The developers of the proposed National Conference Centre are to seek planning permission from Dublin Corporation next month for the first phase of a £1 billion scheme, including the tallest group of buildings ever contemplated in Ireland.
A glazed office tower more than twice the height of Liberty Hall would form the centrepiece of the proposed development, flanked by somewhat lower buildings which would rise to a height of 84 metres, or 277 feet. Liberty Hall is 59 metres high.
The overall scheme, which would provide a total of six million square feet of space, is earmarked for a 50-acre site at North Wall Quay and Spencer Dock, where the Royal Canal enters the Liffey. The site is owned by CIE and is a freight depot.
The developers, consisting of Treasury Holdings and Mr Harry Crosbie, the docklands entrepreneur, insist the scale and mix of uses proposed is required to subsidise the 2,000-seat conference centre, which is expected to lose several million pounds a year.
Mr Richard Barrett, a director, said they had started from the premise that "not a penny in public money" was available because the Government was not prepared to pay for it. There was no other way of financing it except by the ancillary development.
Details of the development were given yesterday to the board and council of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority at a meeting from which the media were excluded. The Spencer Dock developers subsequently held a briefing for the press.
A spokesman for the DDDA, which has had seriously strained relations with the developers, said it was "greatly taken by the degree of openness which surrounded the whole presentation" and would now be carrying out a critical and technical evaluation of the plans.
As outlined by Mr Kevin Roche, the world-renowned Irish-born architect, the scheme would provide two large hotels, 1.7 million square feet of offices, one million square feet of apartments (of which 20 per cent would be social housing) and retail/leisure facilities.
It also includes provision for a world trade centre and a "techno-pole" of 900,000 square feet for Trinity College, where its biotechnology and information technology laboratories would be located. There is also extensive open space, including a linear park along the Royal Canal.
Mr Crosbie said the consortium was delighted to be able to include the Trinity Techno-pole, which would become a "powerhouse" in its own right. A scholarship fund of £100,000 a year for local residents was included.
