BONO has come up with a novel way to add more elevation to his historic home on Vico Road, Killiney — a “reversible”, Lego-like extension.

Conscious of the planning constraints involved with developing a Georgian property, the singer’s architect is proposing to build an upper floor made from “a lightweight prefabricated structure” that can be removed at short notice.

This shell-like extension will cover the existing simple pitched roof. The original eaves and chimneys will remain in place, underneath the new roof, and the roof slates and timbers will be stored so that they can be reused at a future date.

“The removal of existing building fabric will be confined to the removal of roof slates and roof timbers only,” Bono’s architect, Colin Jennings, has told Dun Laoghaire Rathdown county council in a letter.

The singer hopes that this lightweight, removable addition will convince planners that he is not undermining the integrity of his home, Temple Hill.

He had ruled out breaking up the original “grand scale” design of the property’s rooms into smaller spaces because it would compromise the house’s architectural integrity. If permission is granted for the alterations, the additional height of the building will improve the property’s views over Scotman’s Bay.

A spokeswoman for An Taisce’s local committee said that while the house wasn’t on the list of protected structures in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, the 150-year-old property is of architectural significance.

“It should certainly be a protected structure. We plan to study the file this week, to assess the bulk and height of the new additions,” she said.

The spokeswoman said she had never come across an architect arguing that an extension didn’t compromise a structure because it could be removed. “I have never heard of that before but there doesn’t seem to be a timeframe specified,” she said.

The 1,400 sq ft roof extension, which would house a master bedroom, study, two en-suite bathrooms, two dressing rooms and storage space, would “allow for the reintroduction of the original pitched roof in the future,” Jennings has promised. The architect describes the lightweight steel, glass and timber extension as a “reversible intervention”.

He also said that the extension would be “constructed in such a way as to allow it to be easily removed and, therefore, be a reversible alteration”.

Bono also wants to add a ground floor conservatory-type extension with a terrace overhead. In Jennings’ letter, he said that the 6,400 sq ft house no longer meets the family’s needs. “The building can only currently function as a four-bedroom family home. This proposed development would provide them with a five-bedroom family home,” he wrote. If permission is granted, the structure will be 7,800 sq ft in size, almost eight times the size of a typical family home.

Bono has extended Temple Hill several times since he bought it 20 years ago, often despite objections from local conservation groups. In the early 1990s he added a swimming pool and reinforced the upper level to accommodate an antique bath. He installed a set of decorated gates and extended again in 2001. More recently he purchased Lios Beag, a miniature castle adjoining his home, where he installed a lift.

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