U2’s Adam Clayton has finally found what he is looking for after Cork County Council gave the green light for his plans to build a “retirement home” close to Kinsale.
The council granted planning permission to Clayton to demolish a ruined homestead and build a replacement dwelling on a greenfield site at Ringfinnan overlooking Kinsale and the river Bandon.
The floor space of Kinsale House is 795sq m, which is more than seven times the size of an average three-bed semidetached home of 111.4sq m.
Clayton has been busy recently celebrating U2’s 50th anniversary and will soon be preparing for U2’s The Greatest Show on Earth world tour, which starts in Mexico City in February.
No objections were lodged against the planning application, which was submitted in June of this year.
With the granting of permission for Kinsale House, Clayton can proceed to demolish the existing ruined two-storey detached dwelling and associated outbuildings and begin the construction of a replacement six-bedroom dwelling complete with a rooftop paved terrace.
The sprawling home on the lower ground floor is to comprise a games and media room, a kitchenette/bar and three en-suite bedrooms.
On the ground floor there is to be a gym and spa area, a snug TV room, a front and back kitchen and a livingroom as well as a covered patio, an entrance hallway and aprincipal bedroom.
On the first floor there are to be two more bedrooms along with a second kitchen and livingroom.
The development is also set to involve the erection of 50 photovoltaic panels on ground-mounted arrays and five micro wind turbines.
In a design statement submitted by architects, Rundell Associates said “when the applicant first saw the plot, and recognised that it was an ideal place to create his retirement home, his architectural brief was both clear and ambitious”.
Rundell Associates said Clayton “envisioned a house designed to the very highest aesthetic and environmental standards, that would respond to its local context and become an exemplar for future development in the area”.
The architects said Clayton intended that the new building “would not only be built using local materials drawing inspiration from the existing derelict buildings on site but also that it would integrate itself into the landscape through careful consideration of its massing, rooflines and landscaping”.
Rundell Associates said he “also emphasised his preference for the layout of his home to make direct reference to traditional Irish farmstead typologies, as a way of grounding the architecture in place and memory”.
The design statement by Rundell Associates said the group’s brief was to provide a modern, sustainable and comfortable family home and design a building reminiscent of local farmsteads.
The architect said this involved establishing “step-free” access throughout the main living areas and principal bedroom so that it could serve as a “lifetime home”.
The brief also included providing convenient staff quarters directly linked to the main house with covered parking for staff and visitors.
There were also instructions to minimise the visual impact on the surrounding area by building on the most discreet part of the site and sinking parts of the building into the landscape.
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Planning consultants for Clayton, Coakley O’Neill Town Planning, told the council the proposed development represented “a high-quality development that will integrate successfully with the existing and sensitive character of the local area”.