A PROPOSAL by developer Liam Carroll of Zoe Developments to demolish a late-1990s apartment block and replace it with a six-storey office building on the corner of Island Street and Watling Street in Dublin 8 has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
Carroll built the New Maltings block of 47 apartments in 1998 and retained ownership, renting them out.
The block was built in the same complex as another earlier apartment development called The Maltings, also built by Carroll.
Dublin City Council approved the demolition saying the apartments provide "a very poor residential amenity with small units" and said it has "a significant number of north-facing apartments and poor private open space and storage facilities".
A planner's report said residents are concerned about the loss of a residential amenity but said that the future development at the nearby Digital Hub should provide better residential amenity.
However, in an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, a resident of the Maltings said knocking an apartment block would effectively set a precedent for other Section 23 developments "to consider a more commercially attractive office or retail use, to the potential detriment of residential communities". Section 23 reliefs on the apartments are due to run out at the end of July this year.
The appellant points to the Dublin City development plan which says that it is council policy to discourage the demolition of habitable houses "unless the streetscape, environmental and amenity considerations are satisfied and there is a net increase in the number of dwellings provided".
