Lidl Ireland has been in conversation with An Bord Pleanála about its plans to construct a 15-floor tower block in Ballymun. The supermarket heavyweight has insisted that the progression of its project should not be thwarted by the development of Metrolink’s €9.5 billion rail line.
The supermarket chain provided proposals for the Northwood tunnel and station located in north Ballymun to be reconstructed, so it may hold an apartment and supermarket complex they have planned. A planning permission request is still yet to be made by Lidl.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the government agency responsible for the Metrolink, reported that they have cooperatively worked with Lidl on the site for many years and had no prior knowledge of the proposed scheme. The project involves building structures of 10 and 15 floors, that they just recently became aware of.
Lidl is the owner of the proposed site for the Northwood metro station that is situated south of the M50 in Ballymun. Impression drawings shared at Monday’s hearing show commercial and residential layout designs for 200 apartments, supermarket, and office spaces for the location, drafted by MCA architect Gerry Murphy on behalf of Lidl.
The proposed project, which is supplanted with structures as high as 15 floors, complies with the height limitations provided by the Fingal County Development Plan. However, Lidl disclosed that the project could not commence construction, due to the incapability of the Metrolink tunnels holding its weight.
Tim Murnane, a representative of Punch Consulting Engineers for Lidl, made known TII recently issued a draft guide for developers. It details the limitations on the capacity and protection aspects of the tunnel, as well as exclusion zones above the line. Murnane specified that, for this reason, significant portions of the Lidl site would be non-developable.
He stressed the tunnels and station should be tailored to fully accommodate and be unrestricted to future developments of the Lidl site. On the contrary, TII representative Dr Ronan Hallissey cautioned that this would necessitate a comprehensive redesign of the tunnel at that location, which would not be considered reasonable given the location of the recently proposed new project.
Dr Hallissey indicated that TII had collaborated with Lidl over several years to create a blueprint for an intense development in an alternative part of the supermarket site. He added that the proposed Metrolink station layout for this location had taken this into account and was crafted to include two adjoining buildings next to their site.
Eamon Galligan, senior counsel for Lidl, argued that the unveiling of the proposed development for the first time at the hearing was wholly irrelevant. He insisted that this was not an imminent application, rather it was a move to showcase a project that complies with the Fingal development plan. Galligan stressed this was not intended to catch anyone off guard.
Meanwhile, Declan McGrath, senior counsel for TII, expressed surprise at the development, arguing that TII had engaged with Lidl in good faith over numerous years about their intended developments. Until very recently, he said, the Metrolink application was under the impression that it had taken into account the projected plans from Lidl.
However, Galligan took a different stance, asserting, “While TII claims to have liaised with Lidl concerning this site, they have failed to lay the necessary groundwork in terms of constructing a tunnel with the structural ability to support such development. That’s the critical issue here; the rest is merely rhetoric.”