An Bord Pleanála, again, refuses permission to change use of Newmarket space from market to retail

An Bord Pleanála has refused permission to the owner of The Eight Building, an office block in Newmarket, to change the use of part of its ground floor from a potential market space to retail.

It’s the second time that planners have bounced back an application to amend the planning permission.

Before 2019, an old warehouse on the site used to host the Green Door Market, selling fresh produce and other foodstuff. It also hosted Sunday markets, including the busy Dublin Flea Market. 

Since then, though, those markets have left and the square has been transformed by the construction of new apartments, a new hotel, new student accommodation, and the new office space in The Eight Building.

In 2022, Patrizia AG posted on its website about “slotting into Ireland’s coolest neighbourhood” with its investment in The Eight Building.

It said of the building: “Nestled in an area teeming with food, drink, nightlife and culture, its digital and sustainable capabilities state the case for ticking the community spirit, resilience and sustainability ‘coolness reference points.’” 

Patrizia also has said it struggled to find someone to operate a market out of the market space on its office building’s ground floor – and so, asked for permission to use that space for something else. 

Nope, again

Ciarán Daly, an inspector at An Bord Pleanála, said in his report to the board ahead of this recent decision that while the current city development plan doesn’t reference, specifically, maintaining an indoor market at Newmarket, it does generally refer to this use.

It says that “community and cultural uses at Newmarket Square should be protected into the future”, he wrote.

That is “strong and specific enough” to require the indoor market space – which is covered by that – to stay, he said. 

He said he accepted a report submitted as part of Patrizia’s application that outlined attempts to find a market operator to fill the space, and which raised concerns about whether that use was actually financially viable. 

But it hadn’t been long since the board last decided in August 2023 not to allow the change of use, he wrote. “I am not satisfied that there has been a meaningful change in circumstances since the most recent refusal of permission to merit a different outcome.”

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Patrizia AG said that the company didn’t have any comment to make, in response to queries as to what its future plans are for the market space and whether it planned to try again to rent it out.

On the square

Around 11am on Tuesday morning in Newmarket, construction workers sat in chairs on the footpath outside The Eight Building.

The square was busy. 

Machinery beeped and rattled at a giant building site next door. Two coaches were parked up outside the Premier Inn opposite.

Vans and trucks navigated down a strip of road through the square, between the zebra-striped planters that line the tarmac footpaths. 

Dublin City Council has had long-term plans for the renovation of the square. But those were held up by resourcing, said Stephen Coyne, the area economic development officer for the council in March last year.

So it’s been rolling out some interim changes – getting rid of some parking, and building out the footpaths, and putting in the striped planters.

It isn’t done with those changes yet, Coyne said on Tuesday. 

The council plans to sort a drainage issue in the next couple of weeks, he said. “We need an extra drain, an extra connection to the sewage system.”

After, they’ll make the ground of the pedestrian areas look better and lighten them up with a buff-coloured surface, he says. 

They plan to add seating and planting too, he says. “Kind of a mix of street furniture. We’re tendering for that at the moment.”

They’re working to put manners on the vehicular traffic too, he said. They’ve had some issues with vehicles mounting the footpaths, he said. 

And, they need to update some of the traffic and parking regulations for the square, he says. They’re planning to put in paid parking, he says. “It’s been a bit of a Wild West show for a while.”

Coyne said he understands the frustrations that have been expressed about the current situation on the square. He would love for the redesign and works to be a bit further along by now, he says.

They are working to get events up and running on the square, he said. “It’s something we’re looking at actively.”

Teelings, the distillery which fronts onto the square, is hosting an event outside on Sunday as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations, he said. 

But also, the council wants to run events over the summer in July and August. “Just to start out.”

They’ve been talking to a potential market operator, he says, but wouldn’t give details. He is conscious that year-round markets worked before because they had an indoor space too for bad-weather days.

Ian Dowling, who runs Rare Irish Stuff and has been involved in flea markets full-time for 15 years, says that he is still actively involved – along with others – in efforts to revive markets at Newmarket.

He has engaged with the council on their vision, he says.

And, he has asked the agent for The Eight Building about terms for the ground-floor space, and they said they would get back to him, said Dowling. “But I haven’t received any response yet.”

Coyne, the council official, says he welcomes the An Bord Pleanála decision.

He knows the indoor space is modest and there are costs to managing it, he says. But “I think they could try better to put a use in”.