FORMER Construction Industry Federation president Matt Gallagher has secured planning permission to develop 72 houses and 11 apartments on a site of just under 4.3 acres on the Dublin Road in Shankill, south Dublin.
Gallagher’s company Ravenshall had to overcome a representation from Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore supporting an objection to the scheme before it was granted permission.
Gallagher said it had reduced the amount of apartments planned for the development in favour of an increased number of houses in order to make the scheme more attractive to purchasers in the current market. However, he said that the company will wait for the market to recover before going on site. “It’s an eminently buildable scheme but you wouldn’t build it at the moment,” he said. “There’s no mortages being given out. That’s the problem.”
Gallagher will have to hold talks with the council on social and affordable housing provision and has signalled he intends to do this by paying a financial contribution, according to an email he sent to the council in December last year.
The planning conditions mean Ravenshall will also have to pay more than €264,000 towards water and drainage facilities. Ravenshall will also have to pay nearly €530,000 towards roads in the area constructed by the council, and nearly €265,000 towards parks in the area.
He will also have to submit revised plans showing the provision of facilities for battery-operated cars and further details on plans to mitigate noise from the Luas and the M11. The company had previously been granted permission for more than 80 apartments and 15 houses on the site.
Companies Registration Office documents show that Ravenshall is jointly owned by Matt and Eoin Gallagher. Financial statements for the year ended October 2009 show that the company had shareholders’ funds of just over €141,000, down from more than €770,000 the previous year. Current assets were valued at nearly €15.3 million while creditors due to be repaid within year stood at €15.26 million.
The company’s bank borrowings were secured by mortgages over a number of properties and personal guarantees totalling €640,000.
