The National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dublin is to apply directly to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission to develop its site later this month using the the fast-track procedure known as strategic infrastructure development process.
The process allows development considered of strategic economic or social importance to bypass local authority planning processes and be dealt with directly by the planning board.
The hospital, on Rochestown Avenue in Dún Laoghaire, is the national centre in Ireland for primary rehabilitation for adults and children. Its work includes treating patients with brain and spinal cord injury as well as those recovering from stroke.
New facility
Under the proposed development, the existing 120-bed facility at the hospital, originally opened in 1918 to treat tuberculosis, will be replaced with a new facility – also of 120 beds – with a therapy unit to accommodate the needs of those requiring complex specialist rehabilitation services.
The development is a partnership between the Health Service Executive and the National Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.
A more ambitious proposal for the hospital, which had been in planning for years with a design team appointed back in 2004, got the go-ahead from planners in 2008. It would have seen an increase in the number of beds to 220, but the cost, at an estimated €114 million, proved prohibitive.
Land sale
The hospital agreed to sell part of its lands to adjacent biopharmaceutical company Amgen to assist in funding the current proposals.
Last year councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council rezoned 16 hectares of land to allow for the expansion of Amgen and the hospital.
The hospital has invited local politicians to an information meeting next week. It said the development would greatly increase the standard of accommodation for patients.
It is expected to apply for planning permission to An Bord Pleanála at the end of the month and hopes to complete the build in 2017.
The strategic infrastructure development process will accept submissions from the public and may include an oral hearing.
