The Dublin City Council has granted planning permissions to a business associated with billionaire Denis O’Brien for additional floors on an office building in the Docklands. In the beginning of 2019, Jepview Ltd had plans to replace the fourth floor penthouse inside the Malt House building. Jepview planned to build an additional four storeys to make a nine storey office building. However, the council determined that the plan may be excessive and Jepview reduced one of the planned floors.
The council revised plans earlier this year after the conservation officer revealed that effective development will consist of five floors of vertical extension over an existing 4 storey victorian warehouse building. The officer also stated that the proposed addition should be reduced by at least two storeys to ensure the glass extension remained appropriated.
The office deemed that getting rid of only one floor was sufficient. The vertical expansion grant of the Malt House building uses the city council planner. Specifically, the proposal”exhibits a distinctive contemporary design which will make a positive contribution to the subject site and Dublin’s urban fabric”. Ultimately the proposal is said to upgrade a prominent location in the city center, contribute to employment and allow for construction of a modern extension to an existing building. Recent news of approval of adding storeys to an office building shows progress in reducing strict height regulations.
The council granted planning after concluding that the proposed development would not seriously injure the existing buildings in the surrounding city center location. The original Malt House was built in 1886 by Guinness. The property was then redeveloped in the mid 1990s and is expected to go under further development in 2020.
Recently, builders have been challenged by restrictive rules in regard to building height restrictions in the docklands. A notable incident regarding challenging and appealing rulings on building permits and renovations was Johnny Ronan’s case of challenging rulings on height regulations. Ronan attempt to challenge the Dublin City Council to approve a proposed plan to add storeys to an office block. The additional space would allow 1,000 more employees to work in the building. The high court decided that the proposed height increase of the building would exceed the standards established in the Special Development Zone (SDZ) in the docklands.
