[Article] Lansdowne redevelopment 'on schedule'

Victor

Does anyone know for a fact what the situation is regarding the level crossing?

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/8210943?view=Eircomnet

Lansdowne redevelopment 'on schedule'
From:ireland.com
Wednesday, 7th June, 2006

Plans for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road remain "completely on schedule" after the body charged with overseeing the project furnished Dublin City Council with the additional information it had requested.

The Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company, chaired by IRFU chief executive Philip Browne, responded to the Council's request yesterday and hope to secure planning permission by early next year.

"We factored in the request into our planning timetable so we are still completely on schedule - we had allowed a year for the planning process," Browne said today.

"Obviously everything is dependent on receiving planning permission and to meet the deadlines we have committed to we must press ahead as soon as possible on all fronts."

The original planning application was lodged on January 12th of this year and the LRSDC hope to be able to begin construction work, which will last 27 months, at the Dublin 4 venue in early 2007.

Next year's rugby and soccer internationals will take place at Croke Park after the GAA voted to open its doors while Lansdowne Road is unavailable.

Winters

Yes, its staying in. A large concrete box is going to cover the rail line behind the east stand. There are two models in the Wood Quay foyer showing the redevelopment.

Victor

Dublin City Council planning file 1086/06

http://www.dublincity.ie/swiftlg/apas/run/WPHAPPDETAIL.DisplayUrl?theApnID=1086/06&theTabNo=1&backURL=<a%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=215855>Search%20Criteria</a>%20>%20<a%20href='wphappsearchres.displayResultsURL?ResultID=280189%26StartIndex=1%26SortOrder=APNID:asc%26DispResultsAs=WPHAPPSEARCHRES%26BackURL=<a%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=215855>Search%20Criteria</a>'>Search%20Results</a>

Victor

I took a look at the file today. It runs to 4 A3 paper boxes. It took about 3 hours to go through one, although part was playing catch up.

Essentially, the project would prevent triple (or quad) tracking, theres some space, but not enough. It would also prevent the track bed being raised (it can't be lowered because of the River Dodder), so removing the level crossing is also ruled out.

Adequate under / overpasses are being provided for match day purposes, such that the level crossing barriers can stay down and DARTs can be run through at a quicker rate, suggested as 12tph each direction. They are relying on only 160 passengers per car with 8 car trains (against 160 nominal and 250 crush loading).

They will be providing some bicycle parking spaces within the grounds for spectators, I think about 30. It doesn't seem to be a lot for a 50,000 seater stadium (50,000 paying + 1,000 media + stewards, caterers, gardai, etc). Even if 1% wanted to cycle thats 500 spaces.

About 200 car parking space are being provided, 100 of them for people with mobility impairments.

bryanw

Victor wrote:

Essentially, the project would prevent triple (or quad) tracking, theres some space, but not enough. It would also prevent the track bed being raised (it can't be lowered because of the River Dodder), so removing the level crossing is also ruled out.

This sounds a little worrying, what is the solution going to be when the rail line will eventually need to be triple or quad tracked...?

Victor

Shift to 3 foot gauge!

:rolleyes:

Bluetonic

Developers get go-ahead for Lansdowne Road redevelopment
Tue Aug 1, 2006 9:41 AM BST162

DUBLIN, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Town planners have given Ireland's Lansdowne Road, home of Irish rugby and soccer, the green light for a planned 365 million euro ($465.6 million) facelift, paving the way for work to start on its revamp as an all-seater venue.

"The Irish Rugby Football Union warmly welcomes the notification from Dublin City Council of their decision to grant planning for the re-development of Lansdowne Road, while respecting that there remains some way to go in the process," IRFU President Peter Boyle said of Monday's decision.

"The importance of this project for the future well being of the whole of Irish rugby can not be overstated."

Developers applied in January for permission to redevelop Lansdowne Road, an ageing stadium in the heart of an upmarket Dublin residential district, as a 50,000-all-seater stadium.

Work on the project is expected to start in 2007 and scheduled for completion by July 2009.

Ireland's national rugby and soccer teams will play their matches at the Gaelic Athletics Association's showcase venue, Croke Park, while work is being carried out at Lansdowne Road.

Lansdowne gets green light but locals plan appeal
ADVERTISEMENT

THE €365m plan to redevelop Lansdowne Road got the green light from Dublin City Council last night.

But while rugby fans around the country were rejoicing at the news, angry residents were busy preparing to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala.

Locals living on Lansdowne Road, Shelbourne Road and O'Connell Gardens, which border the stadium, say the sheer scale of the proposed 50,000-seater arena will have a detrimental impact on their quality of life. Residents have taken exception to the fact that the development will encroach on their homes, block off light and cause major traffic congestion during events.

"We are totally dismayed at the decision," said Pauline Palmer, whose house in O'Connell Gardens backs on to the North Terrace of the famous old ground.

"This development will take away my skyline. Everyone living here will be affected by this.

"While the rest of Ireland is probably rejoicing at the decision, let's hope they all realise that there will still only be 19,000 tickets available to the public after the corporate and premium seats are sold."

She said residents felt that Dublin City Council completely disregarded objections made by locals in the past few months.

Lily O'Callaghan, who has been living on Lansdowne Road for the past 21 years, said locals were extremely disappointed.

"What we are most worried about is the fact that this development is completely made of translucent glass and if there is a fire or a bomb there is absolutely no natural barrier. We will be the ones that are hit."

The council granted planning permission for the development with 28 conditions attached.

However, local Labour councillor Kevin Humphreys, who lives in O'Connell Gardens, said a number of conditions needed to be altered if residents were to be remotely satisfied with the new project.

"The conditions to control the levels of dust on site are inadequate, to say the least," he said. "Under the conditions set out by the council, the developer will just have to hose down the stored material on site rather than have dedicated sprays installed around the exterior of the site to keep dust on site."

Cllr Humphreys said residents were also concerned that there were no conditions relating to the number of concerts that could be held in the new stadium every year.

But Sports Minister John O'Donoghue welcomed the long-awaited decision. "I see this as an important milestone in the realisation of this exciting project, which is progressing very much on schedule."

It is hoped the new stadium will be ready by 2009.

The IRFU, while welcoming the decision, said there was still a long way to go before construction got under way.

"The Irish Rugby Football Union warmly welcomes the notification from Dublin City Council of their decision to grant planning for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road, while respecting that there remains some way to go in the process," said IRFU president Peter Boyle.

"The importance of this project for the future well-being of the whole of Irish rugby cannot be overstated."

Objections are expected to be lodged with An Bord Pleanala in the coming week.

Louise Healy

.

Slice

Has it even been suggested that southbound Darts will ever need to be more than double tracked?

Chris_533976

that there will still only be 19,000 tickets available to the public

Ok 50,000 seater stadium, 19,000 available.

Give me the list of the 31,000 premium/corporate seats and I'll think of believing this.

dam099

Chris_533976 wrote:

Ok 50,000 seater stadium, 19,000 available.

Give me the list of the 31,000 premium/corporate seats and I'll think of believing this.

Do many not get distributed through the clubs aswell maybe these are not regarded as available to the public at large?

lostexpectation

"What we are most worried about is the fact that this development is completely made of translucent glass and if there is a fire or a bomb there is absolutely no natural barrier. We will be the ones that are hit."

Jaysus Christ :rolleyes:

steinbock

"This development will take away my skyline. Everyone living here will be affected by this."

do these people realise its 2006 and they are living in the middle of a capital city?

Victor

Slice wrote:

Has it even been suggested that southbound Darts will ever need to be more than double tracked?

Triple tracking would be nice to avoid Wexford-line trains. The real problem is the series of level crossings and the difficult in replacing them. Ultimately the railway will need to be raised (lowering is impractical due to the sea and Dodder) and the stadium needs to not block it.

loyatemu

Victor wrote:

Triple tracking would be nice to avoid Wexford-line trains. The real problem is the series of level crossings and the difficult in replacing them. Ultimately the railway will need to be raised (lowering is impractical due to the sea and Dodder) and the stadium needs to not block it.

triple tracking of the south-eastern line won't happen in our lifetimes - its possibly do-able as far as Dun Laoghaire but DL-Killiney would be an enormous engineering job. The Gorey|wexford service does not have huge passenger numbers, and the line is very slow anyway so triple tracking would bring negligible benefits.

Vorsprung

loyatemu wrote:

triple tracking of the south-eastern line won't happen in our lifetimes - its possibly do-able as far as Dun Laoghaire...

If that happens my house gets knocked ...

Victor

loyatemu wrote:

triple tracking of the south-eastern line won't happen in our lifetimes - its possibly do-able as far as Dun Laoghaire but DL-Killiney would be an enormous engineering job.

Not needed on Dun Laoghaire-Killiney as the stations are spaced a bit more there and that section is less busy and less critical to overall service performance. The best that could be hoped for would be some triple track passing loops, possibly Monkstown-Merrion and Lansdowne-Pearse.

The Gorey|wexford service does not have huge passenger numbers, and the line is very slow anyway so triple tracking would bring negligible benefits.

Part of the reason it is slow is because it gets stuck behind DARTs (or there is a huge gap between DARTs to facilitate a train).

loyatemu

Victor wrote:

Not needed on Dun Laoghaire-Killiney as the stations are spaced a bit more there and that section is less busy and less critical to overall service performance.

how is it less busy? - there's a tiny number of DL terminating trains but otherwise all services run through to Bray

The best that could be hoped for would be some triple track passing loops, possibly Monkstown-Merrion and Lansdowne-Pearse.

half of the latter section is already tripled, the 150m under the stadium is hardly going to make much difference

Part of the reason it is slow is because it gets stuck behind DARTs (or there is a huge gap between DARTs to facilitate a train).

that is only part of the reason - its a slow line regardless. Connolly-Bray non-stop with a clear line is about 25 minutes. For 13 miles that is not quick.