15-storey hotel for Sligo gets council’s approval

“But we ask that they be built outwards rather than up. Cut down the heights”

Build outwards? Does this guy seriously think thats a good idea? What is it with Irish people that they think urban sprawl is preferable to taller buildings?

But this building is not in the town but in the suburbs, am I correct? Suppossed to act as a gateway building….

at the first major intersection as you enter Sligo from the east. Not urban…….but not suburban either

is it ‘edge city’ or ‘ex-urban’ sort of stuff Alan?

Its green fields on a roundabout with a few bungalows around, sligo’s over a large hill, doubt you could see sligo from the top floor or the top floor from sligo. Saw a picture of it a while back, like a skinny version of the one in limerick, horrid business park material.

well if you’re talking about the site Phil, it’s typical of the non descript and characterless areas you often find at the entrance way to many regional towns. Big feckin roundabout and new road leading into Sligo.

A 15 storey hotel though, will certainly be a surprise.

“A 15 storey hotel though, will certainly be a surprise.”

It certainly will.

Thanks for that

Phil

brave decision by planners up there. well done to them!

Would have been nicer somewhere in town though, even if anything develops around it its still pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Hav’nt seen the design myself Mob but just where in town would you put it? Thought it was horrid business park material?

There’s a pic of the model in the Indo today. Big, ugly grey slab.

ach……don’t say that to me Andrew. How feckin depressing

I had hoped it would be excellent. Give me something to cling to: the belief that eventually quality prevails

Probably somewhere similar as in limerick, towards the end of the quays and hope for the best to develop around it and become an extension of the town. Have you seen the plans for the site of the silver swan hotel and continuing down along the river. 4/5 storey mediocrity, stone clad, pitched rooves, round turrets. I don’t know how people think this is appropriate. Clean modern designs bear alot more relevance to the look of an irish town in my opinion. Sorry gone a bit off the thread there.

The Swan Hotel site, eh? Now there is a setting that is one of the best in all Ireland for a town hotel.

It is indeed desperate that the design does not live up to it

I’ll take that back, just saw the photo in the independent, not bad but definitely a million times better than the image i saw previously, think it was a first cousin of that golden can proposal for Salthill.

What the heck is it then, lads………… a big ugly grey slab or not bad.

Got an image from the Independent, that can be posted? Anyone?

Thats a great idea build outwards rather than upwards! Why dont all other countries follow our great example! Infuriating, what narrow minded tossers. Follow Dublins example why dont they, theyll be the tossers dealing with all the problems in a decade or two. Is there no certain height a building has to be to be called a skyscraper? I thought to be labeled a skyscraper a building had to be 120m plus? Could you imagine if that was the case and the objectors had to call them tall buildings instead what gobshites theyd sound like and how backwards theyd seem!

why do the papers always get quotes from these idiots. The local free rags in Dunb Laoghaire are full of quootes ffrom wanna be councillors at the moment saying how the new building for Carlisle pier is “ianappropriate” and the rest. Why don’t they balance the article(s) by quoting someone (like an architect) that thinks its progressive etc. Always appealing to the Nimbyist mentallity

Your right there Anto, they always want to create controversy, get a few slaps on the back from local residents, all they are out for is themselves.

http://www.sligoweekender.ie/news/story.asp?j=17492

Sky scraper gets go-ahead

An immense 15-storey luxury hotel has been given the green light by Sligo County Council.

The controversial hotel, located to the north of the Carraroe roundabout, was subject to a number of objections from local residents, the Carraroe Development Committee, Clifford Electrical, An Taisce and the National Roads Association.

However, Sligo County Council granted permission for the hotel last week, with a number of conditions. These include payment of more than E500,000 for the provision of sewerage and water supply services and footpaths.

The application, originally submitted in May of last year, proposed developing a 105-bedroom 11-storey hotel. However this application was revised in December 2003 to propose a 144-bedroom 15-storey hotel with underground car parking.

This was subsequently granted permission by the Council’s planning department on April 19, 2004.
The revised scheme now consists of an underground car park with 218 spaces and a surface car park with 114 spaces and room for coaches.

The hotel itself consists of a basement, ground floor and 14 upper floors, including a bar, lounge, restaurant, health club, conference and meeting rooms.

The hotel is one of a number of developments planned for the area around the Carraroe roundabout. Already applications for a 10-storey office block and a warehouse/office complex to the south of the roundabout have been submitted.

Residents at the time objected strongly to the size of the hotel development. The developer met with residents at a meeting organised by the development committee.

Chairman of the committee Padraig Gorman said of the hotel plans: “We would welcome every type of development; hotel, office block, retail park, nothing is excluded, but we ask that they be built outwards rather than up. Cut down the heights.”

The committee were scheduled to meet last night (Monday) to discuss their next move, which is likely to be an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against the Council’s decision.

The majority of objectors to the hotel are likely to appeal the decision also. They have until May 19 to submit their objections.

I know the picture is small, but its all I found.

This is just another symptom of the Irish attitude of “ah sure build it and it’ll be fine”. Our regional towns have for years just had bits and pieces tagged onto them. A housing estate here, business park there, nobody wants to think about the traditional designs we used to have; terraced houses, local shop and post office, it’s all very ugly. we should follow the example set in Brittany for small villages and towns, rather than trying to embrace any sort of development. It’s Dublin policies of the sixties on a nationwide scale!

WOW ….15 storeys…..jaypers will the local hospital be able to cope with all the nose bleeds and light headedness that it’s going to cause.
Ah Jasus …sad is’nt it when we consider 15 storeys as being a skyscraper. Land of the leprecauns!
It will only sink into the thick wooley heads when the island of Ireland is covered from head to toe with regular 2 storey boxes and it will be only then that we will have to discover that the only way is up.

WELL SAID GREG

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t advocating the semi-d, in fact that’s what I was complaining about, Dublin style housing estates being added to little villages and towns throughout the country, sometimes just beside the main street, not taking into account the general growth of the town
And I think this Design will add a lot to Sligo, not famed for it’s picturesque beauty. I’ll look forward to the view from the top!

Wow, Sligo’s getting a 15-storey highrise? How long after it gets permission does it take for it to move forward?

Aww lads! (Sigh) This is gonna be one of those things where people think they’re doing something really innovative but in fact, are making a big arse of a mistake. This will be an eye-sore! I am aware of the location and I really feel, if a 15-storey structure is to be built – it should be built in the city centre, not in the middle of Ballygobackwards. Cork County Council had this before with the construction of their 16 (17 if you include the council chambers at the very top) storey County Hall in the 1960s – right in the middle of the countryside at the time. Unlike the proposed Water Street project in Cork city (which will be 19-storeys) high and will be constructed in the city centre, the Queen Meave is void of any surrounding urban infastructure of a sufficient nature. But who knows, maybe it’ll develop the same arrogant admiration Cork County Hall has managed to juice from it citizens.

Maybe it’ll trigger some other highrise developement around it so it won’t stick out as much.

Looks to me lexington to be an interesting building…….saw it as a model in the Council Offices. There will be an office building across the road, not quite 15 storey but tall, non the less.

Can’t be in the city centre, Pearse Road is murder to get down and up during rush hour, right on the turn off road to and from Dublin is where I’d want it as well, within striking distance of the airport .

The Radisson SAS hotel, now being built out toward Rosses Point is in my view a horror story. Better an interesting 15 storey hotel than an unimaginative and crude, 5 storey?

Wow – talk about digging up a dinosaur, this thread took me ages to find, but I never remember there ever being half-decent image of the hotel proposal, so, here ya go! (Sorry, but it still doesn’t do it for me.)

that is very ugly

I guess sw101 it’s all relative…………………. wait til you see the proposal for the new hotel in the centre of the town.

I know this is going to sound strange, but I think it is hard for any building to look decent beside a roundabout! There is something about the context that just makes them look wrong.

It’s practically on a roundabout!

Doesn’t look the prettiest of structures – but as Phil says it’s hard to view it in a good light given its context…

Now maybe this is just me, but I think it bears a disturbing resemblance to that Chicago prison Lotts posted in an earlier thread 😀
http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/Images/TheLoop/MetropolitanCorrectional-001.jpg