Planning & Tall Buildings in Dublin

MJohnston wrote: »

Speaking purely from an architectural standpoint (because the political side is a minefield I don't want to enter), Ronan is surely one of the better options to be involved here - CCD and Barrow Street are great modern buildings, imo.

Wouldn't agree fully with the CCD. Frontage yes, but the huge bare wall facing out onto the canal is ridiculous. They could have done so much more with it.

I think we can have some sort of mixture of the two in Dublin though, we have a great opportunity with the north docklands, the area between PWC and the 3 Arena, there is still loads of land there to develop, but if we have a mixture of residential/commercial/hotels/concert venues/restaurants etc we won't have to worry about the issue of it being dead after 6pm as you say, while also not being anywhere in eyesight of the "precious" georgian dublin.

This will take some clever planning, and with the exception of the lack of high rise, I think the Grand Canal Dock area has done a good job of mixing commercial, residential and nightlife.

Ren2k7 wrote: »

The RAF did the Germans a big favour.

really hope your being ironic.

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Surely it was better before that?

I've often wondered what would have remained of "Georgian Dublin" had we taken the advice of the "belted earls" and joined WW2!

Sure the Irish State made up for that in the 60s when they went on their own little blitzkrieg.

Portland doesn't have an historic core in all fairness now.

To be far comparing to North American cities is a non-starter. It's a different culture over there.

Unfortunately I said 15 years that Dublin needs some medium-rise and here we are again at the beginning of another (potential) boom in construction. Yet I fear that in 10 years there'll be nothing of note built.

Potential Areas (at the mercy of NIMBYs)
Connolly - the An Post land/car park is ideal commuter wise for ~30 stories
Tara - As above, probably won't get permission for anything over 15 though
St James Gate - So much potential.
North Wall & GCD - As previously planned, a handful of iconic 40 - 50 landmarks. In an ideal world all apartment blocks would be 8 - 10 stories with adequate facilities.


*The irony of this is that I am An Taisce member, yet the know-it-alls in the group hinder any development in the city centre. Yet this leads to the destruction of our countryside, the mind boggles.

Carawaystick wrote: »

People in Coburg Place, or Seville place. Pretty much adjacent to Connolly station.

There's houses on Barrow st, right beside GCD station.

IMO having one and two story dwellings next to a major transport hub is a joke. Demolish and build some high apartments.
Alas too far fetched for the city fathers.

Carawaystick wrote: »

How much extra tax would you volunteer to pay to cpo these homes?

Well I wasn't exactly saying it would ever happen. Regardless I'd happily provide tax money for something like that rather than a superficial half-baked LUAS line to the airport - but that's going off topic.

Back on topic, is there any brownfield sites left in Smithfield that could be earmarked for a couple of landmarks ~ 20 stories?

Bits_n_Bobs wrote: »

I believe that the best spot to commence high-rise building in Dublin is D4. The only building that I consider of any architectural merit is the Aviva stadium, it would presumably be gentrified and thus avoid the remaining stigma from Ballymun and I imagine it has a very low population density to annoy.

Dublin4 is quite densely packed, probably more dense than even Dublin 1 or 2. And there are many architectural gems from the victorian and georgian period.

markpb wrote: »

Irish Times

I'm still lost about what the "intrinsic quality of Dublin as a low-rise city" actually means. I'm absolutely in favour of protecting historic buildings and vistas, I just wonder if there's something else at play here.

I personally think that it has to do with the example set by other European cities such as Rome or Paris. In both those cities, the centre is low-rise "heritage" buildings, and any skyscrapers are exiled to the outskirts. Paris has La Défense, for example.

I don't have a problem with the first part of that idea, but Dublin planners need to think about the second part. Allowing skyscrapers in the IFSC would be a good start, given the international nature of business there. Another possibility is Sandyford, but given that its single 10-story building has been an unfinished shell for years, I doubt the demand is there.

Allowing skyscrapers in the IFSC would be a good start, given the international nature of business there. Another possibility is Sandyford, but given that its single 10-story building has been an unfinished shell for years, I doubt

the 5-6 storey rubbish they have been throwing up there for years in the docklands is a big part of the problem. Look, one or two towers wont put a dent in the demand here. If they have a problem with "high rise" they could be negated by simply going 9-10 storey with the other buildings, that would make a much bigger difference to supply than one or two towers are going to make. Despite the fact I do think that a few towers could look great...

I was looking at accommodation options in Leeds as I am over there frequently enough. They have huge amount of very compact one bedroom studios they call them, but they look to be what we would call apartments here. I am not sure of the size, but I am guessing 30-35sq m. My point is, I would bring down the current 45sq m size, down to 30-35 sq meter. Pretty much everyone I know in dublin would love to live on their own, but non can afford to or are prepared to pay what it costs...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-53638829.html

55 sq metre is an absolute joke! The whole thing is a joke! I have been in bedrooms recently even in modernish apartments, 10 years or so old, where you can barely swing a cat in the second bedroom. There should be a minimum bedroom size. I would say 8m sq or so, at least enough to walk around the bed properly on both sides and have some space for storage, then 2-3m sq for shower room with w.c and what 15 for kitchen cum living room. So lets round up, factor in hall way space and say 30 sq m for one bed apartment.

We have a massive housing crisis here, high build and land costs and they think that 55sq metre isnt a big problem?! Put it way down, at least people might then have a choice! At the moment, these regulations are making things far worse than they need to be! Its madness, why dont we go banning all other one beds that are less than 55sq m, either they are acceptable or they are not... Moronic! I absolutely do not agree with current situation...

I just read that newstalk article, we absolutely need both! we need smaller apartments for singletons, couples or students and bigger apartments for families. I totally agree. In my opinion in apartments, there needs to be another "living room" away from the current kitchen / living room / dining room. (particularly for families). That article doesnt seem that accurate...

I for one would like to see some definite facts about what effect reducing the minimum size would have on the number of apartments being built - would it lead to a 10% increase? A 50% increase? Or just an increase in profits?

I cannot understand why the plebs in Leinster house do not implement;
- a penal empty/vacant site tax
- a 5 year reduction in building VAT rates (which we already did for the hotel industry)
- the idiotic aversion to high-rise development is not tackled by planning rules

DCC did a survey a couple of years ago.

In their area of responsibility they said there is 160 acres of unused land.
That is: land with no structure in it, but isn't a garden/park/or have any function at all.

Whatever happened to compulsory purchase?

We're getting a vacant site tax, which is great. The ban on going over 6 floors needs to end. If we're condemning people to hour commutes form Kildare or expensive shoe boxes in town, we need a better reason that our eyes being offended by modernity in the same postcode as derelict georgian tat.

+1000000 The current situation is totally off the wall and to me is a far bigger issue than them throwing us back a few euro in income tax decreases and few euro welfare increases in the upcoming budget. It seems as that is all they need to do every budget. Its time they started getting real and sorting out the SERIOUS issues, the appalling transport system here, massive housing crisis, HSE etc...