St Stephens Green

In 2022 GV8 was engaged by DAVY to assess the daylight sunlight levels associated with a proposed redevelopment of St Stephen’s Green Centre. The proposed development consists principally of the expansion of the existing centre to include additional office space at upper levels as well as an internal reconfiguration to accommodate new retail, restaurant, and cultural facilities.

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Located on a prominent site within Dublin’s city centre one of the key challenges faced was the need to maximise the development envelope without causing undue levels of impact to neighbouring properties. This was particularly challenging as DCC’s latest development plan calls for both residential and commercial neighbours to now be considered within daylight impact testing.

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While many points of departure from advisory minimums were initially identified GV8’s considered analysis (which accounted for receptor sensitivity, test method limitations and countervailing planning factors) demonstrated that reasonable levels of daylight would be retained in all cases.

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Using detailed supplementary testing GV8 was able to show that the loss of natural light registering within neighbouring accommodation was less significant than the results from conventional testing initially indicated.

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Key Services Provided Included:

• Vertical Sky Component (VSC) testing to assess loss of skylight access to neighbouring accommodation.

• Annual Probable Sunlight Hours (APSH) testing to assess the loss of sunlight to neighbouring accommodation.

• Sun on Ground (SOG) testing to assess the loss of sunlight to neighbouring recreation spaces.

• Production of supplementary shadow casting imagery.

• Preparation of supplementary Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) testing to investigate internal daylight levels in neighbouring properties.

• The preparation of a detailed cover letter which helped to communicate the significance and meaning of the results presented in the primary reports.

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Permission for this development is pending.

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