The designers of the planned new St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre have said the scheme will make an enduring contribution to Dublin’s built environment, setting a new benchmark for brownfield regeneration in the city.
The founding director at O’Donnell+Tuomey architects, John Tuomey, told Dublin City Council that the new development would be “an exemplar standard of urban design”.
The owners of the centre, property investor and operator Lanthorn, lodged the revised plans through DTDL Ltd with Dublin City Council five months after An Coimisúin Pleanála (ACP) refused planning permission for their €100 million revamp.
In its refusal, ACP concluded the scheme lacked “a strong sense of original aesthetic and would not achieve a sufficiently high standard of placemaking, urban design and architecture at this key city centre location”.
READ MORE
In a bid to address ACP’s refusal, the applicants have set back the building line at the St Stephen’s Green corner as part of the overall BKD Architects master plan for the scheme.
The new scheme will involve the developers removing the glass dome from building.
The design document said “the revised proposal, a contemporary design derived from close analysis of the historic context, together with its provision of a new civic space, reinforces the significance and prominence of this corner in the architecture of the city”.
The newly designed scheme through the BKD Architects/O’Donnell+Tuomey collaboration will have capacity to accommodate 3,000 office workers, while the retail floor area at basement, ground and first floor levels will be 19,001sq m.
The scheme will also provide cafe/restaurant/bar uses along with a new town hall, a two-screen cinema and an art exhibition space.
A planning report by John Spain Associates said a number of existing units, including Dunnes Stores, Boots, TK Maxx and the former Argos unit, will be retained as part of the proposals while the remainder of the retail floor space will be reconfigured.
Mr Spain said the centre “is currently underperforming in its retail function”.
He said “the revitalisation of the centre through the provision of medium sized units, which are in demand by higher order retailers, has the potential to significantly improve the retail offer in the area, supporting Grafton Street in its important retail function”.
The proposed development “represents a significant rejuvenation and partial redevelopment of a key site at the gateway to Dublin’s south retail core,” he said.
A decision is due on the application in February.
