55 jobs to be created as Jury’s extension approved

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The owner of Jury’s Inn on Quay Street has reached a compromise with Galway City Council on plans for a major extension which will add 79 new bedrooms to the hotel.

Last March, the hotel’s owner sought permission to expand the 130-bedroom hotel, in anticipation of a “massive increase of tourists” expected in the coming years.

Fattal Jury’s Operation (Ireland) Ltd – which is owned by Israeli hotelier David Fattal – applied for planning permission to construct two new floors, a new bedroom wing facing onto the River Corrib and an overhaul of the hotel’s ground floor and façade, including a new larger entrance area.

The plans involved a total of 89 new bedrooms, and the company said 55 jobs would be created on top of the 65 to 70 already employed during peak times.

However, the City Council sent the company back to the drawing board on the plans, branding the scale and design “unacceptable” and voicing concerns about negative impact on views.

Last month, significantly scaled-back plans were submitted to the Council (including the omission of 10 of the proposed bedrooms), which have now been approved.

The revised plans include reduced size of the new wing and the building is now set further back, at 20 metres from the Corrib.

Aluminium panels originally proposed for part of the façade have been replaced by Kilkenny limestone.

Proposed balcony extensions and recessed balconies facing to Wolfe Tone Bridge have been omitted.
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