More than 700 homes planned for Digital Hub lands in Dublin 8

Plans for the long-awaited construction of social and affordable homes at Dublin’s Digital Hub have finally been published with an increase of almost one-third in the number of apartments previously proposed.

The Land Development Agency (LDA) intends to lodge a planning application for 716 apartments at the Dublin 8 site just off Thomas Street with An Coimisiún Pleanála in the coming weeks.

Original plans for the Pear Tree Crossing development, published in 2022, envisaged 550 affordable and social apartments in blocks up to 12 storeys high, as well as the renovation and reuse of several protected and historic buildings.

The increase in apartment numbers has been facilitated partly by a small increase in height to 13 storeys, but mostly through the construction of smaller apartments, permitted under the Government’s controversial Design Standards for Apartments, issued last week.

The new “national planning statement” blocks local authorities from requiring developers to provide specific percentages of apartments with multiple bedrooms while it also allows the minimum size of apartments to be reduced from 37sq m to 32sq m. It makes a number of other changes to the requirements for “dual aspect” apartments - those with windows on more than one side, as well as ceiling height requirements, external space, and storage requirements.

Similar design standards were issued last year in the form of “planning guidelines” but these were subject to a court challenge which was referred by the Irish courts to the European Court of Justice and is awaiting a decision. Minister for Housing James Browne decided to issue the “planning statement” ahead of this decision.

A spokesman for the LDA said amendments to the overall design of some buildings and the incorporation of the Government’s design standards for apartments “has resulted in an increase in the overall number of homes being delivered as the Agency seeks to appropriately meet the housing needs of Dublin’s inner city.”

More than a quarter of the apartments will still exceed the minimum size requirements and just over 40 per cent are dual aspect.

The proposed development will provide a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, the LDA said alongside “a small number” of larger three-bedroom homes “within the adaptive reuse buildings along Thomas Street”.

The LDA owns several derelict and vacant buildings and sites on Thomas Street. Although the earlier plans designated some of the upper stories for housing, the new design “now places Thomas Street at the heart of the proposal”, it said. “New homes, active ground floors and improved public realm will activate the street frontage and support Thomas Street as a key local main street.”

In 2021, the government announced the dissolution of the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA) which operates the tech and innovation campus, with the gradual wind down of its activities and the transfer of its lands to the LDA.

A strategic plan published by the DHDA earlier this year in consultation with the LDA proposed retaining viable enterprises and social and community uses on the site.

Pear Tree Crossing will “support the continued presence of the Digital Hub Development Agency”, the LDA said “building on the area’s established community foundations”.

In addition to reinstating 14 buildings on Thomas Street, a number of industrial heritage buildings will also be reused including Vat House 7, previously used in the local brewing industry, Watling Warehouse, a derelict storehouse dating from 1866 and Millar’s House, another disused building on Rainsford Street.

The planning application is due to be lodged by the end of this year, with construction due to start in 2028.