An Bord Pleanála has given the green light for the massive new €300 million Augustine Hill urban quarter development led by Gerry Barrett.
The large scale residential and commercial development will be built on a 3.46ha site located to the rear of Ceannt Station.
The plans are for seven blocks, centred around a landmark 21-storey building, with hundreds of homes and other amenities.
The new urban quarter will have 229 apartments, scaled back from the original plans for 378 homes, as well as a 130 bed hotel.
The area will also features a six screen cinema, multiple retail and restaurant units, four public plazas, and 11 new pedestrianised streets.
Other community amenities will include a cycle hub, a childcare facility, and an open sky garden, and a 2,203m² multi-use cultural space.
The quarter will have a mulit-storey car park with a total of 572 parking spaces. Of these, 110 spaces will be reserved for residents and 130 for Ceannt Station. The plans also include a total of 1,157 bicycle parking spaces.
Planning approval for the project was first granted by the city council in 2021, subject to some restrictions.
The council approved most of the development, but instructed that two residential towers forming part of Block 9 must be omitted from the plans.
This was due to their excessive height, scale and massing in proximity to Forthill Cemetery being detrimental to the townscape.
Other conditions also instructed that several buildings be reduced in height. Importantly, the council made it a condition that these Build-to-Rent apartments cannot be used for short-term letting.
There were two third party appeals against the development, one by An Taisce Galway, and one by another individual.
Seagullpoint Limited, who are responsible for the planning application, also appealed against the city council’s conditions scaling back the size of the development.
An Bord Pleanála ultimately granted planning permission for the development, while upholding the city council’s original conditions reducing the scale of the plans, and omitting entirely two towers from Block 9.
