitted the sixth floor facing into Ship Street that fully addressed the “overlooking” concerns raised by the library.
The consultants state that a summary of the proposed design changes were presented to representatives of the Chester Beatty Library and “the proposed amendments were well received”.
Consultants for Luxor contend that the revised design changes address the city council concerns with respect to both height and scale.
