"It'd be a great city if only you could roof it"

JohnC.

When people say something like that, I believe they are joking. Councillor Mary Roche is taking it seriously though. Doesn't appear to be on the Munster site yet, but they do have a story about it. Part of a three point plan is to put a transparent roof over John Roberts Square and surrounding streets. It may be nice in the rain, but I'm not sure about it at other times.

The other two points, in case you are wondering, is rebranding to take better advantage of they city history, like Viking invasion, Strongbow and Aoife, etc. and finally, free entertainment.

Fajitas!

A transparent roof? That sounds disgusting. What a waste of money.

I can handle a bit of rain and wind, for the sake of fresh air. It sounds incredibly tacky too.

mike65

Bird droppings.

AdMMM

When I saw the article, I initially thought she meant "rainproofing" in the sense of future-proofing the City from the economic doom and gloom. I was giving her far too much credit though.

If she wasn't already, she's definitely the laughing stock of the Council now.

Flying Abruptly

It would turn these areas into greenhouses when it gets warm. And imagine what it'll look like when it gets dirty with black smoke stains and green. From the time I've spent in Limerick at college, Waterford only gets a fraction of the amount of rain that falls there. Worst idea ever.

Nolanger

How are they going to get the stray pigeon out?

mike65

I would like more info, I'm willing to guess the roof would not be "tight" to the existing roof lines but would be semi free standing with plenty of room for airflow and birds to escape.

Or maybe something like this



or this

ex_infantry man

it would,nt be a bad idea if it were done properly and not just done like a roof on someones back shed!!

BBM77

Here is a suggestion for Mary and the rest of the city council. Get your collective finger out of your hole and spend the cities recourses on building attractions in the city centre that will bring locals and visitors in. It is typical of the city council to come up with things like this. Just like that big metal thing in John Roberts Square, a million Euros and absolutely no benefit to the local economy. That million Euros would have been better spent on a heritage trail around the city which would help keep visitors around the city for longer.

The suggested roof would cost a few million Euros to put in place. Again that few million would be better spent on the Viking triangle project or on an industrial museum. The old mill on the north wharf would be perfect for an industrial museum if somebody in the city council had the imagination to think about it.

I am all for imaginative projects but the novelty of something like this would wear off in about 10 minutes. What the city centre needs is attractions, plain and simple. Be it retail or tourism Waterford city centres attraction is just not good enough for a city like Waterford.

Aquos76

I actually like the look of those two pics which mike posted, That could look ok alright

Elle Victorine

That is possibly one of the most ridiculous ideas I've ever heard!!

Go buy a friggin jacket for christ sake instead of wasting money on such silly silly ideas.

Cabaal

Building a roof is not going to improve the tourist trade in Waterford nor will it help business, such a waste of money.

If this gets to any sort of planning stage then Mary Rouche should step down for wasting money on a pipe dream with no benefits

Bards

Cabaal wrote: »

Building a roof is not going to improve the tourist trade in Waterford nor will it help business, such a waste of money.

If this gets to any sort of planning stage then Mary Rouche should step down for wasting money on a pipe dream with no benefits

I do think it is a good idea, we could have a proper farmers market/stalls in JR Square. Could have a themed Christmas market there also similar to what they have in Germany etc.

Just look at McDonagh Junction with their glassed roof and the doof court with seating outside

Sully

After seeing some of the pics, I like the idea but still cant help thinking its a waste of money and probably wouldnt be done right. Afterall, look at the last time the council decided to "invest" in something big(sh) - that horendous piece of junk outside Sam Macs.

anplaya

cant believe some of ye like it. most ridiculous idea since like....ever :rolleyes:some ideas which were suggested seems a more sensible way to spend that money,by the way where are they getting the money from?recession my ****

Paddy@CIRL

They'd be better off putting a roof over outside the Social Welfare, as the CityCo seem to be making no attempts to shorten the Q's out there ...

Cabaal

Bards wrote: »

Just look at McDonagh Junction with their glassed roof and the doof court with seating outside

Which is dead most days of the week, is privately owned and nobody has to look after it during the night.

Also its smaller then john roberts square and because its private they don't have to look for permission to attach the roof to the surrounding building like they would have to in john roberts

CantGetNoSleep

It would end up just being a big sheet of corrugated plastic bolted up there in the cheapest way possible

Also it would need the streets to be hosed down every morning to get rid of the stink of p1ss from the night before

dazftw

The city would be great if it didnt close so bloody early! Open longer = more jobs = more money for businesses! Better seating in red sqaure also!

sounds easy but probably really isn't.. just my two cents

Fajitas!

The problem is, people head home at 5/5:30, leaving the city dead by 6, so noone's going to risk paying staff to stay on 'til 9 if there's noone in!

dazftw

Fajitas! wrote: »

The problem is, people head home at 5/5:30, leaving the city dead by 6, so noone's going to risk paying staff to stay on 'til 9 if there's noone in!

Yeah but the reason for that is everything closes around 5 - 5:30 anyway bar thursday and friday! Im just comparing us to cork now.. I was there going to a gig at like 11 oclock and loads of places were still open and the streets were packed same as there were at noon! I couldn't believe it. Subway open haha :eek:

Junior

But what's in the city centre to keep people in there after 5.30 ? Supermacs ? McDonalds ? I still think it's a shame that the city never built on what was done for the Tall Ships event that was run a few years ago, every one was bitching about the park and ride but we took to it like ducks to water and no one really suffered, the city centre was a hive of activity..

Now we have absolutely nothing happening in the city centre.

AdMMM

I think the Chamber/Council should try a launch an initiative to try and boost trade outside of regular hours. Perhaps have live entertainment in the City Centre once a week with cafes and shops remaining open. We're probably at the wrong side of the season to have something like that take off though, which is unfortunate.

The Steelman

my few cents:

if they want to invest in stuff for the city centre, they should put in place more bins. theyres plenty right in the centre, but if you go even a little bit out of the way, youll be left holding the bag. as it were.

it mightent work in waterford city, but when i was Antibe in the south of France, they had these really basic bins everywhere in the place. Including suburbs. It was basicaly, two galvanised steel rings that went one inside the other (with very little room between them) and a lid. youd put the bag in between the two rings, and the lid to cover. That was it. Cheap, and they were everywhere.

that and public toilets (or if not that, then a scheme where the public are free to use the toilets of the bigger local businesses without having to pay)

adjust the traffic light sequence at all semi to major junctions to give a higher preference to pedestrians. How else are they going to get people to use em properly, if the green man is off in the algarve all the time, living it up?

Public Transport:
Adjust the bus routes so that a higher proportion of the city is covered. Placement of stops so that you dont have to walk a mile to get to one, no matter where you are in the city.
PUT THE PRICE OF THE BUS ON THE WINDOW, SO YOU CAN SEE BEFORE YOU GET ON!!!

I had a whole list of little things collected, that could be easily done, but i cant remember half of them now

Steel

Fajitas!

AdMMM wrote: »

I think the Chamber/Council should try a launch an initiative to try and boost trade outside of regular hours. Perhaps have live entertainment in the City Centre once a week with cafes and shops remaining open. We're probably at the wrong side of the season to have something like that take off though, which is unfortunate.

As far as I know, they are starting entertainment at some stage. Or at least it was proposed. Well needed to get people back in.

brendansmith

Waterford city is so bland, I dunno how you would fix it without knocking it down and starting again with some more interesting building shapes, materials etc.

RaZzZz

go to Sully's if you want somethin to do ^^ or sit on the coffins in red square good times to be had lads ^^

Sully

RaZzZz wrote: »

go to Sully's if you want somethin to do ^^ or sit on the coffins in red square good times to be had lads ^^

Ya, if your like 15!

stu_rock

This idea seems to have come from her recent visit to belfast.

http://cllrmaryroche.blogspot.com/

"Just back from a short visit on behalf of the City to Belfast who are playing host to the finish of this years Trans Atlantic Tallships Festival.
As you know, Waterford will be once again hosting the start of the race from June 30th to July 3rd in 2011 and the Mayor, John Halligan, Olivia O'Reilly the City Council Tallships Co-ordinator and I spent two days in Belfast meeting and networking with the Ports, Sail Training International and the Ships Masters and organisations of behalf of the event in 2011 continuing the good work being done to ensure a large fleet returns here for that weekend.
It was a bonus that my husband Liam, who Captains the sailing brig Stavros S Niarchos, was also at the festival. (Pictured above with the Mayor on board.)

Anyway, while in Belfast I took the opportunity to visit the city centre and was surprised and delighted to see that Belfast, in a huge programme of pedestrianisation and street improvement is making large tracts of their city centre weatherproof. As you can see in the photograph above it entails a light covering extending from the shop fronts a few metres out over the street and indeed further in towards back you can see a brand new shopping centre (very nice) which has been designed to mimic a street scape and feel.

This is the type of weatherproofing that I think would work well in Waterford City and it's nice to see it in action - even if I did have to get out into the rain to the the pics!"

RaZzZz

Sully wrote: »

Ya, if your like 15!

Im 21 an I hang out with me friends in JR Square, plaza the park! anywhere course there are alot of youngins around but so what :cool:

gscully

RaZzZz wrote: »

Im 21 an I hang out with me friends in JR Square, plaza the park! anywhere course there are alot of youngins around but so what :cool:

Good man...we'll know where to find you next time there's anti-social behaviour in town

BadCharlie

It will turn green in time, so it would need to be looked after and that would be ongoing.

Sully

RaZzZz wrote: »

Im 21 an I hang out with me friends in JR Square, plaza the park! anywhere course there are alot of youngins around but so what :cool:

Would I be right in saying your a skater or biker?!

hudsonriver

Sully wrote: »

Would I be right in saying your a skater or biker?!

no need to drag this off topic, what has that got to do with anything?


Id like to see it done in the same way as the above blog in belfast, not full coverage. Never going to happen tho

edit: didnt realise you where a mod, but still dont see the relevence.
Iv seen plenty of threads dragged down this route in my lurking days

mike65

BadCharlie wrote: »

It will turn green in time, so it would need to be looked after and that would be ongoing.

Green tinted roof would fix that.

Sully

hudsonriver wrote: »

no need to drag this off topic, what has that got to do with anything?

<off topic>Just curious, dont know many folk his age hanging around in those spots. Seems to be mostly young people, or those skating/biking because the type of area its in </off topic>

merlante

Sully wrote: »

<off topic>Just curious, dont know many folk his age hanging around in those spots. Seems to be mostly young people, or those skating/biking because the type of area its in </off topic>

While I don't 'hang around' JR square, the park, etc., I along with many other adults living in the inner city do frequent these places. Not just kids around.

I think that trying to make the city water proof is a ridiculous idea for many reasons. They would be better off trying to fix up cathedral sq., which in the past two years has fallen into near terminal decay. 2/3 houses are vacant and vandalised, with graffiti all over them, which no doubt provided additional privacy for the contemptible individuals who broke into Christ Church. Rumour has it that these houses have a protected order on them and cannot be easily renovated. The council should buy these houses and do something with them! A small architecture museum with a cafe in one?

These houses are bang smack along the walking tour of the city walls and makes us look very bad to tourists. I'd fix these glaring problems before taking about pie in the sky projects like roofing the city centre. (Besides, if you force the likes of TKMaxx into the city centre then people will have to come in rain, hail or shine.)

Cabaal

merlante wrote: »

These houses are bang smack along the walking tour of the city walls and makes us look very bad to tourists.

It should be clear to everyone by now that Waterford has never taken tourism seriously, Waterford has some great attractions and history but yet these are not really used to promote it.

Sad really,

alrightcuz

i think its an excellent idea, architecturally were one of the only city's in the country were it would be possible to cover its city center with a glass roof, personly i think shes a visionary just think of the benefits and possibility's

magick

personally i dont like it, theirs a charm to the rain. I know that sounds crazy but maybe im in the minority that actually like the rain!

Junior

alrightcuz wrote: »

i think its an excellent idea, architecturally were one of the only city's in the country were it would be possible to cover its city center with a glass roof, personly i think shes a visionary just think of the benefits and possibility's

Visionary/idiot it's a fine line.

RaZzZz

lOl nah Sully im no skater or biker jus a normal lad really
I often see adults in small groups walkin around or sittin on the coffins in the square or even over by the plaza tis great to see tbh! BB's seems to be a hangout area for alot of people too
Anybody around town Saturday before the big game in the RSC??

I had an American friend (now wife to be ^^) over during the Spraoi festival an we walked through the Cathedral area and I felt sooo ashamed walking past those feckin wrecked houses :P tho she loved everythin else which was grrrand ^^

I've asked some friends about this Roof idea and everyone so far likes the idea! dunno why.. but there ya go ^^

brendansmith

alrightcuz wrote: »

i think its an excellent idea, architecturally were one of the only city's in the country were it would be possible to cover its city center with a glass roof

You are absolutely right. Also, it might give the 'city' abit more of a city feel.

As for "the money would be better spent elsewhere' , I could indeed but a trademark like a fancy unique shaped roof over the city could be just the thing to give Waterford that something extra that it is sorely lacking and attract tourism and Businesses to 'The city where it never rains'.
Think


But on a much smaller scale