THE TORC Group has been refused planning permission by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to demolish Culgrenagh House, Rochestown Avenue, Killiney in Co Dublin and build 76 apartments.

Torc Group – which is owned by Billy Murphy, John Pugh and Michael Doran – was looking for planning permission to build an apartment building rising from two storeys to a setback fourth storey level, as well as a crèche.

The development would have included the reconfiguration of the roundabout at the intersection of Rochestown Avenue, Church Road, Avondale Road and Sallyglen Road.

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council refused permission because the drainage proposals submitted “are contrary to the proper and sustainable drainage of the area”, in that they drain this site “against the steep fall of the land via Church Road, thereby incurring grossly excessive depths of sewer with future attendant health and safety dangers to maintenance operatives, and a possible structural stability threat to Church Road”.

It also has “serious concerns” about the south-west elevation of a rear protruding element of the building which has a blank wall at second, third and fourth floor levels, and “would be visually over dominant and would constitute a visually overbearing feature when viewed from both within the proposed development site and when viewed from adjacent property”.

It would also “fail to exploit the opportunity to afford apartments at this location good south-westerly aspects”.