Dun Laoghaire to get urban beaches and floating swimming pool

lintdrummer

http://www.thejournal.ie/dun-laoghaire-urban-beach-1055831-Aug2013/

It will be an outdoor pool with heated and treated sea water. Constructed on a converted barge.

I like the fact that they're thinking outside the box a little, facilities like this are fairly common elsewhere in Europe. Of course there is the small matter of the weather...

They say admission will be in line with the price of a cinema ticket. Expensive in other words :pac:

Do you think it's a good idea? Would you use it? They plan for it to open by 2015.

Eight Ball

Bring back rainbow rapids.

danniemcq

moved from After Hours. Please read charter here before posting

lintdrummer

Eight Ball wrote: »

Bring back rainbow rapids.

I'm not familiar with rainbow rapids? Please explain!

Tabnabs

http://www.broadsheet.ie/tag/rainbow-rapids/

Cookie_Monster

why go to all that expense and trouble when you could kill two birds with one stone and do it at the old baths that badly need to have something done with them?
Bizarre plan all the same

VinLieger

Because this is all coming from the Harbour company who have nothing to do with the baths. However once Stena and the HSS pull out of the harbour which is coming soon they will have a hell of a lot less money so this is their plan. And from somone who uses the harbour regularly its a pretty piss poor one, the second a decent wind comes in during the winter that pool and beach will be ripped apart.

Seaswimmer

lintdrummer wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/dun-laoghaire-urban-beach-1055831-Aug2013/

It will be an outdoor pool with heated and treated sea water. Constructed on a converted barge.

I like the fact that they're thinking outside the box a little, facilities like this are fairly common elsewhere in Europe. Of course there is the small matter of the weather...

They say admission will be in line with the price of a cinema ticket. Expensive in other words :pac:

Do you think it's a good idea? Would you use it? They plan for it to open by 2015.

Well I think for it to work it would have to attract regular swimmers maybe on a membership basis.

It sounds stupid but you would also have to be able to swim in it as opposed to just messing about. So it would have to be at least 25metres long and wide enough to have a few lanes roped off.

There are plenty of outdoor (and free) swimming areas in the vicinity so I cant see it attracting regular swimmers unless these criteria are met.

The picture of the one in Berlin looks far too small..

uch

Agree with Cookie, just redevelop the old Baths, also Vin it's a shared project with the Council, so the baths would be a runner no problems

ted1

Transfer the baths to the harbour company, develop them integrate them

Larbre34

Doing anything modern with the Baths has produced nothing but nimbyism for the last ten years, cant blame them for giving up on it apart from painting them pastel of course!

Theyre right to go ahead with this badeschiff idea independently, even if the Baths reopened they would both be busy on good days.

Ive seen the badeschiff on the river in Berlin up close, it looks really well and is busy, but of course harbour and weather conditions are a lot different in DL

SimonMaher

Good to see a bit of imagination being used and these things tried at least. That spot down by Berth 1 is pretty sheltered and given the seasonal nature of the plan, I think it might be a good magnet for people to come down. Time will tell how it gets on with the harbour winds but being moveable and with decent flexible anchoring it should be fine. VinLieger, I'm not so sure about Stena and the HSS pulling out by the way - the seasonal service is working out pretty well for them with decent numbers this year so I think the Harbour Company will have that revenue source for a few years yet although it is a lot less than the crazy days of the €6m a year back in the day!

Fratton Fred

Is berth one the berth more or less in front of the national? If it is, I can't see them being too happy with this.

I don't know why they don't demolish the bath and the are from there to the east pier (it is all crumbling anyway), landscape it and be done with it. They could even build an arc shaped well from the baths to the east pier and make a swimming area there.

Much more use to the area than covering over the DART as they are doing now.

SimonMaher

Fred, Berth 1 is the original car ferry berth on the East Pier. The barge itself is 60 m long but only about 10 metres wide so it shouldn't make much difference to access to the Yacht club. I presume that the Navy ships etc that currently use Berth 1 will move to the Carlisle pier which still allows public access.

You make a fair point about the baths and the area from the baths to the pier - it really could do with a facelift but in the current climate I think a joint venture between harbour company and county council is the best we're going to get. Plan is for ownership of the harbour to transfer to the local authority eventually anyway (as per the new Ports strategy) but that will take time!

Tabnabs

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Is berth one the berth more or less in front of the national? If it is, I can't see them being too happy with this.

I doubt the Club's concerns would figure too highly in the commercial decisions the harbour have to take in light of the climate now that the ferry is a one trip a day operation. The lifeboat will still have free passage and the berth on the Carlisle pier still free to take in ships. The Club will be able to squeeze in-between the two.

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I don't know why they don't demolish the bath and the are from there to the east pier (it is all crumbling anyway), landscape it and be done with it. They could even build an arc shaped well from the baths to the east pier and make a swimming area there.

IIRC, this was proposed a few years ago by either the harbour or the local council. I think most people concluded that the first good easterly gale would return any beach and offshore protection to it's natural state of exposed coastline. The cost would also be far in excess of what the baths inside the harbour will be. Anyway, where would the locals drink if they developed that area as well as the new library site...

I can't help but wonder if a seasonal operation will succeed long term. With a bit of imagination, could they not put up a roof for the winter and keep it open all year?

ted1

Covering the dart line is a great idea and will help break the divide between the town and harbour.
Look how well the places by the pavilion are doing.

Larbre34

I'd still rather swim in the 40 foot for free and grab an ice cream in Teddys on a good day, than pay "the price of a cinema ticket" (€7, €9, €13?) to swim in an overgrown bath full of chavs and ear piercing OMG'ers. Doesnt matter if you heat the water or not, you wont catch people using it on a bad day, not in an exposed location like that.

Fratton Fred

ted1 wrote: »

Covering the dart line is a great idea and will help break the divide between the town and harbour.
Look how well the places by the pavilion are doing.

I'm sure the people's park will never be the same. We can now sit there and enjoy uninterrupted views of the decaying baths.

Seriously, I do agree with you, but where they are doing now would be way down my list of priorities for the area.

Larbre34

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I'm sure the people's park will never be the same. We can now sit there and enjoy uninterrupted views of the decaying baths.

Seriously, I do agree with you, but where they are doing now would be way down my list of priorities for the area.

Yeah totally agree with this, I read in some of the blurb that its supposed to restore the Park to its victorian layout, but I didnt think there was anything wrong with the evolved informal layout, it was just a nice place for people to chill out for a while. This big job is pretty unnecessary and has denied sections of the park to punters in some of the best weather we've had for years.

rubadub

The german one is €4 for adults €1.50 for kids.

It would want to be at least cheaper than regular pools, which are cheaper than cinemas.

ted1

Larbre34 wrote: »

Yeah totally agree with this, I read in some of the blurb that its supposed to restore the Park to its victorian layout, but I didnt think there was anything wrong with the evolved informal layout, it was just a nice place for people to chill out for a while. This big job is pretty unnecessary and has denied sections of the park to punters in some of the best weather we've had for years.

It's all part of an over all plan. Go look at the development plan set out in 2011 it had the pool and track coveted. It also has the bits in between. Trust me it is going to be a much better place. There really wasn't that much of the park lost, in fact the badly needed renovation of the tea rooms took up more space, this resulted in having to lay the road for the traders in the park.

I'd much rather this work than any of recent road works, loughlinstown lights, lane reduction on wyatville road into Tesco direction, speed ramps on killiney hill road and there subsequences road works to kay the pipes thus destroying the new ramps, killiney glenageary roundabout etc, etc.

I actually think the are doing a great job. Pity cyclists and skateboarders ate being victimised by having a ban put on them

expectationlost

so is this instead of this http://archiseek.com/2008/two-rival-designs-for-development-of-dun-laoghaire-unveiled/#.Uh4zSX90lK8 and or this http://www.murray-associates.com/projects_parks_sandycove.htm

zagmund

I just don't get it.

I can see the value in a pool of clean water in a river of dirty water. You get to enjoy the river, but stay healthy. For the good burghers of Berlin or Paris where there is no established mass community of river swimmers and a large population upstream discharging all sorts of weirdness into the river this makes sense.

However, a pool of clean water in a body of clean water (the harbour, bay, sea, etc . . .) just doesn't make sense to me at all as a customer. I could save the €7-9 and just go for a swim in the harbour instead. It would be different if Seapoint, Salthill, Sandycove & 40 Foot were all off limits due to pollution, but they're not.

Remove the harbour from the equation (except this is a Harbour company project, so we can't) and I can see how something similar would make sense elsewhere - provide a pop-up pool for the summer and you generate demand, provide a service which didn't exist before, etc . . . However, put the pool in the middle of a viable swimming area and all you have done is spent more money than you needed to and not really generated demand. Tie in some other services (sauna, massage, etc . . .) and you've just added value.

It's like shining a torch from a light house. Sure, it does add a certain je ne sais quoi, but in reality once the light goes on the torch is lost and may as well not be there.

I think it's going to struggle as a commercial entity if the prices are in the "cinema ticket" bracket.

z

ted1

zagmund wrote: »

I just don't get it.

I can see the value in a pool of clean water in a river of dirty water. You get to enjoy the river, but stay healthy. For the good burghers of Berlin or Paris where there is no established mass community of river swimmers and a large population upstream discharging all sorts of weirdness into the river this makes sense.

However, a pool of clean water in a body of clean water (the harbour, bay, sea, etc . . .) just doesn't make sense to me at all as a customer. I could save the €7-9 and just go for a swim in the harbour instead. It would be different if Seapoint, Salthill, Sandycove & 40 Foot were all off limits due to pollution, but they're not.

Remove the harbour from the equation (except this is a Harbour company project, so we can't) and I can see how something similar would make sense elsewhere - provide a pop-up pool for the summer and you generate demand, provide a service which didn't exist before, etc . . . However, put the pool in the middle of a viable swimming area and all you have done is spent more money than you needed to and not really generated demand. Tie in some other services (sauna, massage, etc . . .) and you've just added value.

It's like shining a torch from a light house. Sure, it does add a certain je ne sais quoi, but in reality once the light goes on the torch is lost and may as well not be there.

I think it's going to struggle as a commercial entity if the prices are in the "cinema ticket" bracket.

z

don't forget its a heated pool....
plenty of people who will use it who otherwise wouldn't get in the sea water. also its salt water whichj people feel is good for them. also theres a price so it must be good. seriousily once things have a price people will pay .

for full details on th emaster plan see here: http://dlharbour.ie/wp-content/uploads/masterplan/dl_harbour_masterplan.pdf

page 14 shows what may have been the first incarination of floating baths about 100 years ago

Page 93: is the part relevant to the proposed pool
Page 95: has an image

Tabnabs

expectationlost wrote: »

so is this instead of this http://archiseek.com/2008/two-rival-designs-for-development-of-dun-laoghaire-unveiled/#.Uh4zSX90lK8 and or this http://www.murray-associates.com/projects_parks_sandycove.htm

That's the one, stick a beach in where it won't last one winter. Pure lunacy. On the Seapoint side this could be a runner or extend Sandycove harbour as a leisure amenity. Urban dreaming rather than urban planning.

Cookie_Monster

was about to ask where that beach plan had gone :pac:

ReasonnLogic

Tabnabs wrote: »

That's the one, stick a beach in where it won't last one winter. Pure lunacy. On the Seapoint side this could be a runner or extend Sandycove harbour as a leisure amenity. Urban dreaming rather than urban planning.

People are missing one important point, this is the Harbour Company not the Council. As already stated the old baths, the peoples park, the metals, Sandycove etc. are nothing to do with the Harbour Company. I see this as the Harbour Company trying to redevelop their area in response to reduced shipping (HSS) etc. The pool will be heated, and should be a unique attraction, something we need more and more of if the tourist industry is to regain its growth. Imagine hotels such as the Royal Marine, being able to advertise such a facility within a short walk, an nice USP for them, and other local businesses should benefit as the guests are strolling past. ??

josip

ReasonnLogic wrote: »

Imagine hotels such as the Royal Marine, being able to advertise such a facility within a short walk, an nice USP for them, and other local businesses should benefit as the guests are strolling past. ??

Just supposing a guest from the Royal Marine decides they want to stroll down to the proposed baths, and I'm asking this just for supposing sake, not because I think it's got an earthly; what local business would they pass?

Seaswimmer

josip wrote: »

Just supposing a guest from the Royal Marine decides they want to stroll down to the proposed baths, and I'm asking this just for supposing sake, not because I think it's got an earthly; what local business would they pass?

The little van that sells the coffee at the start of the East pier

but only at weekends during the summer.

unless they get lost coming out of the hotel..

Tabnabs

ReasonnLogic wrote: »

People are missing one important point, this is the Harbour Company not the Council. As already stated the old baths, the peoples park, the metals, Sandycove etc. are nothing to do with the Harbour Company. I see this as the Harbour Company trying to redevelop their area in response to reduced shipping (HSS) etc. The pool will be heated, and should be a unique attraction, something we need more and more of if the tourist industry is to regain its growth. Imagine hotels such as the Royal Marine, being able to advertise such a facility within a short walk, an nice USP for them, and other local businesses should benefit as the guests are strolling past. ??

But the Council is about to take over ownership of the Harbour from the Dept. of Transport, hence why they are investing large 6 figure sums in the Harbour.

I'd imagine the Royal Marine hotel would prefer to advertise their own heated pool (ironically called The Pier Health Club).

ReasonnLogic

Covering 2posts here, so bear with me!
Just supposing a guest from the Royal Marine decides they want to stroll down to the proposed baths, and I'm asking this just for supposing sake, not because I think it's got an earthly; what local business would they pass?
From personal experience, tourists tend to stroll around, so likely they could pass the restaurants on the Metals and on up Marine Road?

I'd imagine the Royal Marine hotel would prefer to advertise their own heated pool (ironically called The Pier Health Club).
Indeed, but many hotels have their own heating pool, mostly free for guests to use. My point is that the floating pool would be unique, and that in it's self might attract tourists to the area, and once there to walk around?

josip

ReasonnLogic wrote: »

Covering 2posts here, so bear with me!
Just supposing a guest from the Royal Marine decides they want to stroll down to the proposed baths, and I'm asking this just for supposing sake, not because I think it's got an earthly; what local business would they pass?
From personal experience, tourists tend to stroll around, so likely they could pass the restaurants on the Metals and on up Marine Road?

I'd imagine the Royal Marine hotel would prefer to advertise their own heated pool (ironically called The Pier Health Club).
Indeed, but many hotels have their own heating pool, mostly free for guests to use. My point is that the floating pool would be unique, and that in it's self might attract tourists to the area, and once there to walk around?

So if I understand you correctly your premise is that some tourists would come to Dun Laoghaire for the baths and stay in the Royal Marine? Strolling around would be part of what they would do during their entire stay?

Sorry, I originally thought you were suggesting that tourists who were in the Royal Marine, would stroll around on a meandering route on their way to the baths.

ReasonnLogic

josip wrote: »

So if I understand you correctly your premise is that some tourists would come to Dun Laoghaire for the baths and stay in the Royal Marine? Strolling around would be part of what they would do during their entire stay?

Sorry, I originally thought you were suggesting that tourists who were in the Royal Marine, would stroll around on a meandering route on their way to the baths.

If I am ever visiting a city, I tend to look for local attractions before I go, and that often forms the basis for how long I stay, or what I do when I get there (i.e. stay local or travel around). I'm suggesting that having a unique attraction could benefit tourism in Dun Laoghaire.

I am also suggesting that tourists might stroll around on a meandering route either on the way or the way back from the Harbour.