RTE wants to build on Montrose

RTE wants to build on Montrose
D4: Housing to pay for growing bills

RTE has asked Dublin City Council for part of its 26-acre campus at Montrose to be rezoned for mixed-use development, including housing.

The broadcaster’s request, which has been confirmed by the council, paves the way for the station to sell the land if the local authority gives the green light.

The cash-strapped broadcaster made a submission to the council last March in relation to the council’s preparation of the new Dublin City Development Plan 2011-2017.

In its letter to the council, RTE Chief Financial Officer Conor Hayes said that half the 26-acre campus at Montrose is open space and parkland.

Mr Hayes said recent development has made Donnybrook part of an extended city centre, with St Vincent’s Hospital, the modernising of Donnybrook village and the RDS.

He said RTE’s campus could be harnessed to contribute to a more compact and sustainable urban environment.

Donnybrook has undergone substantial change in the past 50 years, Mr Hayes said, and can no longer realistically be characterised as “leafy suburbia” as it might have been in the 1960s when RTE first arrived there.

The broadcaster concluded that long-term redevelopment of the Montrose site can enhance the Donnybrook area, Mr Hayes explained.

Consultation

He asked the council to change the zoning of the Montrose site from Z15 to Z10, because the former does not adequately describe the wide range of opportunities on the site.

The Council said the submission was received from RTE in response to a request as part of public consultation on the new Dublin development plan.

RTE’s letter to the council was in response to a letter the council sent to a number of service and utility providers, including RTE. At present, 50pc of the Montrose campus is occupied by a combination of Studio Production Facilities, office accommodation, storage and other facilities needed for the management and operation of RTE.

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