A Dublin hotelier and property developer, Mr Noel O'Callaghan, is seeking planning permission to erect a five-storey, L-shaped office block around Archer's garage on Fenian Street.
The late-1940s garage, occupied until recently by EWL Electric, was demolished illegally over the June bank holiday weekend despite being listed for preservation. It is to be faithfully reconstructed at Dublin Corporation's insistence.
The planning application for the office building is being treated separately from a submission by Mr O'Callaghan's architects, Anthony Reddy Associates, of plans to reconstruct the former List 1 garage.
Mr Tony Reddy, who heads the firm, said the proposal was based on "the best drawn and documentary information available to us on the building as it stood prior to demolition", as well as consultations with Mr John Gwynn, the structural engineer who worked on it in 1948.
DoCoMoMo, the International Association for the Documentation and Conservation of Modern Movement buildings, was consulted through its Irish representative, Mr Shane O'Toole, who had strongly condemned the demolition of Archer's garage.
Mr Reddy said the only changes proposed relate to compliance with the building regulations on fire safety, insulation and other issues.
He said it was fortunate that so much material on the building had survived and that those who had it were prepared to make it available. As a result, consultant engineers O'Connor Sutton Cronin were able to produce a full set of engineering drawings.
The original layout of the building had been altered over the years, most recently by EWL Electric. At one stage, a lightwell was covered in to provide a staircase to a canteen on the top floor.
No specific use is yet proposed for the reconstructed garage. The priority at present is to meet the corporation's deadline that it must be rebuilt by next September. A hoarding has already been erected around the site for preliminary works. The architects are anxious to integrate the garage into their overall scheme, though they emphasise that any such proposals would be the subject of a further planning application. Its extensive first floor, for example, might be developed as a restaurant.
In the meantime, they are seeking written confirmation from the corporation that, if rebuilt in accordance with the plans they have submitted, the building "will be deemed to be in full compliance with all aspects of the terms of (its) Section 31 enforcement notice".
The separate planning application by Dellyberg Ltd, one of Mr O'Callaghan's companies, envisages providing a total of 10,568 sq m (113,750 sq ft) of office space on the adjoining site in a stone-clad building with recessed ground floor and penthouse levels.
The offices would be linked to the former garage by three-storey glazed atriums. It is a matter for discussion with the corporation's planners whether the garage forecourt can be incorporated into the scheme.
According to the architects, the office building is to be recessed at street level "to preserve the visual integrity of the structure to be reinstated". The glazed atriums would allow the former Archer's garage building to be perceived on all four sides, they say.
The site is zoned for commercial uses, but the 3.5 to 1 plot ratio of the proposed office block (the size of the building relative to the site area) is in excess of what would be permitted under the city plan. It is being justified by proximity to the DART.
A total of 48 car-parking spaces and bicycle parking are proposed in a two-level basement.
