An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for a landmark development at the headquarters of Hickey's Fabrics on Parkgate Street, Dublin 8, criticising its scale, massing and design as "bland and repetitive".
Scott Tallon Walker designed the mixed-use scheme at the 0.7-hectare site at the junction of Parkgate Street and Seán Heuston Bridge.
Hickey's was looking to build 139 apartments in two nine-storey blocks, a public plaza overhanging the River Liffey, a six-storey glazed office block and a new pedestrianised street connecting Parkgate Street to the river.
It was also looking to create a break in the River Liffey Quay Wall, a protected structure, to the south of the site to facilitate views into the site from the south and the construction of a public plaza.
The scheme would also have included two retail units fronting onto Parkgate Street, a restaurant on the river, four own-door duplex office units and a new river walkway connecting the existing walkway to the west of the site.
The site lies within the Heuston Station and Environs Framework Development Area on what An Bord Pleanála refers to as "a significant visual connection running from the City Quays to the Phoenix Park and the Wellington Monument".
In its reasons for refusal, the board says the proposed development would "not reflect the pivotal and sensitive nature of the site and would interfere with views and prospects of special amenity in the environs of the site".
Hickey's was also looking to refurbish and move a stone archway, a protected structure, to the south-west of its current position. This would have provided pedestrian access to a crèche and to a semi-private open space area.
However, An Bord Pleanála ruled there are "no exceptional circumstances to warrant the removal of this protected archway from its historical position and that its removal would detract from the character and appearance of the conservation area where it is the policy of the planning authority to protect and enhance the character and historic fabric of such areas".
