2025 – Windjammer Hotel Proposal, Ballsbridge, Dublin

Dublin City Council refused planning permission for this six-storey 24-bedroom boutique hotel on a site at Shelbourne Road as the scheme would constitute over-development of the site.

Having regard to the height and scale on a restricted visually prominent site, it is considered that the proposed development would constitute overdevelopment of the site and would have an unreasonable overbearing and visually dominant effect on adjoining sites. The development would constitute an incongruous feature, would detract from the visual amenities of the area and would be contrary to policy BHA9 and Section 15.5 of the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028. The proposal would constitute an overdevelopment of the site, would create a precedent for similar type undesirable development and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

The scheme resulted in widespread local opposition. A spokesman for the project maintained that “The proposal for 166a Shelbourne Rd would support the continued development of Ballsbridge and provide for a luxury hotel with river views and high-quality architectural design finishes.”

The architects’ social media describes it:

“From the solidity of the existing brick podium and retained banking hall, a bold new form emerges – soft brutalism meeting crafted restraint. The building steps confidently into the city, anchoring history at street level while projecting a fresh, sculptural energy above. A gateway. A signal. A reimagining of what it means to belong here. Windjammer Hotel is not just addition, but transformation – a dialogue between past and future, weight and lightness, heritage and progression.”