Plans to develop a State-owned site on Dublin's Harcourt Terrace for two office blocks and two apartment buildings, rising to a height of nine storeys, are "wholly inappropriate" in scale for this sensitive location, according to An Taisce. "Harcourt Terrace is a unique environment in the city, defined by the rare and intact Regency houses, with centrepiece, on its west side," it said. "Unfortunately, the proposed building is . . . in no way sympathetic to the sensitive historic environment of the terrace." The proposed development, by Harcourt Terrace Ltd, a subsidiary of the Durkan Group, "needs to be significantly revised to take account of the unique and sensitive environment of Harcourt Terrace and the scale and pattern of development on the Grand Canal frontage", An Taisce said. In a letter to Dublin City Council objecting to the scheme, Kevin Duff of An Taisce's planning sub-committee noted that An Bord Pleanála had refused planning permission last April for an eight-storey office block on Charlemont Place because of its obtrusive height and scale.
