One of the highest profile rezonings to come before Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in recent years, a “healthcare/life sciences synergy” has some heavy-hitting supporters including IDA, the HSE, the National Rehabilitation Hospital, and multi-national biotechnology company Amgen.

The proposed rezoning covers some 16 hectares (40 acres) between Pottery Road and Rochestown Avenue and includes land currently owned by the Sisters of Mercy order which owns the hospital, and two adjoining land parcels, identified as the Prescelly/ Clonkeen Lands and the Former Workmen’s Club.

Amgen, which is currently engaged in a €160 million expansion of its Pottery Road facility, wants to buy about 18 acres of the land bank to facilitate potential further expansion, according to a spokeswoman.

The expansion is designed to place the Amgen facility as a world-class centre of excellence in the secondary production, packaging and distribution of Amgen medicines.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said it was proposed to use proceeds from sale to help fund development of, and transition to, a new 120-bed unit on site.

The new unit is designed to replace existing ward-based accommodation. The spokeswoman said cash from an earlier sale of land had also been ring-fenced for hospital use by the Sisters of Mercy.

Full planning permission to replace the hospital was granted in 2008 but HSE funding has been hit by cutbacks. However, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in whose constituency the project lies, has said work on the first phase will begin in 2013. The hospital redevelopment is estimated to cost well in excess of €100 million.

Planning consultants Tom Phillips and Associates, in a submission to the council, noted the support for the rezoning from the IDA and the HSE.

It added that the “complementary juxtaposition of two key facilities . . . provides a major opportunity for healthcare/life sciences synergy on the lands at Pottery Road /Rochestown Avenue.1