The derelict Dún Laoghaire baths, once a famous sea-water swimming pool, will be turned into a 104-bedroom hotel, public swimming pool and health spa, if a planning application lodged recently is successful.
Bennett Construction's plan for the site on Queen's Road was chosen from 27 proposals after Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council invited submissions for a "mixed-use scheme including leisure/amenity uses with support commercial or retail uses".
Lucrative tax incentives and a renewed interest in health spas and seaweed baths boosted interest in the site, which has been in development limbo for well over a decade, despite its prominent seafront location.
The baths complex was built in 1843 as the Royal Victorian Baths fronting Queen's Road and was later developed as the Kingstown Baths between 1905 and 1911.
It comprises entrance building, open-air pool and children's pool fed by tidal seawater. It closed in the 1980s after patronage waned and the cost of running it became prohibitive.
The provision of on-site parking was an important factor in selecting a suitable proposal, according to the council, as it did not want any new development to encroach on the existing seafront car-park.
Bennett Construction intends to provide two levels of parking below street level, which will involve going down into rock and under water.
The hotel will have restaurants, a lounge and public bar. The development will include a leisure facility, and there is a proposal for a water barrier at the foreshore and an extension to the sea walk to connect to an existing walk at Newtownsmith.
Bennett Construction is also involved in the proposed redevelopment of a 2.2-acre site near the DART station on Crofton Road.
