Save the Poolbeg chimneys-are these people blind?

latenia

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/save-our-iconic-chimneys-say-protesters-1501878.html

These are horrific eyesores that ruin Dublin Bay and set a really bad tone for those seeing this view of the city for the first time, whether by boat or plane. I've a good mind to set up a counter-protest...

lostexpectation

we can so live without them

boneless

Funnily enough, I am quite fond of them. They are indeed part of the skyline and are an integral part of the landscape of the city at this stage.

I am also aware of the possibiity of peregrines falcons using them as nest sites. If this is true they have to be protected under wildlife habitation legislation. The old gasometer on Sir John Rogersons Quay was retained as long as a pair of falcons were nesting on it.

ArseBurger

The article states that there is an online petition to save them. Anyone know the URL?

I like them. I think they're a landmark and stand out when you fly back into Dublin.

spadder

They are featured in so many irish films and videos, think of the commitments and early u2 videos. I think they sould stay, as a monument, they have more of a working class status than the spire. "The spire" a FF shrine to greed.

Gaspode

I agree they are fairly ugly, yet somehow, I like 'em - they just remind me of home.

latenia

boneless wrote: »

Funnily enough, I am quite fond of them. They are indeed part of the skyline and are an integral part of the landscape of the city at this stage.

ArseBurger wrote: »

I like them. I think they're a landmark and stand out when you fly back into Dublin.

You could say the same about Hawkins House, which dates from the same era. There won't be many tears shed when that monstrosity is eventually levelled.

spadder wrote: »

They are featured in so many irish films and videos, think of the commitments and early u2 videos. I think they sould stay, as a monument, they have more of a working class status than the spire. "The spire" a FF shrine to greed.

It's somewhat patronising to the working class to choose smoke belching chimneys as their 'symbol,' particularly when the average worker inside Poolbeg is on 100k+.

Ste.phen

I have to say, i like both the spire AND the chimneys.
Keep em!
Not like there's anything else down that way worth seeing!

jdivision

They're an important part of Dublin's landscape. Leave em be.

ArseBurger

latenia wrote: »

You could say the same about Hawkins House, which dates from the same era. There won't be many tears shed when that monstrosity is eventually levelled.

I quite like Hawkins House too actually.

latenia wrote: »

particularly when the average worker inside Poolbeg is on 100k+.

Beautiful - where's your source on this?

boneless

Could I ask where you got that figure of 100k +?

As for Hawkins House, yes I agree it is an ugly eyesore and good riddance to it. However, the stacks had a function and were to aid in the dissapation of the fumes etc. when first built. We now know the dangers of this re. climate change etc. but I feel the chimneys have a certain ugly grace to their form. I am aware I may be in a minority here but will stick to my belief.

gurramok

As Deswalsh stated, they should be kept as they are like a national symbol.

Everytime i arrive on a plane approaching Dublin airport, i could see the chimneys lit up at night and they are a symbol of been home as we all grew up with them and coul see them from whatever subub we grew up in.

Even when i trek in the wicklow mountains, i could see them on a good day about 20 miles in, they are a monument to the city!

It should have historic protected structure status like those Georgian buildings.!

jdivision

boneless wrote: »

Could I ask where you got that figure of 100k +?

.

Think there was a Deloittle report out about this a few years ago. Look at last line here

"The company said it did not have figures to confirm that the average non-pensionable pay including overtime at one power station, Poolbeg in Dublin, was €140,000."

edit: found it
http://m.rte.ie/business/news/2006/1002/esb.html
A Government commissioned report maintains high labour costs and inefficiencies at ESB power stations add €100m to its costs compared with its EU peers. It reveals that the average wage of relevant staff is €92,000, but at Poolbeg power plant in Dublin the figure is €142,000.

The report, by consulting group Deloitte, recommends the partial break-up of the ESB, but the Government has ruled out such a move.

Wishbone Ash

I like them also but then again, I like most of that industrial type architecture and i also like Hawkins House.

Re: the €100k - I don't know where latenia is getting the figures but i'd say it's correct. A friend of mine grossed €120k in the ESB last year and he's out in a truck doing poles etc..

Victor

They are actually quite rusty up close.

Bluetonic

Believe it or believe it not but they are visible from north-west Balbriggan just between the north of the town and the M1, a good 22 miles or so away.

If it's good enough for the PDs to keep them, then it's good enough in my book :rolleyes:

.DarDarBinks

Id like to see them stay, but yet again couldnt be <SNIP> if i never saw them again.

Mod edit: careful now!

stovelid

spadder wrote: »

They are featured in so many irish films and videos, think of the commitments and early u2 videos. I think they sould stay, as a monument, they have more of a working class status than the spire. "The spire" a FF shrine to greed.

Agreed.

What I love about them is how they sometimes surprise you when you are in another part of the city and you suddenly see them. I take a shortcut across the Tallaght hills to work in the mornings and my favourite part of the journey is coming over the crest of the hill and the city (and the chimneys) comes in to view.

If I was to think of one sight that put me in mind of Dublin, it would be them.

Wishbone Ash

How could anyone not love these?

strangeloop

See the thing is, the chimneys were one of the last Dublin sights emigrants saw when getting the boat. Now, a whole new generation will get a chance to experience forced emigration similar to the 70's/80's and early 90's. Leave the chimneys alone, they mean a lot to people who had no choice but to leave Ireland.

Tragedy

I like them.

Cant stand the spire, think the new O'Connell street is absolutely disgusting(and Henry Street for that matter) but like the poolbeg chimneys

Malteaser!

ArseBurger wrote: »

The article states that there is an online petition to save them. Anyone know the URL?

http://www.petitiononline.com/poolbeg/petition-sign.html

arybvtcw0eolkf

Victor wrote: »

They are actually quite rusty up close.

And they're red, white and grey from a distance.

arybvtcw0eolkf

latenia wrote: »

These are horrific eyesores that ruin Dublin Bay and set a really bad tone for those seeing this view of the city for the first time, whether by boat or plane. I've a good mind to set up a counter-protest...

You fail at protest.

:pac:

latenia

Meh, I guess people are ruled more by sentimentality than a sense of aesthetics. A JCB at the crack of dawn might have to be employed here :pac: I'd be interested to hear the opinion of someone who remembers before they were erected. Are you reading this Rashers?

boneless

I was on Loughcrew hill a while back, near Oldcastle in Meath. I could see them from there. I could also see the water tower in UCD. I also agree with Wish in this respect; industrial architechture and indeed archaeology deserves to be retained.

monkeyfudge

I still haven't forgiven them for the 2 weeks of sleep I didn't get when they stuck those stupid bight flashing lights on the thing.

And now some twat wants to preserve them and stick more lights on again?

lightening

You can't get rid of "gods socks". Brilliant landmark, great commercial, advertising or tourist potential there. Imagine the view? (I don't mean the view of the ladies bathing shelter...)

yermanoffthetv

Bluetonic wrote: »

If it's good enough for the PDs to keep them, then it's good enough in my book :rolleyes:

They will look really out of place when the port is eventually is redeveloped.Get Norman Foster or someone like that to design something in its place. Just have a look some of the amazing things there building around the world: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/02/most-elegant-proposed-skyscrapers.html

monkeyfudge

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

They will look really out of place when the port is eventually is redeveloped.Get Norman Foster or someone like that to design something in its place. Just have a look some of the amazing things there building around the world: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/02/most-elegant-proposed-skyscrapers.html

I think the architects need to lay off the old sci-fi.

Dyr

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

They will look really out of place when the port is eventually is redeveloped.Get Norman Foster or someone like that to design something in its place. Just have a look some of the amazing things there building around the world: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/02/most-elegant-proposed-skyscrapers.html

I'd rather not have something put up in the city that looks a piece out the Brown thomas kitchen ware dept after being zapped with a giganto ray. We already have the poxy spire.

stovelid

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I still haven't forgiven them for the 2 weeks of sleep I didn't get when they stuck those stupid bight flashing lights on the thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtain

Tabnabs

hey, hey, hey! hands OFF the chimneys! :mad:

Setun

I think they're great tbh, and they'd be sorely missed on the photography forum.

Actually I was selling some photographs at a christmas fair last year, and some guy bought one of the chimneys because he said that when he's regularly travelling home from England on the ferry they're the first thing he sees that really makes him think "Ah! Nearly home!"

+1 to keeping them.

arybvtcw0eolkf

latenia wrote: »

I'd be interested to hear the opinion of someone who remembers before they were erected. Are you reading this Rashers?

Rashers is having his sauages at the moment, so he asked me to post this for him..



Grandpa Bacon took this from a banana boat arriving into Dublin port at the turn of the last century..



Photoshop is your friend :pac:

yermanoffthetv

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I think the architects need to lay off the old sci-fi.

Come on, you know you love it :P Its not as if its the Batersea power plant, or even esthetically pleasing for that matter. I just hope to god they dont replace them with a bland and souless skyline (like Custom House Quay) but I do think with a well thought out overview they could reinvent the inner city that and show Dublin as the modern progressive city it is. Knowing the DDDA though I wouldnt hold your breath :rolleyes:

loyatemu

i quite like em, but if they can't be put to any sort of new use (and I don't think they can) then let em go. You can't keep everything thats ever been built just for nostalgic purposes. They'd probably have to be demolished eventually for safety reasons anyway (any engineers know how long they might last?)

Dyr

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

but I do think with a well thought out overview they could reinvent the inner city that and show Dublin as the modern progressive city it is. Knowing the DDDA though I wouldnt hold your breath :rolleyes:

I dunno, they ruined O'Connnell Street to show what a modern progressive city dublin is so you might be in luck :pac:

humberklog

Bambi wrote: »

I dunno, they ruined O'Connnell Street to show what a modern progressive city dublin is so you might be in luck :pac:

I think O'Connell st. is looking better than it has in 40 years. Those London popular trees were way wrong for the street. The new design exentuates the space. Beautiful. It was god awful, dingy and dark for such a broad street.;

On how long the towers would last...I'm an engineer and at a guess I'd say they'd last near on forever. The concrete would be of such a grade to with withstand what the were built for that there would be very little erosion.

Make an adventure skills place out of it (absailing, sailins in bay, etc) and a science and industrial world museum out of the area. Ahh to dream.

Dyr

humberklog wrote: »

I think O'Connell st. is looking better than it has in 40 years. Those London popular trees were way wrong for the street. The new design exentuates the space. Beautiful. It was god awful, dingy and dark for such a broad street.;

So are you an architect or do you just want to be one? Its a street not a bleedin plaza as some poor tourists have found out after they walked into busses :pac:

it looks crap, the dopey black and white tiled footpath-road looks like a butchers floor...all they need to do is sprinkle some saw dust around to finish the effect. The old trees gave it a sense of heritage, unlike those legoworld shrubs that are there now. Not that they'll be allowed to grow long enough to reach any height.

lightening

Bambi wrote: »

So are you an architect or do you just want to be one?

He's an engineer, read his post.

It's just a matter of taste. Honestly, most people wouldn't really say the old O'Connell st. is better than the new improved one. The new pedestrian space (or perceived new space, looks like there is more) is a great addition. It just needs to be utilised now.

Wishbone Ash

Bambi wrote: »

So are you an architect or do you just want to be one? Its a street not a bleedin plaza

No need for the aggressive tone Bambi!

Humberklog is entitled to his/her opinion. The first two words of the post were "I think..".

Dyr

Fair call WA, the pacman smiley was meant to be on the end of the first sentence to take a bit of an edge off it, apologies all round.

It's still horrible though, looks like the street was designed just so it could cleaned down with a powerhose

arybvtcw0eolkf

I'd agree with Bambi.

Its a horrible, nasty street both day and night. From the Roma hanging around the lower end in the early morning, to the collection of dirtybags hanging around Quirkies at all times of day and night (all nationalities, including Irish) and to the anti-social eliment at the upper and middle in the evenings.

It makes me sad & mad to see our main thoroughfare turned into the mish-mash collection of badly designed shop fronts, to the downright dangerously designed pedestrian area at the spire, to the scumbags who are allowed roam free on it by the collection of under motivated guards busily texting away on their mobilphones at the GPO.

Its hard to think of one saving grace on O'Connell St.

Fratton Fred

Mairt wrote: »

Its hard to think of one saving grace on O'Connell St.

Beshoffs?

I used to have to visit an office up on Cathal Brugha Street and I hated walking up from the Luas, day or night. Even worse was walking there from Connolly. It could take ages trying to dodge the beggers, Romas and Metro sellers.

It could be a really nice street, but personally I think the people staying at the Gresham have a pretty awful first impression of Dublin.

Anyway, back on topic, bring em down I say. The chimneys are an eyesore and i fail to see how people can get so attached to something so ugly. This reminds me of the battle to keep the tricorn in Portsmouth because it was a fine example of using vast amount of concrete to build an ugly building, or something like that. In the end, the City council had a party to mark its demolition. http://www.retrowow.co.uk/architecture/60s/tricorn/reflections.html

axer

Well if the city councillors don't knock them down I know a certain group of people that will be up to the job of knocking the two towers quickly...no questions asked

Wishbone Ash

Fratton Fred wrote: »

i fail to see how people can get so attached to something so ugly

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I love all that industrial stuff. What next - pull down all the buildings in Guinness?

Rashers

latenia wrote: »

Meh, I guess people are ruled more by sentimentality than a sense of aesthetics. A JCB at the crack of dawn might have to be employed here :pac: I'd be interested to hear the opinion of someone who remembers before they were erected. Are you reading this Rashers?

If it's about Dublin I'm never too far away.

Yes I remember as a kid being taken by my Da for that long walk down to where the chimneys are now. Always loved it.

I enjoyed the view across the bay from Bull Island (we just called it Dollymount) where you could look along the bay without anything spoiling the uninterrupted view.

Then came Dublin's own twin towers.

Hated the sight of them at first, but somehow they sort of 'grew on me', unlike many other structure that mar the Dublin skyline.

People have said pull down Hawkins House too/or instead of. I'd agree with that totally. And not just because Hawkins House replaced my Sunday afternoon entertainment in the good ol' Theatre Royal.

Bottom line. I like them for a lot of the reasons already put forward. But if some morning I woke up and they were gone I wouldn't shed any tears.

lostexpectation

i love industrial stuff too, i love that they kept the harland and wolf cranes, but ya can go up on them and they are somewhat unique, the chimneys arn't

lostexpectation

they are banning to make the station an exhibition centre when its defunct arn't they

humberklog

The chimneys could be used as big slingshot (or 'gat'). Two big lenghts of bungey chord tied to both stack, drawn back to Dollyer, attach an undisirable infiltrator to it and launch them back across the bay to the southside. It could be a trade off. I can see Joe Duffy and Bono being regular exchanges.


A PS on O'Connell st. Before it was rejuvanated there was 6 lanes of mixed unrestricted traffic. Now there is 4 of restricted traffic. O'Connell street is now back to the people as opposed to 18wheelers and fripping 'too big for their boots'(and day light) trees.