The owners of the Harcourt Hotel in Dublin have received the go-ahead for a new four star 152-bedroom hotel on the capital’s Harcourt street.

Dublin City Council has given Brian and Sally McGill’s Olema Consultants permission to transform the existing the Pinebrook House Offices into the four-star Pinebrook House hotel.

The City Council is dealing with a flurry of hotel applications as investors seek to address what is perceived as a shortfall of Dublin bedrooms. In a recent study, the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation reported that there is a need for 30 additional hotels providing 5,000 additional rooms in the capital by 2020/21.

A submission by Olema’s planning consultants — outlining the need for the hotel — points out that only three large hotels have been opened in the last decade with about 500 rooms provided between The Gibson (252), The Marker (187) and The Dean (52), also located on Harcourt St.

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The consultants say that “on balance, there has been a marginal net gain in hotel bedrooms in the past decade”.

Sixth hotel

The new Pinebrook House Hotel will be the sixth hotel on Harcourt Street and will join the sister Harcourt Hotel along with Harrington Hall, Dean Hotel, O’Callaghan Hotel and Jackson Court hotel.

The conversion of the four-storey Pinebrook offices will include adding two additional storeys.

The City Council gave the plan the go-ahead after finding that the proposal would be in accordance with the City Development Plan that aims to “promote and enhance Dublin as a world class tourist destination for leisure, culture, business and student visitors.”

The planner also concluded that the proposed development would not have a negative impact on the streetscape or function of the street given the existing uses in the area and the limited conservation status of the building which was rebuilt in the mid 1970’s with little historic fabric remaining.

The proposed new hotel is located at 72-74 Harcourt Street with its rear facing onto Iveagh Gardens.