Grow College Green Public Realm Project

Overview

Ahead of the submission of the planning application for Grow College Green, a flagship project to reimagine the historic core of Dublin city centre, Dublin City Council (DCC) carried out a four-week pre-planning design consultation. This consultation exercise, which took place during February and March 2026, was carried out to gather stakeholder and public feedback on the updated public realm improvement plans for College Green, Dame Street and the surrounds, in advance of the formal planning stage for the project.

Grow College Green is being developed in collaboration with the NTA as a project following on from the DCC/NTA City Centre Transportation Plan 2023.

The consultation process followed a presentation of the pre-planning design to the Council’s Mobility and Public Realm Strategic Policy Committee and forms part of DCC’s ongoing programme of engagement with stakeholders, including local business owners and residents, Disabled Persons Representative Organisations (DPROs) and the public, amongst others, on the project. Engagement was supported by targeted stakeholder briefings, a coordinated media and social media campaign, and accessible consultation formats delivered online and in person. In total, over 1,800 responses were received. There were 1,762 submissions via the Engage platform from over 7,800 visitors to the page. Feedback was also received by email, post and at in-person events. The comprehensive social media campaign resulted in a reach of 107,760 unique users across Instagram and Facebook with a total of approximately 190,765 impressions across LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

The consultation confirmed strong overall support for the updated design. 81.2% of respondents indicated that they like the proposals (66.5% strongly like; 14.7% somewhat like). 15.9% expressed dislike (12.2% strongly dislike; 3.7% somewhat dislike), while 2.9% were neutral, unfamiliar, or did not specify. This is in line with feedback gathered through previous stakeholder engagement and public consultation phases. Support was noted in submissions from the general public as well as from across the political, academic, tourism and environmental sectors.

Scroll down to find the consultation report including an accessible version.

Next Steps

Dublin City Council is progressing towards the submission of a planning application for Grow College Green to An Coimisiún Pleanála in Summer 2026. This will mark the start of the formal planning process, which will include a 6 week statutory consultation period. In advance of this submission, the Project Team will draw on the feedback and insights gathered during the pre-planning consultation to review and further refine the proposed design to address the items raised.

Dublin City Council and the Integrated Design Team will continue to engage with key stakeholders and the wider public during the upcoming detailed design stage. Particular focus will be given to those who raised concerns during the pre-planning consultation, to ensure these items are fully considered and addressed as the design is developed further.

Subject to the granting of planning permission, the project will then move onto the tender, construction and handover phases of the project, it is intended that consultation with key stakeholders will continue throughout all these stages.