Phibsborough’s brutalist shopping centre in line for major revamp including hotel and market hall
Phibsborough Shopping Centre is in line for a major rethink, if plans submitted to Dublin City Council (DCC) for Dublin 7’s polarising brutalist block come to fruition.
It is just the latest set of plans submitted in recent years for the redevelopment of the shopping centre, which backs onto the Bohemians home ground, Dalymount Park.
Applicant Stormborn Capital Acquisition Limited is seeking to revamp the concrete complex, which includes the existing large ground floor Tesco, into a 150-bedroom hotel with a restaurant and bar on the first floor.
The ground floor shops will also have their frontage refreshed.
An additional two storeys will be built on top of the refurbished 1969 brutalist tower, bringing it to ten floors in total.
Stormborn, a subsidiary of developer Twinlite, is promising that existing retailers, including anchor tenant Tesco, will stay operational and accessible throughout construction.
Two new additional blocks are also proposed, with an up-to-nine-storey block providing 441 student bed spaces and another four-storey block with 23 cost-rental apartments and a ground floor market hall.
The market hall opens out onto the plaza, and promises an experience “in the spirit of Torvehallerne in Copenhagen – scaled to Phibsborough”.
Torvehallerne is a well-known food hall in the Danish capital where fresh fruit and vegetables, specialty goods and food bars combine across more than 60 stalls.
Unit sizes are being kept intentionally small in the proposed market hall, designers say, to entice small, local operators to set up shop, although no tenants have been selected as yet.
A public plaza is also proposed in the plans, linking Phibsborough Road, North Circular Road and Connaught Street. This will also facilitate access to the soon-to-be-redeveloped Dalymount Park.
Existing surface-level car parking will be all but eliminated, with only two spaces left at ground level. However, 49 more spaces will be introduced, in what designers are calling a “discreet first-floor podium accessed from Connaught Street”.
Bike parking is set to be majorly ramped up, with at least 430 bike parking spaces proposed for hotel guests, students, shoppers and residents.
Twinlite and architects MCORM say the project reimagines the site as “a genuine urban quarter”.
“[It] retains and revives the existing landmark, opens new streets and a civic plaza, and brings 150 hotel rooms, 411 student bed-spaces, 23 apartments, a market hall and refreshed retail into a single coherent composition,” they said.
In a Q&A on the developer’s website, it said the student-heavy focus of the scheme was down to traffic considerations and the council’s parking policy.
"Current planning policy makes it extremely difficult to deliver large numbers of family homes (either apartments or houses) without a large amount of parking,” it reads.
"Student housing generates no parking requirement and has been shown to alleviate housing pressures by reducing the use of family homes by groups of students, which can free them up for use by families.”
They also pointed to the scheme’s proximity to TU Dublin’s Grangegorman, the Mater Hospital Campus and “strong public transport” as justification for the accommodation makeup.
Construction works could start next year if planning permission is granted, with the proposal designed to integrate seamlessly with Phibsborough’s upcoming BusConnects corridor.
Developers say they also consulted DCC to ensure it would not interfere with Dalymount Park’s redevelopment as that proceeds.
Members of the public can provide their feedback on the proposals through the DCC Planning portal here.