Dublin airport operator daa has appealed to an Bórd Pleanála the refusal of Fingal Council to grant permission to demolish the spiral parking ramps at Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1.
The Chief Commercial and Development Officer for daa, Vincent Harrison, told An Bord Pleanála that demolishing ramps would be essential for future development opportunities.
The Fingal County Council recently rejected the application, stating there was insufficient rationale or justification to demolish ramps they deemed architecturally interesting.
Harrison highlights the redundancy of the ramps for nearly 50 years and questions the recent assertion of their heritage value, as they were not included in the Record of Protected Structures.
The ramps occupy a key location within Dublin Airport, which poses challenges for planning and execution of their removal due to being in a busy area.
A decision from An Bord Pleanála regarding the demolition application is expected by late July.
Mr Harrison shared: what is clear is that the application site, lying as it does centrally between two national airport terminals and at the heart of the eastern campus, makes it an extremely valuable site, particularly in the context of a limited and finite land resource. Daa needs certainty that they can be removed in order that development opportunities can be explored”.
“In our view, given the spirals have limited current use, no future use once the T1 facade project is complete, and that the site is not immediately required for airport purposes, permission for demolition of these structures is required now. He said that the ramps site “occupies a highly sensitive location within a heavily trafficked and constrained area and it will take time and careful planning to remove them”.
