Planning permission is being sought to build a new 254 bed student accommodation development on the Headford Road.
Cleverson Limited have submitted plans to the city council for the construction of a seven storeys building, which will contain 74 student accommodation apartments ranging between one and seven bed units.
These will be “high quality student accommodation and ancillary accommodation to serve the existing and future needs of the city’s university population,” the application states
The building will also contain four retail units on the ground floor and a gym on the second floor.
A Design Report for the proposed development says that it will be “a catalyst for a wider regeneration of the Headford Road area with a more sustainable use of land, including for increased retail floor space and new residential accommodation in the form of student accommodation.”
The site of the proposed development is next to the Galway Retail Park, between the IMC Cinema, the Headford Road, and the Dyke Road car park.
Most of the site is undeveloped “brownfield” lands according to the application, while the southern end of it is currently a car park, also owned by the developer.
The city council had previously refused Cleverson permission in July 2019 for an expansion of the the car park using this vacant land.
Access to the new development will be directly off the Headford Road, and car parking on site has been restricted to 11 spaces “in order to promote more sustainable travel patterns”.
But the plans also include a total of 139 bicycle parking spaces to serve the student accommodation.
The development will include a 437sqm “student garden” on the second floor with views over the Corrib, along with a common room opening out onto the garden.
Each floor from the second upwards will also include a shared study space for students.
A Flood Risk Assessment Report, Appropriate Assessment Report, and Natura Impact Statement were submitted as part of this planning application.
Galway City Council is due to make a decision on this planning application by September 3 of this year.
