Despite facing opposition, the proposed €20 million redevelopment of Dublin's Ormond Hotel is to go-ahead after being approved by Dublin City Council.
Monteco Holdings, which is co-owned by Queens Park Rangers owner Tony Fernandes, bought the former Ormond Hotel for around €2.5 million but has faced opposition from the Save Joycean Dublin Committee and local residents, who objected to plans for the demolishment of the building.
Discussing the successful planning permission request, which was given after providing Dublin City Council with additional information, a Monteco Holdings spokesperson said: "Our revised scheme has taken extensive steps to address objections raised to the previous application, including reducing the numbers of bedrooms from 170 to 121 and lowering the height of the building from six to five storeys."
Although the company accepted the Ormond Hotel's connection with Ulysses, it said the buildings contain "none of the physical structures referred to in Ulysses’ Sirens episode" but that "text from the book [will be] embedded into the floor and courtyard with bronze plaques or lettering," reports the Irish Times.
The planned redevelopment, which had been described as "unoriginal, corporate, bland, generic, and characterless" by Save Joycean Dublin committee member James Moore as well as being "monolithic and unsympathetic" by An Bord Pleanála will start next year. The hotel will employ 80 people and plans to open by the end of 2018.
