Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
PLANS FOR A large new hotel on the Liffey’s quays in Dublin are facing opposition from local councillors, businesses and residents as well as a leading heritage group over claims it will destroy views along the river.
Objectors have expressed concern about the excessive height of the proposed eight-storey building on the corner of Usher’s Quay and Usher’s Street with An Taisce claiming it would fundamentally alter views along the Liffey that have been preserved for 200 years.
Property investment partners, Warren Private and the Greenleaf Group, are seeking planning permission to demolish the existing three-storey building on the site which has been vacant since 2006.
The developers, who paid €3.3 million to acquire the property last year, want to construct a 106-bedroom hotel in its place.
Whitbread, the UK hospitality group which owns the Premier Inn hotel chain, has an agreement to lease the new hotel which will be reach almost 24 metres in height.
The development, which is expected to create up to 40 full-time and part-time jobs, has also received support from Fáilte Ireland which claimed it would help to address a shortage of tourist accommodation in Dublin.
However, An Taisce said buildings along the Liffey’s quays need to act as “a calm mass” to act as an effective backdrop to key monuments such as the Four Courts and the Custom House.
“The arrangement of subservience between the Liffey’s monuments and its ordinary buildings has been observed for the last 200 years at least and an eight-storey tower in the subject location would fundamentally change this relationship,” said An Taisce.
Advertisement
It also expressed concern about the proposed change of use of the site which already has planning permission for the construction of a seven-storey apartment block and said the plans for the hotel ran contrary to the council’s own Living City Initiative tax incentive scheme which is designed to encourage people to live in the historic inner city.
An Taisce claimed concern had been voiced from many quarters about the excessive construction of new hotels and other short-stay accommodation facilities in recent years and the “parallel absence” of new “sorely-needed” suitable and affordable homes in the city centre.
Residents of nearby Oliver Bond House said there were already a number of hotels in the area as well as homeless and addiction services which primarily served the needs of transitory populations rather than local people.
They also expressed concern about disruption from construction work, traffic and noise generated by the proposed hotel.
Sinn Féin councillor, Críona Ní Dhálaigh, said she supported local residents about their concerns but also called for the developers to be obliged to provide jobs to local people if the hotel was allowed to go ahead.
“There’s a total overconcentration of hotels and transient accommodation being built in this area. In fact, that’s all that seems to be getting built,” said Ní Dhálaigh.
She added: “We urgently need affordable family accommodation in the area.”
People Before Profit councillor, Tina McVeigh, said there were mixed views among local residents about the project as they recognised it would offer employment opportunities.
McVeigh questioned if a report provided by the developers justifying the need for a hotel was “outdated” given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The developers claim the hotel will “enhance the streetscape by creating a vibrant and lively frontage” onto the river as well as contributing over €2.5 million to the economy each year.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
72 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
There’s nothing special about that view along the Liffey anyway. Most of the buildings are shabby at best. Not sure why we want to preserve it. We should be trying to improve it.
@Hector Son: @Hector Son: Wrong. The 3 storey building they want to demolish is only vacant since the latter part of 2019.It was being used by an English language school who moved out when the building / overall site was sold to its current owners. I know this for a fact as I’m in one of the adjacent apartment blocks and passed the building in question daily.
@Hector Son: There should be a minimum usage of 10 stories for sites like this, we need to use city space more efficiently, not worry about preserving imaginary world famous skyline views and build, build, build. Fast track planning and stop pretending we’re preserving some important standards of architectural integrity in the area. If it provides accommodation, build it.
@Lukevic101: sort of agree with you. Yes we should be going much higher. But I think 8 storeys is enough in this area.
We should be building a lot higher but in a designated area as happens all over the world US included. Cities generally have a few blocks of very high rise and then it shrinks right down.
Paris is low rise for the most part with the exception of La Défense, Amsterdam doing the same.
The area like this in Dublin should be around the docks and maybe where they have planned right in the city centre!
@Joe: yeah to be fair the height of capital Dock works for the area. Perhaps developers should build the 8 stories with potential to expand upwards on an existing building at a later date when regulations are lifted/amended.
@Paul M. Barrett: worst part the original planning permission is for a residential property and they’ve gone and changed it to this monstrosity and a hotel .
@Lisa Saputo: jaysus. You’d have us back living single story dwellings or caves. Societies, cities and the world moves on. Do you dream of keeping everything 200-300 years old?
@Alan Wright: Isn’t it amazing when we all visit old cities in Europe that we marvel at the beautiful old buildings , do you think many stop to admire and photograph our glass boxes after we have knocked Georgian Dublin. Visit the west of Ireland and see lovely old shop fronts and pubs or do you prefer a pvc and tiled facing? time was there were lovely old shop fronts and book shops along the quays, like stepping into a Dickensian movie but we have moved on and now …more glass boxes.
@Alan Wright: All of the buildings on Ushers quay were constructed in the reign of George the 1st , it was city planners and developers who destroyed this beautiful quay and allowed the physical decay but to replace the current building with what is portrayed in the picture above ….do you really think many visitors would like a picture of an orange glass box?
@Honeybee: Youre wrong. Even a simple Google map streetview will show you the type of buildings there. Not Georgian, but 1990′s. Your faux outrage is actually childish and laughable.
@Alan Wright: can confirm. A lot of the buildings are absolute trash with a few exceptions.
And we have sooooo much Georgian architecture all over Dublin city, whether its Mountjoy, Baggot, Merrion, Stephens Green, Harcourt and surrounding. Not to mention North Great George’s St so on so forth. There is plenty of history retained in the city.
Take the aircoach down to Heuston, from The Point to O Connell looks beautiful, once you get past Temple Bar it all goes down hill from there. I mean Guinness have a massive factory, hardly beautiful.
@Honeybee: Dublin is a kip, nobody comes to take photos of buildings, they come for the pints and the craic and if they want photo’s they head out to the countryside to see real Ireland
Its not the design that bothers me as much as the use or reasoning for the build. Could we not sort out the issue of ‘Much needed Tourist accommodation’ if we sorted out the issue with *much needed residential accommodation*? That way we could free up the existing tourist accommodation for actual tourist and not have people trying to live in cramped hotel rooms?
what’s wrong with putting a new hotel where the “ruined” skeleton of the Old Ormond Hotel still haunts the Liffey like a ghost from the past ? plenty of room for apartments if a compulsory purchase was arranged. It’s a blight on the Liffey as it to-otters on the brink of collapse .
Ushers Quay is one of the ugliest parts of Dublin. The part of the building that will front onto the Liffey is quite lovely and not shown in the photo.
I’ve never seen a large building in Dublin. We don’t do large buildings. And what view is it spoiling? It’s about as boring a view as you’ll get in any capital city as it is.
Lots of small city thinking in comments here. Ignoring the problems that exist in many of the local housing estates and blaming everything on a building that will add colour to an ugly part of a city with many ugly parts. Bord taisce is populated by relics and it needs to be replaced by something from the 21st century
@Marc Power: Whats this thing Bord taisce you are speaking about? And what do you know about it? As it appears to me that you have no idea who they are or what it is, what it does and who it represents!
Ugly building in the wrong place and too tall for the location.
Look at the IFSC, souless place at any time, no feeling of where you are.
We have the river the city and people want design by numbers buildings in it.
Trump baselessly accuses Ukraine of starting the war and claims Zelenskyy is a dictator
Updated
12 hrs ago
49.0k
282
Workplace Relations Commission
Dublin's Hairy Lemon pub ordered to pay €30k to former barman dismissed due to his age
15 hrs ago
23.5k
37
Leinster House
Irish language takes centre stage (again) as FF's John McGuinness elected Leas-Cheann Comhairle
10 hrs ago
21.9k
48
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 148 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 102 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 133 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 103 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 75 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 74 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 36 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 32 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 124 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 59 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 72 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 79 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 42 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 24 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 82 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 65 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 48 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 81 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 60 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say