Grangegorman is one of only eight Strategic Development Zones (SDZs) identified by the Irish Government to facilitate development of social or economic importance to the state. Created by the Grangegorman Development Agency Act, 2005, the new Grangegorman Campus is a 29.5 ha (73 acre) site in Grangegorman, Dublin 7, that once complete will accommodate a new city quarter based around health and education. The development includes new healthcare and accommodation facilities for the HSE, an urban campus for the Technical University Dublin (TU Dublin – formerly Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)), together with arts, cultural, recreation and commercial facilities and high quality public spaces to serve the community and city.

Tom Phillips + Associates (TPA) provided strategic planning guidance on how best to achieve the Grangegorman Development Agency’s vision for the site. This involved evaluating various planning delivery mechanisms in regard to the Client brief and the planning context, and recommending the best course of action to deliver the brief in a manner that maximised certainty with regard to the delivery schedule and planning decisions.

TPA was invited to provide strategic advice on the preparation of a Masterplan for Grangegorman and planning input to the Strategic Plan for the site. Our office led the planning application process for individual sub projects within the overall redevelopment and prepared the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Grangegorman Development Agency Draft Strategic Plan. TPA successfully led the Project Team at the Oral Hearing held by An Bord Pleanála in November 2011. Prior to the making of the SDZ Planning Scheme, TPA lodged three Planning Applications on behalf of the GDA. These were for a temporary primary school, a replacement mental healthcare facility and for healthcare related uses within one of the site’s Protected Structures. All three were granted permission. This project was awarded the prestigious RTPI President’s Special Award 2015 in December 2015.