FINANCIER DEREK Quinlan is keeping the planning department of Dublin City Council very busy this weather. City planners are considering two planning applications from Quinlan, in the uber-rich triangle of Shrewsbury, Ailesbury and Merrion roads in Ballsbridge.

The former tax inspector turned deal maker has plans to tear down the two Shrewsbury Road houses he purchased last year for around €25 million to make room for a massive 1,981sq m (21,323sq ft) house.

If he gets his way numbers 1 and 3, a pair of semi-detached houses on the corner of Merrion Road, will be replaced with a large seven-bedroom house laid out over four floors.

The house is marginally smaller than the 2,047sq m (22,033sq ft) home Denis O'Brien is looking to build further along Shrewsbury at number 21. These plans didn't impress city planners, but O'Brien is hoping that An Bord Pleanála might take a different view.

Quinlan, who lives elsewhere on the road, is also looking for permission to build a pair of two-bed mews houses at the site, with a separate entrance from Merrion Road. A previous owner of numbers 1 and 3 had plans for an apartment development, but locals put a stop to that. Will the touchiest residents in D4 look any more kindly on Quinlan's plans? Meanwhile, he has lobbed in a planning permission for 43 Ailesbury Road, which he purchased earlier this year for around €8.5 million, to extend and remodel the Victorian house.