Developer David Arnold has been refused planning permission to add 38 apartments to a previously permitted development of 262 residential units in Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin 18 because the local infrastructure is inadequate to cope with them.
The Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Council planner's report refers to the "excessive scale" of Arnold's development at the former Avid Technologies site at the junction of Carmanhall Road and Blackthorn Road.
It says this, together with the "likely cumulative effects of other permitted and potential developments" in the former industrial estate, would have "a detrimental impact on the existing deficiencies in roads and public transport infrastructure due to the likely demand on travel generated by the development."
As well as 262 residential units, the development includes 2,175sq m (23,411sq ft) of retail and commercial floor space at ground floor level and a 12-storey tower.
The additional apartments would have raised the height of four apartment blocks by a storey, bringing the tower to 13 storeys.
The site is at the heart of Sandyford Industrial Estate where over the next five years it is estimated that more than 400,000sq m (4.305 million sq ft) of office, retail and residential development is expected to come on stream.
To the north is the Microsoft complex and to the north-west a 13,500sq m (145,313sq ft) office block is under construction adjoining the Forum office complex at the former McCambridge's site.
The site is 400 metres from an emerging retail core at Beacon South Quarter where over 20,000sq m (215,278sq ft) of development is proposed.
Sandyford Action Group formed several months ago to protest against the draft urban framework plan which Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has proposed to guide future development in the former industrial estate.
The action group says the draft framework plan is a "completely inadequate document" on which to base the future planning of the area and it is calling for a local area plan. Saying development in Sandyford has been "piecemeal" to date, it also recommended substantial upgrading of the access routes into Sandyford, including a redesign of the Leopardstown interchange.
The move to create a framework plan came after An Bord Pleanála raised concerns about planning developments in the industrial estate.
The board wrote to the council about the impact that so many high density developments (proposed or approved for the area) would have on the estate.
