Residents could be returning to Henry Street for the first time in decades

Fiona Frawley

Henry Street was originally designed with the intention for residents to live there.

There could be potential for residents to live on Dublin’s Henry Street once more, as part of new plans submitted to Dublin City Council.

As reported by the Irish Times, German property investment company Institutional Investments Partners GmbH wants to convert unused floors above a shop on the corner of Henry Street and Moore Street into eight apartments.

Henry Street was originally designed for resident accommodation.

The plans would see the first, second and third floors would be converted into two studios, five one-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom apartment, with a communal roof garden and a shop space retained at the ground floor. The basement would be developed into resident storage, with additional storage space for 13 bikes.

The building at 42-43 Henry Street was originally two shops, but was converted into one premises in the 1950s. It had previously been occupied by Suits Direct but is currently vacant. According to the Times the upper floors have been used as storage for ground floor retailers for many years, and the last time they were used for accommodation is unknown.

“What Dublin needs”

Speaking on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny Show, Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University Mary Corcoran said the plan is exactly what Dublin needs.

“I think it’s wonderful; I think it’s exactly the direction that the city needs to be going.

“I think we’ve learnt a massive amount of lessons since COVID in terms of what are the real needs of people living in a world in which we are overshadowed by the challenges of climate change.

“There’s some really interesting work out there now that shows [that] rather than continuing with suburban sprawl that we begin to think about how we can rethink and reimagine our cities.

“I think this is a very good example of that.”

The Irish Government aims to build on average 33,000 housing units a year by the end of the decade, under the Housing For All policy.

Header image via Shutterstock

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