Boland's Mill

[StephenC]

BTW...anyone interested in getting invloved in this application. The original application was declare invalid by DCC (the site notice didnt possess enough info) so that means a new application will be lodged. Gove any potential objectors or observers some extra time...

[Devin]

Maybe the invalidation will give them time to cop on to how dire it is, and come back with something a bit more elegant!

The silos only look good because they are silos. It doesn't follow that you can model apartments on them and it will look good. Form not following function in this case!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BTW, only the structure of the Bolands Bakery was retained, as the Archiseek entry says. The exteriors, including the curved wall, were totally demolished and rebuilt. Some original stonework - plinth courses, door surrounds et. - was reused. Check out the naff brick used, with deliberate ye olde marks.

The curved wall a terrible loss. I vaguely remember it - it was wine coloured and deeply atmospheric. The huge lettering looked amazing. It made you go 'Wow, look at that', when passing.

[phil]

Nice photo Devin. Thanks for that information about Boland's Bakery. I have always wondered why the brickwork looked so new compared to the door surrounds.

[tommyt]

Hope STW are sent back to the drawing board. Although on further thought the fact that the site cost 41M could indicate a tight budget for any practice working on a proposed development.

[GrahamH]

I imagine you'd pay a lot more for a speculatively assembled site though, so it really can't be used as an excuse, especially in such a prime area. Were it not for the brownfield or 'contaminated' factor, no doubt it'd have cost a heck of a lot more!

That is most interesting about the Boland wall having been entirely rebuilt - it didn't look anything like the original wall depicted in the pictures but I couldn't for the life of me imagine why! The pointing and orangey brick used is completely different to the orginal; lacking in character and interest

[the oracle]

for the past five years i've been dreaming of renovating bolands mill.

unfortunately i'm not a millionaire yet, so it's still on ice, but tell me how i can assist the active people on this forum to prevent STW's proposal!

it reeks of modern capitalist ireland, maximising profit for today with no consideration for tomorrow. maybe future generations would like to see different and unusual buildings instead of all the glass and steel boxes being shoved up around the city these days. bono will get on board.

lets keep the towers- who's in!

[Keen]

Please for the love of god that this is not built!

[Devin]

This is back in now. Shock - no changes following archiseek condemnation!!

New Ref is: 4616/06. Last day for 3rd party submissions is 20th of Sept.

Another view. It's very monolithic looking:

[paul h]

Looks terrible.
Half the footprint, twice the height and lose that shit concrete look.

[phil]

Wow, that looks amazingly bad.

[The Denouncer]

It's like they're working from 1950's blueprints..that'll be directly opposite Alto Vetro aswell.

[archipig]

Oh sweet jesus thats shite looking. I say we start a petition that it dosent get planning

[The Denouncer]

I heard a report the other day that this planning application has been rejected.

[StephenC]

Hurrah! Good news - it was....

Here are the conditions

REFUSE PERMISSION

1. The proposed development would, by virtue of its excessive height, bulk and scale constitute overdevelopment of the site, would be out of scale with the established pattern of development in the area, would constitute a visually obtrusive element in the skyline in this location and would compromise the setting of adjacent protected structures. The proposed development would therefore be contrary to the provisions of Paragraph 15.6.0 of the Dublin City Development Plan, would seriously injure the amenities and depreciate the value of property in the vicinity and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
2. The proposed demolition of the stone buildings at the corner of Ringsend Road and Barrow Street and which are located within the curtilage of protected structures would result in a reduction in visual quality of the area and a loss of transitional structures between the large scale stone buildings to the smaller scale structures on Ringsend Road. The proposed demolition would be contrary to Policies H2 and H27 of the Dublin City Development Plan which seek the retention and reuse of building of architectural or aesthetic merit, would seriously injure the amenities and depreciate the value of property in the vicinity and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
3. The proposed works to Blocks B and C both of which are included on the Record of Protected Structures would constitute an excessive level of intervention such as would have a significant negative impact on the character of the protected structure. The proposed development would therefore be contrary to Policy H2 of the Dublin City Development Plan which seeks the protection of the curtilage of protected structures, would seriously injure the amenity of the area and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
4. By virtue of the lack of permeability proposed through the application site, the poor quality and limited civic space and a relationship with both Barrow Street and the Grand canal Dock the proposed development would be detrimental to amenity and the urban design objectives set out in paragraph 3.3.1 of the Dublin City Development Plan. The proposed development would therefore seriously injure the amenity of the area and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
5. The proposed preponderance of office use together with the lack of a significant residential component and a lack of variety in ground floor uses would contravene materially the zoning objective for the site as identified in the Dublin City Development Plan (Objective Z14), ''to seek the social economic and physical development or rejuvenation of an area with mixed use of which residential and Z6 would be the predominant uses'.

Pretty comprehensive I think.

This is the planning file Bolands Mill Development

[constat]

Most of those bland high rise blocks of flats from the 60’s that one invariably sees being dynamited on evening news bulletins have more class than that heap to go up on the Boland’s site!

[Rory W]

But no overall comment on "poor quality of design"

[Devin]

It was a terrible proposal on many levels and deserved refusal.

As well as the criticisms made earlier about the poor quality of the main buildings, I’d like to add that, on the strength of this proposal, STW architects don’t know how to treat historic buildings either. The proposals for the protected stone mill buildings were insensitive, to say the least.

For the double-gabled mill building at the corner of the canal-basin and Ringsend Road ('Block B'), they wanted to demolish its pitched roof and add our old friend, the glass penthouse setback storey – the double gables facing the canal were to be left standing like a Hollywood set with nothing behind them.

For the mill building to the south of that, running along the canal basin ('Block C'), they wanted to demolish one entire facade (the north facade) and replace it with a glass screen!! This is something you would normally only consider in a protected structure if the façade in question had been heavily altered / degraded / rebuilt (i.e. the river façade of Stack A, where the brick façade that was replaced by the glass screen had been a 20th century rebuilding), but we’re talking about a perfectly good, original masonry wall here, consistent with the rest of the structure.

Demolition of two interesting (non-protected) stone buildings on the corner of Ringsend Road and Barrow Street was also proposed – referred to in item 2 of the refusal schedule, above.

All in all, a terrible proposal and a good decision!

[CC105]

Does anybody know what if anything is happening with Bolands Mills?

[shanekeane]

i think they should keep it, it's got a kind of gotham city like splendour to it. maybe they should turn it into a modern art installation. but i don't suppose the plutocrats who run the country would assent to that.

[Devin]

Does anybody know what if anything is happening with Bolands Mills?

There was this in the paper last May informing that a new plan was ready, but afaik nothing has been lodged yet:


RADICAL NEW DESIGN FOR €125M DOCKLAND SCHEME INCLUDES TALL BUILDINGS

Docklands Development - A new proposal to be submitted for the Boland's Mill site includes two tall buildings, writes Gretchen Friemann
A radical new design for the sprawling 19th century Boland's Mill site in Dublin's docklands will be submitted to local authorities within the next two months after developer Sean Kelly decided to take a different approach with a new firm of architects.
Scott Tallon and Walker (STW), the company that is currently involved in the redevelopment of Landsowne Road stadium, had proposed three high-rise, 1960s-style office blocks for the scheme, ranging from 12 to 16 storeys; the plan was rejected by Dublin City Council last October on the grounds that it would be "out of scale" with the surrounding area.
In the latest application, Kelly intends to again seek planning permission for two tall buildings. However, it is understood their design will be very different to the previous proposal.
Plans for a four-star, 53-bedroom, boutique hotel have also been scrapped in favour of a residential element that will see the protected cut-stone grain store, that dates from the 1830s, turned into an apartment complex.
Kelly explained he was taking a "fresh approach" to the project and confirmed he had parted ways with STW. Another architecture firm is yet to be appointed to the €125 million scheme, but industry sources point out that the new architects are likely to be under a great deal of pressure to get this latest application approved by the planning authorities.
In November 2004, Kelly's development firm, Benton Properties, paid €42 million for the vast historic site that fronts on to the Grand Canal basin. Many in the industry speculated at the time that such a steep price could only be justified if planning permission was given for a high-rise development.
This new proposal will again include two new office blocks rising to 12 and 16 storeys, despite the fact that city officials ruled against his first submission because of its "excessive height, bulk and scale".
However, Kelly remains confident the tall buildings will not present a problem to planners as "there is already a precedent for high-rise on the site" with the existence of the towering concrete grain silos that have dominated the area's skyline since the 1950s.
Others in the industry argue the height issue is the main obstacle to the development of such a key site. As one source pointed out, the Dublin Dockland's Development Authority (DDDA), which holds joint planning authority for the area with Dublin City Council, has been far from consistent on its guidelines for where high-rise buildings should be located.
The organisation was, in fact, one of 20-plus objectors to Treasury Holdings' application for a 32-storey tower that would have directly adjoined Kelly's site.
The company, headed by Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett, eventually withdrew the proposal before city officials gave their decision. Kelly acknowledges that if his scheme is submitted to the DDDA it will be rejected as the organisation's development plan for the area states that buildings cannot exceed eight storeys.
However, he points out that Dublin City Council has designated Heuston Station and the docklands as two suitable locations for "landmark buildings".
The 32-storey tower at Heuston Gate in Kilmainham is already under construction, but other developers have been caught out by the vague guidelines on this issue.
Last week Sean Dunne's proposal for a 32-storey skyscraper resurfaced when local councillors voted against the adoption of a draft area plan that would have accommodated the property developer's ambtious project.

© 2007, 23 May - The Irish Times

[StephenC]

The developer is probably awaiting the new Building Heights Strategy for Dublin City due to be published very soon. It will no doubt give clearer guideance as to what can happen on the site

[lostexpectation]

some photos of inside bolands mills http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastiandooris/sets/72157604413634370/with/2392825289/

[keating]

czech grain silo http://www.materialicio.us/2007/09/20/converted-grain-silo-tomas-pejpek-and-szymon-rozwalka/#more-63

[johnny21]

Any news on boland mills site?? Heard they got ride of s.t.w. boring and dull architecture and are working with new architects. Any pics yet???

[1soanes]

if anyone's interested, here are some pictures taken from inside Bolands Flour Mills:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1soanes/sets/72157604250729415/