Galway's 15-storey Docks hotel gets the green light after planning appeal
The green light has been given for the construction of a 15-storey hotel in the city's Docks area – despite previous refusals on the basis that it would have an adverse impact on the historic Forthill Cemetery.
The 189-bedroom hotel on a narrow site opposite the Harbour Hotel, the location of a former coalyard, has been approved by An Coimisiún Pleanála.
An existing vacant industrial structure and the high boundary walls around the site will be demolished to make way for the 7,500 square metres building. The plans envisage 14 bedrooms on most of the floors, with food and beverage areas on the ground floor.
The hotel plan had been refused permission by Galway City Council, following a previous refusal of planning permission for an 11-storey hotel on the same site, which was also rejected by An Bord Pleanála on appeal.
The higher planning authority has, in its latest decision, gone against the recommendation of its own Senior Planning Inspector to refuse permission for the hotel.
His conclusion was that the proposed development's "excessive plot ratio, together with its height and scale at this restricted site” would constitute overdevelopment of the site and have a detrimental impact on the character and setting of Forthill Cemetery.
However, the board of An Coimisiún Pleanála ruled that the proposed hotel would contribute to "the vitality and vibrancy in the core of a regeneration area that is currently transitioning from a low-rise industrial area to a new urban quarter for Galway City".
It decided that it would not seriously injure the amenities of property in the vicinity, nor compromise the function and conservation of the adjoining Forthill Cemetery, which dates back to the year 1500, when an Augustinian friary was established on the site.
The board pointed out that the plot ratio for the proposal was lower than the nearby Bonham Quay development.
"The Commission noted as significant the fact that the Department of Heritage did not raise concerns regarding the impact on Forthill Cemetery and recommended the implementation of measures contained in the applicant’s Archaeological and Architectural Heritage Impact Assessment.
“In addition, the Commission considered that the views currently available from the cemetery – surrounded as it is by regeneration sites – will inevitably change.”
In addition, the Commission considered that the views currently available from the cemetery – surrounded as it is by regeneration sites – will inevitably change
While overlooking of the cemetery would occur, the Commission did not agree that the appreciation of the heritage value of the site would be compromised. The development was not regarded as being particularly intrusive in light of the intermittent nature and low number of ceremonies.
Developers Summix – headed by British technology entrepreneurs Shukri Shammas and Tareq Naqib and including Galway developer Gerry Barrett as a director – is also behind an approved development of 360 student bed spaces on a site at Queen Street, behind Bonham Quay, and has partnered on the €320m ‘Augustine Hill’ regeneration plan, which includes homes, a new shopping precinct, a multiplex cinema and eleven streets linking the city centre with the Docks and Lough Atalia .