Maldron Hotel set for major expansion

The City Council has given the green light for major expansion works at the Maldron Hotel on the Headford Road – creating a 150-bedroom hotel with modern conference facilities and a new gym.

Last December, Lintal Commercial Ltd (part of Pat McCann’s Dalata Hotel Group) sought permission for extensive work on the 1.3-acre site which it purchased out of receivership in 2014 for €10.5 million.

The plans include the conversion of conference rooms on the first and second floors (as well as the existing gym) to create 20 new bedrooms, and also for the retention of 14 bedrooms on the first floor created without planning permission by the previous owners.

The basement offices will be converted into a gym, while modifications will be made to the bar, kitchen and ground floor retail units to create a conference/business centre with eight meeting rooms.

While the application would have represented an overdevelopment of the site last year – concerns over which had been raised by planners – a specific reference to the site was included in the new City Development Plan (which came into effect on January 7), which supported the redevelopment and modernisation of the hotel.

The City Council approved the application, attaching a series of stipulations, including a condition that demolition and construction work is restricted to between 8am and 6pm Mondays to Fridays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.

“The proposal is to create a business centre on the ground floor of the hotel by changing the vacant retail units into meeting rooms and it is intended that the business centre will help facilitate conferences and seminars in the city.

“In addition, the existing spa and offices on the second floor of the hotel are to be changed to bedrooms and a new gym and fitness centre is to be created in the basement of the hotel. In total, it is proposed that the redeveloped hotel will have 149 bedrooms.

“This application is made in the context of the recent recovery in the hotel sector across the country, the extent of which suggests that hotels in the country’s cities are near capacity during peak times.

“There is significant merit in the development of new hotel accommodation within Galway City. Such accommodation, for which there is an urgent need, will support the continued growth of the city’s tourism sector and its overall economic development,” the application reads.