LOCALS ARE CONTESTING the green light given to plans for a 785-unit apartment scheme on the grounds of St Vincent’s psychiatric hospital in Fairview, Dublin 3.

This follows five third-party appeals being lodged to An Bord Pleanála against the Dublin City Council grant of permission for the €300 million apartment scheme.

The council granted planning permission after reducing the number of units from 811 to 785 which involved the reduction in height of the tallest block at 13 storeys to 11 storeys.

The applicants, St Vincent’s Hospital Fairview, have lodged an appeal against three conditions attached to the planning permission but the applicant’s appeal does not concern the reduction in number of units or reduction in height of the 13-storey apartment block.

Those third parties to appeal the decision are listed at Martin Kirk, Brian Delaney, Ierne Social & Sports Club, the Hogan View Management Company and Michael Callanan and others.

In an appeal drawn up on behalf of Michael Callanan and others, planning consultant, Michael Halligan BL has contended that the proposed development would constitute serious overdevelopment of the backland site and would “seriously injure the amenities” of the appellants’ because of loss of amenity and privacy, overlooking and visual obtrusiveness.

Halligan argues that the proposed scheme “will seriously devalue the appellants’ property”.

Making the appeal on behalf of five local residents, Halligan states that the concerns of the appellants are representative of the views and concerns of many local residents.

Halligan claims that the “significant” devaluation of his clients’ properties is a valid consideration to be taken into account in the assessment of the proposal.

He says: “It cannot be taken as acceptable that a transfer of value from existing residents (loss) to the developer (profit) be unquestioned.”

Halligan states that the proposed development should be refused permission or substantially reduced to in scale to protect neighbouring properties and the skyline/streetscape.

The Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) scheme granted comprises 303 build to rent units at Richmond Road and Convent Avenue, Fairview.

The scheme on the 23.4 acre site is being developed by Royalton Group, a British property development firm, in partnership with the board of St Vincent’s Hospital Fairview.

Under the terms of the deal, Royalton is to construct a new 73-bedroom mental health facility for St Vincent’s Hospital Fairview, which is currently located in a listed building that is over 100 years old.

Architects for the scheme, Scott Tallon Walker stated that the application provides the opportunity for a “new, high-density housing on under-utilised land and to fully fund the construction of the new hospital and the refurbishment and re-use of the protected structures”.

As part of its Part V social housing obligations, the developers were planning to sell 174 apartments – or 21 per cent of the total number of units – to Dublin City Council and put an indicative price tag of €87.72 million on the units.

With the reduction in the number of units, the number of Part V units will reduce to 164/165.

Documentation lodged shows that the average cost to the council of the units is €504,189 with the documentation showing that one three apartment has an indicative cost of €802,23 with other three bed apartments costing €795,164. The cost of a two bed apartment rises to €677,480 while a one bed can cost €414,281.

A final price will be agreed if planning permission is granted.