An Taisce has criticised a proposal for a nine-storey mixed-use development at Smithfield, Dublin 7, because it "ignores its context" and would "reinforce the huge scale imbalance between the east and west sides of the square".

Developer Linders of Smithfield is proposing a 10,642sq m (114,550sq ft) mixed-use building at 1-6 Haymarket and 56-58 Smithfield, which includes Smithfield Chambers.

In an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, Kevin Duff of An Taisce says that, while the unsightly appearance of the block of buildings currently forming the application site in a prominent position beside the Luas is "undesirable" and its redevelopment is welcome in principle, any development should meet the zoning objective.

The site is zoned Z5 "to consolidate and facilitate the development of the central area, and to identify, reinforce, strengthen and protect its civic design character and dignity".

Smithfield and Haymarket are designated as conservation areas.

Duff says the site is towards the southern end of the west side of Smithfield, "an ancient city square on which fairs have been held since medieval times, and has more recently been described as Dublin's premier civic space".

The Luas runs along Arran Quay Terrace on the south boundary of the site. Smithfield Market lies to the north across Haymarket. "The huge Smithfield Market scheme, while possessing urban design attributes, is acknowledged as having damaged the scale and coherence of Smithfield as an urban square," says Duff.

"The appropriate urban design response to the site would be a building which mediates in scale between the enormous scale of Smithfield Market to the north and the more traditional city-scale of development on the quays to the south, and attempts to pick up on the overall grain and architectural expression of Smithfield."