Citywest : Mansfield’s giant heap of crap
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Rockflanders,
Alexandra Dock is in Belfast, there are only three Alexandras in the Docklands namely, Road, Dock and Basin and are central to the operation of Dublin Port.
In other News
Walls of Legoland shudder as children go electronic
James Fitzgerald Clare MacCarthy in Copenhagenhttp://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0407/707140056HM1LEGO.html
It has kept about 300 million children amused worldwide since it first appeared 73 years ago. But it seems the simple appeal of Lego is being threatened by the world of computer games and MP3 players.
The Danish toymaker behind the famous building blocks yesterday posted its biggest ever annual loss as it struggles to compete with cheap toys from China, the weakening dollar and young children’s growing obsession with electronic gismos and mobile phones.
The 2004 net loss of €255 million was more than double the loss the previous year.
Revenues, which slumped 7 per cent, were additionally hit by demands for heavy discounts from major grocery chains which have increased their share of the retail toy market at the expense of specialist stores.
Lego said that last year the global market for traditional toys shrank by about 2 per cent while the market for electronic toys, such as video consoles and computer games, enjoyed a minor increase.
But in the toymaker’s battle for children’s pocket money the biggest hurdle last year was youngsters’ increasingly adult tastes.
Lego chief executive Jorgen Vig Knudstorp was optimistic, however, on future prospects despite the difficulties of 2004.
He said that the toymaker had cut costs as a result of increased competitiveness and by sharpening its focus on core products. The toymaker made no statement about its progress on finding a buyer for its theme parks, a divestment it announced last year. Visitor numbers to the four Legoland parks in Denmark, the UK, Germany and the US rose 3 per cent in 2004, but the unit’s profits after tax fell 26 per cent to €2.7 million.
Still a family-run company, it started out small. In 1932, a carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen and his 12-year-old son, Godtfred, started making toys in the town of Billund, Denmark.
They decided that a good name for their company would be Lego, which means “play well” in Danish and also, they discovered, happens to mean “put together” in Latin.
When plastic became available after the second World War, Lego introduced plastic toys and bricks.
The international Lego group is now worldwide, and is run by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, Ole Kirk Christiansen’s grandson.
Only 2 contenders seem to be left for the National Conference Centre (NCC) proposal, both in the north docks. See below from Ireland.com on the 19th March:
The Michael McNamara group has withdrawn from the competition to build the National Conference Centre, leaving just two contenders in the race for the huge development project.
The deadline for tenders was yesterday, but following consultation with the two remaining interested parties, the Spencer Dock consortium and the Anna Livia consortium, the deadline has been extended to April 22nd.
The Office of Public Works (OPW), which is handling procurement up to the tendering stage, received a letter from the McNamara group stating it was withdrawing
The final decision on the huge project will be made by the OPW in conjunction with the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism. The Government is likely to sign off on whoever is awarded the contract.
While the conference centre itself is expected to be a loss-making venture, the lands surrounding the centre will become hugely attractive in terms of retail and office development.
In December 2004, the Government sought tenders from the three consortiums that had been shortlisted by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.
The group, led by construction firm Michael McNamara and the Leopardstown Club Consortium, wanted to build the centre on land owned by Horse Racing Ireland, adjacent to the Carrickmines end of the Leopardstown Racecourse.
The McNamara construction group is one of the largest such groups in the State. It is run by Bernard McNamara, one of the investors behind the recent purchase of the Superquinn group.
The Anna Livia Consortium, led by Bennett Construction, is proposing to build the centre on a site close to the Point Depot and the Port Tunnel, in the Dublin docklands. The site is owned by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.
The Spencer Dock International Conference Centre Consortium is led by Treasury Holdings and proposes building the centre on Spencer Dock.
Under the latest version of the plan, the 2,000-seat centre is to be built by 2007. The Irish Hotels Federation has said the centre could attract up to 50,000 extra visitors and generate business worth €60 million annually.
It is 15 years since the proposal for such a centre was first made and 10 years since an attempt to build one through public/private partnership ended in failure. Five years ago plans for a centre were abandoned when An Bord Pleanála rejected a scheme involving associated high-rise developments.
The Hotels’ Federation believes the lack of such a centre puts Ireland at a serious disadvantage. The Dublin City Centre Business Association said the delay in building the centre was hurting Dublin’s economy “day by day”.
@Thomond Park wrote:
Rockflanders,
Alexandra Dock is in Belfast, there are only three Alexandras in the Docklands namely, Road, Dock and Basin and are central to the operation of Dublin Port.
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Not much consistency in that. Alexandra Dock is indeed in Dublin and is the proposed site for the Conference Centre. Last waterfront site in Dublin in fact. Gaudi, there was an editorial in the Times as well I remember reading which seemed to be more accurate. The extract you wrote has been reprinted for the last couple of years now. All i do know is that the planning for the Treasury Holdings site at Spencer Dock means that if they dont win the competition the land has to revert to a public park!! That would actually be a lovely feature on the Liffey.
@Rockflanders wrote:
Not much consistency in that. Alexandra Dock is indeed in Dublin and is the proposed site for the Conference Centre. Last waterfront site in Dublin in fact.
Sorry I meant to say Alexandra Quay, there is a reference to Alexandra Dry – Dock, which is the only site that I can assume that you are talking about which would lead to a conference centre surrounded on one side by grain stores and the other by ro-ro freight ferries doesn’t exactly appeal plus its a long way from the City Centre and has no public transport existing or proposed and is accessed from Alexandra Road one of the least pedestrian freindly environments in Dublin. Its not a difficult choice between this and Spencer Dock, if only O’Rourke hadn’t interfered we’d have had a NCC in the RDS 5 or 6 years ago.
What is it in this Country, why can’t we just select a central site and build the damn thing?
As far as i know the site is to be accessed from the Roundabout at the East Link, there is a Luas Line going to its door and it is beside the Dublin Port Tunnel. It is 5 mins further from the City Centre than Spencer Dock and has the added advantage of being the same distance from the South City with new bridges being built. It is a bigger site and should be (hopefully) a better building than Roche’s pepper potdesign that is already getting old. If the last developer had built the building when they won the last conference centre competition then we wouldnt be in the situation we are now.
@RTE Interactive wrote:
Removal of aerodrome hangars ordered
19 July 2005 17:50
Companies under the control of businessman Jim Mansfield were ordered by the High Court today to remove unauthorised developments at Weston Aerodrome in Lucan, Dublin.They were also ordered to pay the legal costs of the proceedings to South Dublin County Council.
In April, the court upheld a claim by the council that the bulk of the development work at the aerodrome was unauthorised except for a wastewater treatment plant.
The aerodrome was bought by Mr Mansfield for almost €13 million in 2003.
Today, Mr Justice Liam McKechnie gave Fallowvale Ltd and Weston Ltd three months to comply with his findings.
He ordered the removal of unauthorised hangars and held that a bungalow in the aerodrome should only be used for residential purposes.
In relation to two car parks, it was agreed that one of them would be for domestic use but the judge said that tarmacadam should be removed from the second and the area levelled with topsoil.
Three new complaints by the council were left over for a further court hearing. They relate to a kitchen cafe, the introduction of two portakabins and the alleged widening of the runway.
Court refuses order
The court refused to make an order which would have restrained any development on the land unless, and until, planning permission had first been obtained.
The judge said people have to act lawfully and embark on ventures outside that at their own risk.
He said there was merit in the council asking for this order but, being utterly generous to the respondents, he declined to make it in the present circumstances.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm
ill give fives that those buildings are still there at christmas. Paddy power is only giving twos…..
From today’s Independent
New blow for developer as hotel plan rejectedADVERTISEMENT
MULTI-millionaire property developer Jim Mansfield has been dealt a third blow to his dreams of developing west county Dublin.
Already in trouble for the unauthorised development of hangars at Weston Aerodrome in Lucan, now Mr Mansfield’s hotel and conference centre scheme at the small airport has been refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanala.
Last year HSS Ltd, which is a company owned by Mr Mansfield, was fined for beginning work without planning permission on a giant conference centre at City West.
The latest blow for him comes as An Bord Pleanala upheld a decision by South Dublin County Council to refuse planning permission for a 95-bedroom hotel and a 400-seater conference centre and leisure facility in the grounds of Weston Airport.
Last February the council refused permission for the construction of a hotel and conference and leisure centre there.
Mr Mansfield, through HSS/Sean Lucy and Associates Ltd of Mount St Gardens, Mullingar, appealed the refusal from the council, but yesterday the board upheld the decision of the council.
An Bord Pleanala said it was considered that the proposed development would detract from the character and setting of the protected structure of Weston Park House.
Lorna Reid
so construction should be starting fairly soon then…… 😀Surely the real tragedy here is how unappreciated Jim Mansfields contributions to the urban environment are! Was this a yellow mock Georgian barn as well?
Mansfield is ‘fed up’ with aerodrome planning process
Jim Mansfield, owner of Weston Airport near Lucan in west Co Dublin, has said he is “fed up” with ongoing planning issues at the aerodrome, and may sell a 49 per cent stake in the airport to a group of Irish investors.
His comments follow the decision by South Dublin County Council to prepare to initiate legal proceedings against him over an alleged widening of the runway, which the businessman has denied.
Mansfield turned down a €75.6 million offer from US aviation company Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation for a half share stake in Weston less than a month ago. He bought the airport two years ago for about €13 million. “To tell you the truth, if I got enough money, I suppose I would sell a half share. You do get fed up,†Mansfield said last week.
The businessman, who owns the CityWest hotel and golf resort in west Dublin and Palmerstown House in Co Kildare, said talks “with a group of local people’‘ could be completed within a month, following the planned opening of the Weston Airport terminal building this Saturday.
He refused to identify the potential suitors, but said they were “big in the region’‘.
“I would still have a half share in Weston, probably around 51 per cent and a lump of money in my pocket,†he said. Mansfield said the council’s intended legal action was “completely wrong’‘.
“The width of the runway is determined by two white lines on either side of it. Our runway is 23 metres wide,†he said.
The two side shoulders of the runway were “purely a safety measure’‘, he said.
“When we resurfaced the runway we put a light surface on both sides to make it safe. This is purely a safety feature. If a plane went off the runway – which one did once – it could do serious damage to the passengers and the plane, so that’s why it was done.â€
However, in a letter circulated to all members of the local authority’s Lucan Clondalkin Area Committee, the council said: “In April this year, two stone surfaced areas running along both sides of the runway were covered in tarmacadam, resulting in an overall width of 30 metres approximately.â€
The council said the runway shoulders did not have planning permission.
Dawn Love
© Sunday Business Post
Any Thoughts?
After a certain number of years, is it the case that everything still standing without planning permission won’t be knocked down by the state? Has there ever been a case where someone built an illegal structure and is forced to knock it down 10 years later?
It is not the length of time the structure or works have been illegally in existence that is the issue but the length of time prior to procedings being issued that is the criterion. The legal position is that the Applicant moving the enforcement procedings must have commenced procedings within five years of the illegal works. This time period is bizarely less than the standard statute of limitations of seven years despite the results often having a much more long-term implication.
So if you build a house out of sight from the road and proceedings are not issued for five years afterwards, do you get an automatic right to retention permission?
@Irish Planning Law and Procedure, Galligan, E, 1996 wrote:
Local Govenment (Planning & <A title="Best development" style="COLOR: #65b45c] 2 I.R. 268
I’m not sure how many times Mr Mansfield has used this provision but it certainly mid way between two and three digits.
In answer to your question yes regardless of scale the time limits are set and it relates to completely unsanctioned structures as well as breaches in planning conditions.
Thanks TP. I never knew that.
I’m off to build some houses in my barn, to be dramatically unveiled in 2010.
Aaah sure dont worry about that. Sure isnt Frank a great contributor to the local economy. And sure if he didnt build his barn he might get fed up and take his money somewhere else, like Bangladesh or something. Ill tell you what Frank….heres a few tax incentives and a grant. Why not build the barn as a National Museum of… Dogs or something like that. It would be a great attraction. Really help put the area on the map!
@Frank Taylor wrote:
I’m off to build some houses in my barn, to be dramatically unveiled in 2010.
Like the Vodafone mast at that industrial estate in Navan that was found within a chimney.
😮
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