15-storey hotel for Sligo gets council’s approval

http://www.sligoweekender.ie/news/story.asp?j=17492

Sky scraper gets go-ahead

An immense 15-storey luxury hotel has been given the green light by Sligo County Council.

The controversial hotel, located to the north of the Carraroe roundabout, was subject to a number of objections from local residents, the Carraroe Development Committee, Clifford Electrical, An Taisce and the National Roads Association.

However, Sligo County Council granted permission for the hotel last week, with a number of conditions. These include payment of more than E500,000 for the provision of sewerage and water supply services and footpaths.

The application, originally submitted in May of last year, proposed developing a 105-bedroom 11-storey hotel. However this application was revised in December 2003 to propose a 144-bedroom 15-storey hotel with underground car parking.

This was subsequently granted permission by the Council’s planning department on April 19, 2004.
The revised scheme now consists of an underground car park with 218 spaces and a surface car park with 114 spaces and room for coaches.

The hotel itself consists of a basement, ground floor and 14 upper floors, including a bar, lounge, restaurant, health club, conference and meeting rooms.

The hotel is one of a number of developments planned for the area around the Carraroe roundabout. Already applications for a 10-storey office block and a warehouse/office complex to the south of the roundabout have been submitted.

Residents at the time objected strongly to the size of the hotel development. The developer met with residents at a meeting organised by the development committee.

Chairman of the committee Padraig Gorman said of the hotel plans: “We would welcome every type of development; hotel, office block, retail park, nothing is excluded, but we ask that they be built outwards rather than up. Cut down the heights.”

The committee were scheduled to meet last night (Monday) to discuss their next move, which is likely to be an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against the Council’s decision.

The majority of objectors to the hotel are likely to appeal the decision also. They have until May 19 to submit their objections.

I know the picture is small, but its all I found.

WOW ….15 storeys…..jaypers will the local hospital be able to cope with all the nose bleeds and light headedness that it’s going to cause.
Ah Jasus …sad is’nt it when we consider 15 storeys as being a skyscraper. Land of the leprecauns!
It will only sink into the thick wooley heads when the island of Ireland is covered from head to toe with regular 2 storey boxes and it will be only then that we will have to discover that the only way is up.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t advocating the semi-d, in fact that’s what I was complaining about, Dublin style housing estates being added to little villages and towns throughout the country, sometimes just beside the main street, not taking into account the general growth of the town
And I think this Design will add a lot to Sligo, not famed for it’s picturesque beauty. I’ll look forward to the view from the top!

Aww lads! (Sigh) This is gonna be one of those things where people think they’re doing something really innovative but in fact, are making a big arse of a mistake. This will be an eye-sore! I am aware of the location and I really feel, if a 15-storey structure is to be built – it should be built in the city centre, not in the middle of Ballygobackwards. Cork County Council had this before with the construction of their 16 (17 if you include the council chambers at the very top) storey County Hall in the 1960s – right in the middle of the countryside at the time. Unlike the proposed Water Street project in Cork city (which will be 19-storeys) high and will be constructed in the city centre, the Queen Meave is void of any surrounding urban infastructure of a sufficient nature. But who knows, maybe it’ll develop the same arrogant admiration Cork County Hall has managed to juice from it citizens.

Looks to me lexington to be an interesting building…….saw it as a model in the Council Offices. There will be an office building across the road, not quite 15 storey but tall, non the less.

Can’t be in the city centre, Pearse Road is murder to get down and up during rush hour, right on the turn off road to and from Dublin is where I’d want it as well, within striking distance of the airport .

The Radisson SAS hotel, now being built out toward Rosses Point is in my view a horror story. Better an interesting 15 storey hotel than an unimaginative and crude, 5 storey?

that is very ugly

I know this is going to sound strange, but I think it is hard for any building to look decent beside a roundabout! There is something about the context that just makes them look wrong.

Now maybe this is just me, but I think it bears a disturbing resemblance to that Chicago prison Lotts posted in an earlier thread 😀
http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/Images/TheLoop/MetropolitanCorrectional-001.jpg