PLANS for redeveloping the derelict site that once housed The Castle Vaults pub on Dundrum’s Main Street have been submitted. The proposal for removing existing buildings at the village location and replacing them with two commercial units and four two-bedroom apartments was recently lodged with council planners by Dundrum Development Association.
A design and access statement notes that a unit on the site was last used as a dwelling approximately 20 years ago, and that the public house, prior to demolition, had included upper storey accommodation. ‘The removal of The Castle Vaults has resulted in a sizable vacant plot at the corner of Main Street and Manse Road, which is clearly incongruous with the townscape character and at odds with the built-up nature of Main Street,’ it reads.
The site also contains outbuildings, which are stated to be ‘derelict, crumbling and generally, structurally unsound and unsafe’. The document lists design aims that include: completing the street frontage; reinstating the strong corner massing and keynote corner aesthetic; reinstating the previous mixed use provision of residential and commercial; and addressing the historic nature and tradition of the site and making it sympathetic to its situation within an area of townscape character. ‘Proposed eaves and ridge heights are to match those on the original buildings (taken from survey information and historic photographs),’ it reads. ‘As such, there is scope for additional attic accommodation (second floor) without the need for a roof height higher than that previous, and in keeping with the second floor accommodation as part of the original Castle Vaults building. ‘A gable peak at the end of terrace end of the Main Street elevation accentuates the importance of the corner site. ‘The block turns the corner and progresses along Manse Road, in similar fashion to that previous, in the form of a narrow two-storey element to accommodate a duplex apartment.’ It is also stated that the scale and massing of the Manse Road element will be ‘subordinate to the proposed Main Street and corner elevations’.