Clancy Barracks
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I was just curious what people make of the fact that Clancy Barracks in Islandbridge was sold to a private developer. A year or two ago, Dublin City Council (then still corpo) said they would definitely be buying it for social housing but that’s not happening obviously.
Anybody know if there’s much of architectural note on the barracks site. There doesn’t seem to be from the outside.I do remember the City manager saying last year that they were not going to buy it for social housing as this would be a reversion to the ghetto-style of the past. As for the 20% option, even then he seemed to be downplaying it and mentioned 15% perhaps. So I think it was always likely to be a private development with the City Council taking an option on a part of it.
Florence Properties (controlled by developer David Kennedy) and Chanterwork Properties have been greenlit by Dublin City Council (DCC) for a €400m redevelopment at historic Clancy Barracks which will include 950 residential units, 194-bedroom hotel (revised from an original plan for a 200-bedroom 15-storey hotel tower), retail and commercial facilities, creche, communcity and cultural centres, place of worship and medical centre. The project is to be built on the 5.6 hectare site (13.65 acres) across 45 blocks – 34 new and 11 refurbished buildings. Building heights will range from 1 to 9-storeys and 2 large basement car-parks are also to be constructed. The barracks wall along South Circular Road is to be removed so that the former military encasement can fully intergreate into the wider Kilmainham community with a series of retail units lining the road. The site was purchased from the State for a price-tage of around €25.4m – planning has been granted subject to a number of conditions which include the reduction of in the number of smaller units, and an increase in the number of larger units. DCC is seeking that at least 50% of apartments have floorspace greater than 80sq m, a min. of 25% of the houses sought have a min. floorspace of 90sq m and at least 15% of units will be greater than 100sq m. The redevelopment will also include a new primary school, bar and restaurants and a boardwalk along the southside of the Liffey. Access will be permitted to nearby Heuston Station from the development. An additional condition in the permit requires the developers to lodge a conservation report with the Irish Architectural Archive prior to construction. Design on the project is by Horan Keogan Ryan.
The elements that have to be preserved are quite obvious now when you drive past. However, absolutely nothing has been done with them and you would wonder whether the plan for this site involves developing the empty half and leaving the other [more expensive] portion until economic conditions improve. Paul’s pictures sum it up perfectly: a mixed bag, not terrible but not inspiring either.
The buildings along the SCR look great, before this was built all you could see here was a big stone wall with barbed wire on top and a watchtower, looked like a prison.
It now looks fantastic.What’s with the ‘light rods’, and why are the popping up all over the place, they look cheap and tacky and dont fit in with the rest of the materials, I think they probably look better on plans than in real life.
can we have an appeal to ban them?
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