96-acute bed facility approved for UHL despite objections from residents

Seán McCárthaigh

An Coimisiún Pleanála has approved the development of a high-rise extension at University Hospital Limerick which will provide 96 new acute inpatient beds, despite objections by some local residents who complained about the proposed height of the building.

The Commission upheld the decision of Limerick City and County Council to grant planning permission to the HSE for a five-storey extension to an existing three-storey building with basement parking within the UHL campus in Dooradoyle, Limerick.

It rejected an appeal against the council’s ruling by a group of local residents who expressed concern that the height of the building will increase from 12 metres to 37 metres as a result of the extension.

Subject to compliance with a number of planning conditions, the Commission said the development would be in accordance with the zoning of the site as well as the policies and objective of the Limerick City and County Development Plan 2022-2028.

The Commission said the extension would adequately integrate with the existing adjoining development in terms of design, scale and finish and would not seriously injure the visual amenities of the area including residential amenities of nearby properties.

It was also satisfied that the development would not create a traffic hazard or detract from a protected structure – a Catholic church – within the hospital grounds.

The extension will connect and integrate with another new building where another 96 new beds are due to become operational this month.

The plans for the extension had been opposed by a small group of residents from the adjoining Willsbrook estate who claimed the proposed development would be “completely out of character” with the surrounding residential areas.

They expressed concern that it would result in a loss of privacy for their homes and a reduction in daylight.

“We believe that it is not fair or appropriate that the HSE in seeking to fix its own problem in UHL is unnecessarily creating major problems for its neighbours,” they added.

The residents claimed UHL’s grounds had not been specified as a location suitable for such buildings in the council’s own Building Height Strategy.

They said there were other issues in relation to construction noise, traffic and parking.

The group also called on the HSE to engage constructively and meaningfully with affected residents in relation to its ongoing capital development plans for the UHL campus.

Planning consultants for the HSE said the phased development of the UHL campus in recent years has had the primary objective of “increasing bed capacity and enhancing the overall functionality of the hospital.”

They claimed ongoing expansion and improvement of healthcare services and bedspace capacity at UHL was “strategically critical not only to Limerick but to the entire mid-west region.”

While they accepted the new extension would be visible from various vantage points, they disagreed with the objectors that its visual impact would be negative.

They also pointed out that the suggestion by the appellants that the extension building could have been relocated to another part of the hospital’s grounds was neither feasible nor practical.

In an 85-page report, a planning inspector with An Coimisiún Pleanála said there was a substantial setback distance of over 335 metres between the two new developments at UHL and existing houses in the Willsbrook estate.

A recent report by the Health Information and Quality Authority highlighted significant problems with overcrowding at UHL.

It found that the mid-west region has the lowest number of inpatient beds in the Republic in relation to the number of people attending the emergency department at UHL.

The HIQA report warned that 128 new beds due to be opened at UHL before the end of the year would not be sufficient to address all current or projected deficits in inpatient bed capacity at the hospital.

It also noted that the beds which will be delivered as a result of the Commission’s latest ruling are unlikely to become operational until 2029.

Welcoming the decision, HSE Mid-West Region spokesperson, Sandra Broderick, said the development had been sanctioned under the 2024 National Acute Inpatient Bed Capacity Expansion Plan.

Ms Broderick noted that UHL operates the single busiest hospital emergency department in the country.

She claimed the 96 new beds coming on stream this month should result in a small but consistent reduction in the number of patients on trolleys if demand remains static.