AAI Kenilworth Ltd submitted submitted plans to redevelop the site into a 201 bed shared living space. Trinity House Investments (THI), a Singapore-based group of investors, was behind the plans to redevelop the site. THI bought the site in 2018 imtending to develop it for “student accommodation or residential uses”.
The proposed five-storey building would have had 147 single-occupancy bedrooms with 27 double rooms,residents were expected share common areas, with shared kitchens, living and dining areas at each floor level. The complex was to include other communal spaces such as a function room, a café, reception and laundry room.
Late in 2020 An Bord Pleanala refused permission. Peter Dooley, co-founder of Dublin Renters’ Union was reported as saying “This is a great victory for the local community and demonstrates the power of people in the community organising together. Co-living was a really bad idea in the pre-Covid days but in the midst of a global health pandemic, where physical distancing is impossible, co-living is utterly incompatible with safeguarding public health."
