A SUBSIDIARY of the Durkan Group has submitted a new proposal to redevelop Harcourt Terrace Garda station.

The planning application by Harcourt Terrace Ltd to Dublin City Council is looking to demolish the 1950s Garda station, old film censor's office and other buildings on site, and build a four-storey residential block facing onto Harcourt Terrace. A seven-storey office block with setbacks fronting Charlemont Place is also part of the proposal.

The proposal is smaller in scale than one refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála earlier this year. This time around the developer is asking to build 24 apartments in a four-storey block compared to a more ambitious 43 apartments in two blocks rising to nine storeys last time around.

The office element proposed is 10,413sq m (112,084sq ft) compared to 12,714sq m (136,854sq ft) last time.

In April the board ruled that the apartment buildings would fail to respect their context opposite Regency period buildings and adjoining Victorian houses. It said the blocks would not be of the standard required to justify the removal of the Garda station building on the site while the main office block would be visually obtrusive and impact on adjoining homes in what is a residential conservation area. In 2006, in return for the development rights to the site, Durkan agreed to provide over 400 affordable homes in new housing schemes in west Dublin, which have been handed over and occupied.