Plans have been submitted to An Bord Pleanála for a student accommodation development with 255 bed spaces in Terryland in Galway City.
Montane Developments intend to build two blocks of student accommodation on the Coolough Road ranging from one to four storeys tall.
The bedrooms will be grouped in 38 clusters, however, of the 255 bed spaces included in the plans, there are just five accessible bedrooms.
Under the design submitted to An Bord Pleanála, just five of those would be accessible bedrooms. The bedrooms will be grouped into 38 clusters.
Other ancillary students facilities which would be part of this project include a communal laundry, a gym/fitness centre, and a common area.
Montane does not proposed to have much car parking serving this development, with the plans including eight car parking spaces, and 280 bicycle spaces.
Access to the development will be off the Coolough Road, and the developer intends to install pedestrian crossings there and at the Dyke Road.
The site, just past the Kirwan roundabout, formerly had an agricultural use, but is currently vacant and overgrown.
The developer said that an explosion in student numbers in Galway in recent years has “placed significant pressure on the city’s physical and social infrastructure”, particularly in regards to housing.
Purpose built student accommodation such as this will “help to unlock additional supply in the private housing market for sale and rent to non-student households,” it’s claimed.
This student accommodation project has been submitted directly to An Bord Pleanála as a Strategic Housing Application, which is meant to fast track the planning process for large scale housing projects.
After a pre-application consultation with the higher planning authority last July, the design of the development was significantly altered.
A standalone service block for the ancillary facilities was removed, and they were spread around the bottom two floors of the other buildings.
A new 2-3 storey accommodation block fronting onto the Coolough Road was added to the plans, while the main block was reduced in height from five to four storeys.
A Natura Impact Statement and Landscape Design Plan have been prepared as part of this planning application.
An Bord Pleanála is due to make a ruling on this application by May 5.
