Abercrombie and Fitch has set up a Flag Ship store in Dublin`s College Green as part of its European expansion.

34 and 35 College Green, a former Bank Building was last used as a retail outlet on the ground floor by Habitat. When Habitat closed, the owners of the building, Clarendon Properties, engaged Manahan Planners to apply for permission to change the use of the upper floors of the building from offices to retail use. The purpose of this was to create a retail unit large enough to attract an international operator.   In the application we pointed out  that the creation of larger retail floor plates in the city centre as proposed  was consistent  the retail policy of Dublin City Council.  In response the Planning Authority granted permission.

The Building is a Protected Structure.  Abercrombie wanted to make internal changes to the building so as to create an  exciting internal space their stores are famous for.  The Protected status of the building meant that permission was required for these internal works. Manahan Planners lodged an application for these internal changes to the building. This application required  us to coordinate  the desires of the client with the Conservation demands and constraints  of the Protected Structure.  This application was assembled with the assistance of James O`Connor, Conservation Architect. Eventually an application was agreed upon and lodged with Dublin City Council. The Planning Authority  then granted permission. 

We  lodged a number of follow up applications for signage, lighting and accessibilty measures.  These applications were all prepared in association with Househam Henderson Architects based in London.

We also appealed the Financial Contribution attaching to this permission. It was originally set at €29,749.44 but we got that reduced to €7008 by way of appeal.

While permission was granted initially in Spring 2011, work on site did  not commence until Spring 2012. The premises  opened in late October  2012. During construction the Building hoarding contained a graphic that caused some comment in the media.

We lodged a planning application to retain the image for a period of 6 months. The graphic was taken  down   before a Decision was made and so the application was withdrawn. It would have been interesting to see if the Planning Authority would have granted permission or not

This has been an exciting  project  for the design team.  Once  opened the new unit  will contribute to  the College Green area.  It will help link the retail nodes of Grafton Street and Henry Street.  Based on the experience in London and Paris with their flagship stores, it will become  a tourist attraction in its own right.  It is a pity the store was not opened in time for the visit of President Obama to College Green. He spoke from the front of the Bank of Ireland building accross the road. This building housed the Irish parliament up to the Act of Union in 1800.