Mater Hospital redevelopment?

it’s been a construction site for a year or so. As far as I’m aware there is no visable structure rising out of the ground yet but there is definately building going on. I used to walk by it ever day when the nurses home was on that site. Every day I walked past, it slowly disapeared.

There’s been some dispute over the location of the metro stop

Mater are certainly touting a Metro stop as a big plus to their redevelopment, latest info I can find says it’s still planned for there. In fact the stop is even going to be called “Mater”.

So is this completely replacing the old Mater Hospital?

And have you seen build works for two sites, ie. have they started work on the childrens hospital?

It all just looks brilliant though.

Is that second shot for real? Who are the architects? Yet more evidence of why 3D rendering is dangerous, an under-developed sketchup concept can be handed to the 3D guys and somehow becomes convincing.

So what’s becoming of this structure?

Built into the new building? Different site?

Beautiful facade..

I’m sure that must be a listed facade. Though frankly there’s nothing beyond the facade worth keeping in a modern hospital.

And I wouldn’t hold out hope for the Metro any time in the next 5-10 years.

lol – why did I look at the second shot and think of spoil_sport? 😀

Well I can see this site from my back window; the big hole is built, the lift shaft is six or seven stories high, they are pouring concrete every day and they have three fixed cranes and two mobile cranes on site.

It is quite removed from the old building, the other side of the crappy looking 60s block where most of the hospital is now: it will front the NCR on the other side of the current A&E entrance. The Children’s hospital is going in behind, fronting Eccles Street. Between them, they will fill a huge area covering the eastern half of the Mater site, it used to be a car park, the nurses home and sundry 50 and 60’s stuff; the site was cleared about a year ago. As I understand it, the new building on Eccles Street, opposite Nelson St, was used to decant the activity from the site clearance area.

As for the old building, the Phibsboro area plan proposed that the crud be cleared from around it and a square opened using a triangle between it and the NCR and another triangle where the P4W is now, hard to see it happening.

@GrahamH wrote:

lol – why did I look at the second shot and think of spoil_sport? 😀

Oh dear, I have become too predictable…

@fergalr wrote:

I’m sure that must be a listed facade. Though frankly there’s nothing beyond the facade worth keeping in a modern hospital.

And I wouldn’t hold out hope for the Metro any time in the next 5-10 years.

Metro North and the Interconnector are safe bets for 2016…

It’s just Metro West that’s up in the air.

@notjim wrote:

As for the old building, the Phibsboro area plan proposed that the crud be cleared from around it and a square opened using a triangle between it and the NCR and another triangle where the P4W is now, hard to see it happening.

Thanks notjim, interesting stuff.

Under the Phibsboro plan what is actually planned for the old building/facade to actually be used for if not connected to the new building in any way?

It is still part of the hospital and fergair is wrong to think it is just a facade, the whole quadrangle is still standing and probably still contains lots of interesting and appealing features, I have never been in, but I did have a wander around the rotunda a few months ago and, really, a lot of the original fabric is preserved and it has some beautiful elements. I am sure it will be use more and more for administration and low intensity care.

Anyway, the Phibsboro local area plan is at

http://bit.ly/phibsboro_lap

and the Mater part is p74; which is in part 4 I think. It doesn’t give much detail, as you would expect it says the Mater should foster a fine grain campus atmosphere, like TCD. I was disappointed it didn’t urge the relocation of another hospital to the Mountjoy site to create a medical district, but it didn’t.

Hmm, it would be nice if the new building used the impressive old facade as another entrance, do love that kind of modern/classical integration.

A medical district would have been nice, but the two Mater developments do look wonderful, hopefully the childrens hospital turns out half as good as the render.

I wonder how many beds the new Mater will be, can’t seem to find any info on that. I don’t think there’s any hospital in Dublin with 1000 beds or more, which is a shame.. maybe this will be the one? Certainly in conjunction with the childrens hosp. I imagine.

Interesting stuff. Hopefully they’ll get to work on the “plaza” in time for the Metro, altogether will make a damn nice place to work 😉

@Yixian wrote:

Hmm, it would be nice if the new building used the impressive old facade as another entrance, do love that kind of modern/classical integration.

I think you need to have a look on google maps: it isn’t a facade, its a quad, the facade serves as an entrance to the building its a facade of and which has other impressive and valuable features and it is a long way from the new development.

@notjim wrote:

I think you need to have a look on google maps: it isn’t a facade, its a quad, the facade serves as an entrance to the building its a facade off and which has other impressive and valuable features and it is a long way from the new development.

Ah right ok, just had a look and I see what you mean.

The resolution on the google maps view has been improved recently, its very good now. You can see the quad has some sort of portacabins in the middle and you can see that terrible chapel the nuns built between it and the NCR. East of the old building is the main part of the current hospital and then the site that’s being built on now, the car park has works on it now, but that isn’t being built on, its earmarked for the children’s hospital.

One significant aspect is that this will turn the Mater around, the public face will be too the NCR, and the NCR will be more significant to the hospital than the Eccles Street. The Mater does seem to own lots of buildings on Eccles Street and Nelson Street and a lot of the remaining buildings have consulting rooms or other medical uses, I wonder if that sort of usage will also spread to the NCR.

@spoil_sport wrote:

Is that second shot for real? Who are the architects? Yet more evidence of why 3D rendering is dangerous, an under-developed sketchup concept can be handed to the 3D guys and somehow becomes convincing.

pot holes… I’ve been lectured before on dead grass (It wasn’t my fault)

design and build… and architects are worried about planning applications…

If this is supposed to be a new hospital, why does it look like a 1920s car assembly factory?

The Lingotto Fiat factory in Turin, 1922-3

will there be a race track for trollies on the roof?

@gunter wrote:

will there be a race track for trollies on the roof?

At least Bertie would finally have his Bowl

Bah it doesn’t look too bad.

Reminds me a little of UHL, tipped on it’s side, in a deeper blue.

@Yixian wrote:

Anyone want to destroy my dreams and tell me this has been cancelled?

Been under construction for a while, elevator shaft about ten stories on site. Not sure how you integrate a metro station into this though if the metro isn’t a certainty yet, or how it ties into the whole matter/mountjoy prison redevelopment scheme. They’re going ahead with something anyway.

edit: OOops, didn’t see the other posts

Spoke to someone on the development team yesterday and “there is a Metro North stop planned for the campus” still, Metro North is more or less a certainty along with DARTu. Even Metro West seems to be going ahead at some point in the future.

Here is the Mater site this morning, taken through a small hole in the hoarding on the NCR side, you can see two of the three fixed cranes and, in the foreground, the start of a fourth crane, the lift shaft is in the distance.

I think the state is building a station box for the metro under the mater through a direct contract before the metro is approved.

I went to a RPA briefing in TCD about a year ago when they said exactly that, box built as soon as the railway order is granted and separate to the main tender, the same is also true of various heritage works. I don’t think the current site is involved, the Metro box is to the west, between the current big hole and Leo St.

Even some of the stations have rubber floors… Did they invent banking and the first check?
Franco Albini or an architect that never got his papers…

@Yixian wrote:

So what’s becoming of this structure?

Built into the new building? Different site?

Beautiful facade..

yes its a beautifull victorian structure not much has been changed around inside original windows doors and flooring, another interesting part of the mater campus is the department of radiology with its beautifull original oak doors and doorframes and green supporting columns it looks to be a later addition possibly circa 1907. as regards the structure being renovated all the older edwardian/victorian buildings are protected and will be incorporated into the new campus.

@notjim wrote:

It is still part of the hospital and fergair is wrong to think it is just a facade, the whole quadrangle is still standing and probably still contains lots of interesting and appealing features, I have never been in, but I did have a wander around the rotunda a few months ago and, really, a lot of the original fabric is preserved and it has some beautiful elements. I am sure it will be use more and more for administration and low intensity care.

Anyway, the Phibsboro local area plan is at

http://bit.ly/phibsboro_lap

and the Mater part is p74; which is in part 4 I think. It doesn’t give much detail, as you would expect it says the Mater should foster a fine grain campus atmosphere, like TCD. I was disappointed it didn’t urge the relocation of another hospital to the Mountjoy site to create a medical district, but it didn’t.

yes its all being retained if you ever get a chance to have a look inside its well worth it it still retains all the victorian/edwardian features a must see is the department of radiology it is a beautifull addition from the time of the early 1900s when x ray,s were still in their infancy. interestingly back in 2000 they had a problem getting a new m.r.i machine into the department of radiology they had to go to great lenghts to get this huge machine in without damaging the protected facade.

@Yixian wrote:

So what’s becoming of this structure?

Built into the new building? Different site?

Beautiful facade..

They have let the Mater go to an awful state. It is disgusting to me… it needs a serious interior upgrade and cleaning.

@OisinT wrote:

They have let the Mater go to an awful state. It is disgusting to me… it needs a serious interior upgrade and cleaning.

no its just old i dont think they have replaced any of the victorian or edwardian interior ie floortiles windowframes doors. its like stepping back to the victorian age it has all the modern infrastructure but has its old world charm.

I don’t think they should replace the Victorian or Edwardian parts of the hospital, just clean it. The “newer” addition to the hospital is the worst part. I’m not even sure what decade it is from (60s/70s?) but it is really dated and disgusting.
Basically that whole back part you can see from NCR

@OisinT wrote:

I don’t think they should replace the Victorian or Edwardian parts of the hospital, just clean it. The “newer” addition to the hospital is the worst part. I’m not even sure what decade it is from (60s/70s?) but it is really dated and disgusting.
Basically that whole back part you can see from NCR

the six story block which is what i think you are referring to was built in the 1970s by sisk, but the entrance to the mater on the north circular road was built as an addition to the main hospital around 1907. also at the same time they built the department of radiography which is preserved in its original format it has its original oak doors/frames checkerd flooring and green supporting pillars.also the main 1861 hospital has lots of original features especially on the top two floors. i spent some time there in july/august 2009 due to a spinal injury and was surprised at how much they retained the original hospital. its such a shame that they dident do the same with the jervis hospital before they gutted out all the victorian interiors to make way for the shopping centre.

@georgesturdy wrote:

no its just old i dont think they have replaced any of the victorian or edwardian interior ie floortiles windowframes doors. its like stepping back to the victorian age it has all the modern infrastructure but has its old world charm.

Is old world charm what you want in a hospital ward? As opposed to easily cleaned surfaces 😛

How’s this coming along? Can’t wait to see the finished product – 60% of patient beds will be in single rooms, that’s really outstanding.

Is the children’s hospital next door definitely going ahead? Already started construction?

@Yixian wrote:

How’s this coming along? Can’t wait to see the finished product – 60% of patient beds will be in single rooms, that’s really outstanding.

Is the children’s hospital next door definitely going ahead? Already started construction?

Still just a big hole in the ground as far as I can see. They must be working on the foundation still.

Not true at all; they have three lift shafts topped out and lots of progress on the basement levels.

@notjim wrote:

Not true at all; they have three lift shafts topped out and lots of progress on the basement levels.

Ah you can’t really see that from Eccles St. or else I’m just not paying much attention… my mistake

Any Metro north notices anywhere re the planned station for the hospital?

I think that’s all waiting on the railway order, that the proposed station has been substantially redesigned, with less of an intrusion on Leo St and an entrance on Eccles St.

Thanks for the info, glad it’s still planned at least.

Went by there last night and had a look, you actually can see the lift shafts from Eccles St.

The “National Children’s Hospital” or whatever it will be called is being built on Eccles St, and apparently planning permission is being applied for in the “first half of 2010” – http://www.murrayolaoire.com/news_10/Childrens-Hospital-Ireland-10.html

^ These are the same guys as are in the running for building Metro North stations.

Any way we can find out when permission is being applied for?