An Bord Pleanála turn down appeal against massive Lawlor's Hotel expansion

An Bord Pleanála have upheld the decision by Kildare County Council to grant planning permission for the massive expansion at Lawlor's Hotel in Naas.

The planned €21 million development had been given the go ahead by the local authority in March, but the progress was stalled when an appeal against the planning permission was lodged at the end of March 2017. An Bord Pleanála have subsequently looked into the project and have quashed the appeal, allowing the expansion to press ahead.

Developers will knock a two-storey dwelling house and sheds at the rear of the existing hotel to facilitate the massive extension that will consist of five floors.

The main part of the upgrade will include the construction of a new reception, lounge and bar that will total 260 sq metres, while new conference and function rooms that will be 465 sq metres in size will also be built. A large new breakfast room(328 sq metres) and a garden room(183.5 sq metres) are also detailed in the upgrade plans.

The five-storey hotel extension will cover a massive 11,520 sq metres of space altogether, and there will be 80 new bedrooms added to the accommodation space as a result. A new link corridor will connect the existing part of the hotel to the new construction, while residents will be catered for with a new kitchen, service areas and toilets.

The most interesting aspect of the new development will be on the fourth floor where a 'Sky restaurant' will be constructed along with a new kitchen at that level. Along with the development of the hotel itself, there will also be a new landscaped garden area and the construction of 140 new parking spaces to cope with the anticipated increase in demand at the hotel.

It will bring the total number of rooms at Lawlor's to 140 and extend the size of the premises to 17,832.5 sq metres.