New Stephen's Green Shopping Centre would fit 3,000 office workers, city council told

Gordon Deegan

The designers of the planned new St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre (SGSC) state that the scheme will make an enduring contribution to the city's built environment, setting a new benchmark for brownfield regeneration in the heart of Dublin.

That is according to Founding Director at O’Donnell and Tuomey architects, John Tuomey, who has told Dublin City Council that the 'Stephen's Green Shopping Centre Rejuvenation' is "an exemplar standard of urban design”.

The owners of the centre, property investor and operator, Lanthorn have through DTDL Ltd lodged the revised plans with Dublin City Council five months after An Coimiúsin Pleanála refused planning permission for their €100 million revamp.

In its refusal, ACP concluded that the scheme "lacks a strong sense of original aesthetic and would not achieve a sufficiently high standard of placemaking, urban design and architecture at this key city centre location”.

Now, in a bid to address ACP’s refusal, the applicants have set back the building line at the St Stephen’s Green corner as part of the overall BKD Architects masterplan for the scheme.

The new scheme will involve the developers taking the wrecking ball to the landmark glass dome in place.

The design document states that “the revised proposal, a contemporary design derived from close analysis of the historic context, together with its provision of a new civic space, reinforces the significance and prominence of this corner in the architecture of the city”.

The newly designed scheme through the BKD Architects/O’Donnell + Tuomey collaboration will have capacity to accommodate 3,000 office workers while the retail floor area at basement, ground and first floor levels will be 19,001 sq/m.

The scheme will also provide café/restaurant/bar uses along with a new townhall, a two screen cinema and an art exhibition space.

A report by Bannon consultants states DTDL Limited “have plans to rejuvenate the centre to curate a retail offer that is more appropriately aligned with the Grafton Street retail core and to enhance the overall retail offer”.

Outlining the need for the scheme, Neil Bannon states that despite its location at the southern gateway to Grafton Street, "SGSC's current retail function is poor".

A planning report by John Spain Associates states that a number of existing units, including Dunnes Stores, Boots, TK Maxx and former Argos unit, will be retained as part of the proposals while the remainder of the retail floorspace will be reconfigured.

Mr Spain states that the centre “is currently underperforming in its retail function”.

He said that “the revitalisation of the centre through the provision of medium sized units, which are in demand by higher order retailers has the potential to significantly improve the retail offer in the area, supporting Grafton Street in its important retail function”.

He said that the proposed development “represents a significant rejuvenation and partial redevelopment of a key site at the gateway to Dublin’s south retail core”.

Mr Spain contends that the proposed development “will provide for a qualitative improvement in the retail offering at the existing shopping centre, while also adding a significant increase in employment opportunity in the form of office uses”.

A decision is due on the application in February.