A contentious Southside co-living development has been given the green light despite objections from local residents.
Property Firm Bartra Capital has secured planning permission for a €25 million shared co-living scheme on Merrion Road.
Bartra had initially sought permission for 111 bed spaces in the development but Dublin City Council decided the property firm must alter the design to remove six single and six double rooms to increase the size of communal areas.
The 92-bed development will replace an Edwardian guesthouse currently on the site which will be demolished.
The application received 38 objections from local residents and groups, among them MEP Ciarán Cuffe, TD Chris Andrews and businessman Kevin Toland and his wife Aisling.
An Taisce and the Shrewsbury Road Residential and Environmental Protection Association also objected.
The decision to grant permission for the development comes after Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien announced last week that no more co-living proposals were to be considered by planning authorities.
The decision to amend the 2018 Planning Guidelines to seek to restrict all future commercial co-living development in Ireland was made on the back of a report on co-living from officials in the Housing Department.
The report raised concerns that the number of developments were become less niche and were now playing a greater role in the country’s housing system, and that many potential sites are outside the city centre.
The ban will only apply to future developments as any amendments to the planning guidelines could not be applied retrospectively.
Among the objectors to Bartra’s co-living development was Senator Ivana Bacik who said:
“Co-living developments are not suitable as a way of resolving the housing crisis even in normal times; and even more unsuitable during the Covid-19 crisis, as communal living with shared facilities makes social distancing impossible.”
However consultants for Bartra said the project would take three years to complete, saying:
“At that juncture, we are very hopeful that Covid-19 will not be a relevant factor in the day-to-day operation of the building”.
Third parties have the option of appealing the Dublin City Council Merrion Road decision to An Bord Pleanála, and Bartra Capital also has the option of appealing against the condition omitting the 18 bed spaces.
