Sean Dunne: modified plan

Developer Seán Dunne's plans to redevelop the former Jurys Ballsbridge and Berkeley Court hotel site in Ballsbridge in Dublin have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Local residents have lodged objections to the proposal to demolish the hotels and replace them with nearly 570 apartments, a hotel, shops, healthcare facilities and bars. The plan was modified by Dunne in July to ease residents' concerns.

Billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond had dubbed the application "bland" and "uninteresting", while Dublin City Council said the hotel's location would result "in serious overshadowing of the open space".

Dunne's previous plan for the site was rejected by the appeals board. Even if this plan gets the thumbs-up, construction cannot commence until 2012 at the earliest as Dunne's Mountbrook Group is committed to operating the D4 hotels until the end of 2011.