Dublin city centre is moving - and that is official. Commenting on a recent An Bord Pleanβlβ decision to approve planning permission for a mixed-use commercial and residential centre in Sheriff Street, a corporation spokesman said the development "copper-fastens the drift of the commercial centre to the east in the last decade".

The new development envisages 141 apartments in blocks rising to eight storeys, located on Upper Sheriff Street and Castleforbes Road as well as a proposed new street branching off Castleforbes Road. It is adjacent to the IFSC, where much of the city's new building has taken place in the past decade and, according to the corporation, reflects strong interest in "brownfield redevelopment".

The new apartments are to be serviced by a retail element of 500 sq m at ground floor fronting on to Castleforbes Road while an "employment building" of about 17,000 sq m in three, five and six storeys along Mayor Street is also part of the development.

The development will include a cafΘ and restaurant at ground floor with frontage on to Castleforbes Road and Mayor Street Upper and a crΦche of 260 sq m along Mayor Street Upper. Access to a basement level car-park is to be via ramps off the proposed new street.

The scheme includes demolition of industrial warehousing buildings at Castleforbes Road/Mayor Street Upper, on a site of about 2.5 acres. The applicant was Riverside Property Holdings. The drift of Dublin's centre is being driven by interest in the redevelopment of the docklands area which includes the Spencer Dock site, which is earmarked for large-scale development.

On the north quays, the opening of the Dublin Port Tunnel should remove most of the articulated lorries, leaving what the planners says will be a quality urban environment.