Permission has been refused for a 360 bed co-living development in a historic part of Dublin’s north city, which would have included a 14-storey block beside Dublin’s Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Market.
The board ruled that the proposed development would “seriously detract from the setting and character” of the Halston Street Conservation Area.
The area has six protected buildings including St Michan’s Church, the Fruit and Vegetable Market, Green Street Courthouse and the Debtors’ Prison as well as St Michan’s Park.
An Taisce had opposed the development and spokesperson Kevin Duff welcomed the decision saying the scheme, which also involved an eight-storey block beside St Michan’s Church, represented over-development of a sensitive area.
Local Independent Councillor Nial Ring, who had objected on the basis that the scheme marked a return to tenement living, also welcomed the decision.
The application was made by the company Fruitmarket Partnership straight to An Bord Pleanála as a Strategic Housing Development.
The four co-living blocks would have had “clusters” of bedrooms around communal kitchens and living areas with a ratio ranging from four beds to one kitchen in the 14 storey block on Mary’s Lane, to 14 beds per kitchen in the eight storey block beside St Michan’s.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has halted co-living developments but this does not apply to applications already in the system.