Well-known billionaire plans to construct helicopter pad on historic Waterford estate
Image: National Built Heritage Service
The restoration works at Ballynatray house in west Waterford continue, with the construction of a helicopter landing area now planned.
The estate has embarked on significant works since coming under the ownership of vacuum cleaner magnate James Dyson for reportedly over €30 million earlier this year.
A planning application, which was granted permission in July, included rebuilding stone chimneys, removal of a non-historic external staircase and replacement of non-historic windows with new sash windows.
Multiple gatehouses will also be restored and the estate’s west barn will be converted to an energy centre.
Also approved was the demolition of an existing 1980s single-storey west extension at basement floor and the construction of a new single-storey extension.
The most recent planning application plans for a helicopter landing area, alongside the removal of two existing wastewater treatment units and the installation of a new system.
Ballynatray House is an 18th-century classical-style house with an associated farm complex and is listed in the current Record of Protected Structures and by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The house sits on an 850-acre estate and was seen this summer almost entirely enclosed in scaffolding and screening.
The house was extensively worked on previously in the late 1990s.
