View from Doyle's Corner — Hotel tower, refreshed retail plinth, public realm
Fig. 01 / Daytime
For more than half a century, the Phibsborough Shopping Centre has sat at the heart of Doyle's Corner — a landmark defined as much by its car-dominated forecourts as by its 1960s brutalist tower. The building has aged. The public realm around it has not kept pace with the life of the village.
This proposal, developed by Twinlite and MCORM in close coordination with Dublin City Council and the Dalymount Park redevelopment team, reimagines the site as a genuine urban quarter — one that retains and revives the existing landmark, opens new streets and a civic plaza, and brings 150 hotel rooms, 411 student bed-spaces, 23 apartments, a food hall and refreshed retail into a single coherent composition.
Nothing here is statutory dressing. We are publishing because a regeneration of this scale belongs to the people who live next door to it.
Phibsborough is designated a Key Urban Village in the Dublin City Development Plan. This scheme was shaped around what that designation is supposed to mean in practice — more residents, more activity, a stronger street life, and the civic space the village has been missing.
The current ground plane is dominated by cars, service yards and loading. The new scheme tucks parking discreetly at first-floor podium level, releasing the entire street for walking, sitting, trading and gathering.
A new pedestrianised street runs along the redeveloped Dalymount Stand, with the Walk of Fame of Irish football incorporated into the landscape. For the first time, match-day Phibsborough and everyday Phibsborough share the same ground. Come on Bohs!
Rather than demolish, we retain and adapt the David Keane & Partners 1969 tower and its concrete panel facades. It becomes a 150-room hotel. Adaptive reuse over replacement, with embodied carbon preserved.
Block C introduces a ground-floor food hall opening onto the new plaza — Priory Market in scale and spirit — with nine refurbished retail units along Phibsborough Road. Active frontage from breakfast to last orders.
The Tesco supermarket has been integrated into the scheme from day one. The store remains open throughout construction — no gap, no relocation.
The existing block is a barrier — you walk around it, not through it. The proposal introduces a new north–south street and a civic plaza, reconnecting the Mater side of the village to North Circular Road.
A new bus stop is integrated into a generous linear public realm along Phibsborough Road, aligning with the BusConnects corridor starting Q1 2027. Zero private parking for students. Abundant cycle stands.
23 new cost-rental apartments fronting on to the north circular road, this is a deliberate choice by Twinlite to ensure that local key workers can afford to live close to where they work.
Twinlite is unique in Ireland, we design, build and operate buildings long term. So we'll be here for construction and a long time after that. Since we'll be neighbours, we will work hard to earn your trust and to deliver the project with as little disruption as possible.
Drag the slider to compare the existing view from North Circular Road with the proposed regeneration.
The scheme is organised as three blocks — one retained and refurbished, two new — that together frame a new civic plaza, a new pedestrianised street along Dalymount Stand, and a generous linear public realm along Phibsborough Road.
The existing David Keane & Partners tower — one of Dublin's most recognisable 1960s landmarks — is retained and adapted as a 150-room hotel. The concrete panel facades are cleaned and restored. Two new storeys complete the form where plant previously crowded the roof. The first-floor annex becomes the hotel lobby and bar.
A new buff-brick block reshapes the western edge of the site, creating a pedestrianised street alongside the new Dalymount Stand. The building is organised around a south-facing communal courtyard, with a roof garden at level seven. Active ground-floor frontage replaces what was previously back-of-house.
A smaller four-storey block in red-brown brick steps down to meet the Victorian grain of North Circular Road. A food hall occupies the ground floor, opening onto both the street market entrance and the new plaza. Twenty-three apartments sit above — homes built where homes are needed most.
Each image corresponds to a key public realm interface identified in the design statement — a walk through the regenerated site from Doyle's Corner, along Phibsborough Road, through the new plaza, and out to the Dalymount Park edge.
The palette reads the existing neighbourhood — from the buff-brown brick of the oldest houses on Dalymount Terrace, to the red brick of the Victorian shopfronts on Doyle's Corner, to the raw concrete of the 1969 tower. Copper-toned metalwork ties it together, a modern echo of the ornamental shopfront relief that still survives on the four corners of the junction.
The site sits at the intersection of North Circular Road and Phibsborough Road, occupying a substantial portion of the Phibsborough Key Urban Village zoning area. It is served by multiple bus routes, the Phibsborough Luas stop, and sits directly alongside the redeveloped Dalymount Park.
*All dates from April 2026 onwards subject to planning consent.
No. The existing 1969 tower and concrete-panel retail plinth are retained and refurbished rather than demolished. The tower becomes a hotel; the ground-floor retail is upgraded with new shopfronts. Two new buildings — Block B (student accommodation) and Block C (food hall + apartments) — complete the new urban block.
Tesco remains. The store has been integrated into the design from the outset, with a letter of support on file, and will stay operational continuously throughout construction. No closure, no relocation, no gap in service.
Street-level parking along Phibsborough Road is removed to create a generous pedestrian public realm — replacing a car-dominated frontage with seating, planting, footfall and a new BusConnects bus stop. Parking is retained discreetly at first-floor podium level, accessed from Connaught Street.
The retained tower rises to 10 storeys with its new cap. Block B (student) steps between 7 and 8 storeys. Block C (food hall + apartments) is deliberately held at 4 storeys to respect the Victorian grain of North Circular Road. Heights were tested in the previously approved permission and refined further in this proposal.
Dalymount Park is a separate Dublin City Council Part 8 application, approved in 2023. The two projects have been coordinated weekly for over three months. Our scheme opens a new pedestrianised street along the Dalymount Stand, incorporating the Walk of Fame of Irish football into the landscape design.
The site sits within walking distance of TU Dublin Grangegorman, the Mater Hospital campus and strong public transport. Purpose-built student accommodation releases family homes in the wider rental market, establishes 24-hour presence in the village, and was supported in principle by two previous permissions on the site.
A formal planning application has been lodged with Dublin City Council. Written observations can be made to DCC Planning Department during the public observation period. You can also subscribe below and we will email you key updates, drop-in sessions and responses to community queries.
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