Eyre Square – What’s going on?

@Boyler wrote:

Does anyone know why it is taking sooooo long for Eyre Square’s landscaping? I heard it won’t be finished until November, if we’re lucky. (

Prophetic words

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0405/galway.html

Eyre Square workers in wage row

05 April 2005 17:07
Talks are taking place in Galway to try to resolve a dispute which has brought work on the city’s Eyre Square redevelopment programme to a virtual standstill.

Thirty workers employed by the main contracting firm, Samuel Kingston Construction, have walked off the site in a row over wages.

The workers, 19 Irish and 11 Polish, claim some of the workforce were not paid last week and others were only paid part of the wages due to them. They say they will not return to work until the issue is resolved.

A small number of sub-contractors are still at work today.

Samuel Kingston Construction has so far made no statement on the dispute, but the men were called to talks with local management this morning.

Galway Corporations says the management of the workforce is a matter for the company.

chinese granite is ‘cheaper’ despite the exorbitant cost of brining it a few thousand kilometres from china as opposed to a few hundred from wicklow (or somewhere similar) as it is extremely heavily subsidised by the powers that be in china, ie probably exported at a net loss, but china gains valuable foreign currency. 😀

@nono wrote:

chinese granite is ‘cheaper’ despite the exorbitant cost of brining it a few thousand kilometres from china as opposed to a few hundred from wicklow (or somewhere similar) as it is extremely heavily subsidised by the powers that be in china, ie probably exported at a net loss, but china gains valuable foreign currency. 😀

The subsidy you talk of is a rural population of in excess of 600m people who work for about $1.50 a day, Chinese granite is cheaper because it is possible to finish the product by hand at a cost that wouldn’t get the average quarry worker out of bed in the morning. The Chinese Currency is contrary to what you might think being kept artificially low at the moment i.e. they have too much foreign currency at present.

The problem I have with Chinese granite is the colour it is simply too pale for what we are used to in Ireland.

Does anyone have any photographs of completed sections of the Square, or even drawings of what the proposed redevelopment will look like?

thanks for the info thomond park

Some sketches / plans available from the landscape architects site, mitchell & associates:

http://www.mitchell.ie/site/eyre_square.asp

A fair way to go from what i could see yesterday, right in the middle of things at the moment, have a few pics and will post them later.

Thanks for that Peter – the plans certainly looks nice.

a few shots taken on monday …

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0627/galway.html

More difficulty for Eyre Square redevelopment

27 June 2005 12:11
The controversial €9m redevelopment of Eyre Square in Galway city has run into further difficulty.

Work on the site has come to a standstill following the withdrawal of staff employed by the main construction company, Samuel Kingston Construction.

Galway City Council says it is shocked that Samuel Kingston Construction has abandoned the project and it will now have to find another company to complete the work

Work on the redevelopment of the square began in May of last year and was due for completion this October.

There has been constant criticism of the project because of the slow progress of the work and the major disruption it has caused to local businesses. Ends

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/5810432?view=Eircomnet

Workers walk off Eyre Square development
From:ireland.com
Monday, 27th June, 2005

Construction workers on the controversial €9 million Eyre Square redevelopment in Galway city today walked off site.

Work on the city centre refurbishment ground to a halt after teams of builders failed to man the job.

A spokesman for Galway City Council said officials were seeking legal advice after employees from Samuel Kingston Construction walked off.

He said the workers had abandoned the job without notice. “Galway City Council wishes to express our deep disappointment and annoyance at the decision of Kingston Construction to walk off-site at Eyre Square despite repeated and ongoing attempts with the contractor to secure the completion of the contract by the November deadline,” he said.

The spokesman said no warning had been given of the stoppage. And he said all work carried out on-site, under terms of the contract, had been paid for in full by Galway City Council.

Work on the redevelopment of the square began in May of last year and was due to be completed by November. But the redevelopment has been dogged by criticism from the outset due the slow pace of work and the massive disruption to businesses in the city centre.

The Health and Safety Authority carried out a number of inspections at Eyre Square over the last year. No safety issues were identified by the HSA that would warrant the site being closed.

Earlier this year workers, some of whom are Polish, walked off site in a row over wages. Ends

and the fun just keeps going.. now there is no contractor….seemingly kingston went bankrupt.

surely the landscape architects – mitchell & associates – would have been heavily involved supervising the implementation & should have had some indication re the situation with the contractor ?

Samuel Kingston Construction Ltd. Address:, Unit 3N Kinsale Commercial Park
Knocknahobilly Kinsale Co. Cork. Phone:, 00353 21 4779151

I’ve heard that contract enforcement should be sought, one feels a lot of sympathy for local authorities at times

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0701/galway.html

New Eyre Square task force set up

01 July 2005 20:00
A new Mayoral task force has been set up in Galway to try to resolve the continuing problems surrounding the re-development of Eyre Square.

The move comes after the decision of the main contractor to abandon the project earlier this week.

Seven of the city’s leading businessmen are to join the team which will try to minimise the damage being caused to business and tourism as a result of this latest setback to the highly controversial €6.5 million scheme.

Mayor Brian Walsh said the members of the task force would use their business expertise and no-nonsense approach to try to find solutions to the complex problems which had arisen in relation to the refurbishment of the square.

Galway City Council has already brought in a firm of outside contractors to begin work on reopening some of the streets around the square. The work is expected to be completed in three weeks.

It is also involved in negotiations to try to find a way of completing the main redevelopment work in the square. It says it is now likely that that may not be completed until early next year.

6.5 million

It was up to 9 before this whole latest incident began.10 or 11 looks like the finishing cost and I think that the City Council will be sued for compensation due to some of the shops closing down due to loss of buisness so that could be a further cost.

P.S When did it start and when was it due to finish?

When Dublin City Council hosted that Landscaping lecture no too long ago, one of the strongest points I took away from the talk was of green spaces, mixed with harder wearing surfaces, so that spaces were usuable, but less prone to the damage usually associated with green squares, most of our squares in Dublin and throughout the country, being of that Georgian legacy, of green square parks etc. This picture of a scheme….

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=882

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=884

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=885

…realised for the city of Manchester sums up alot of that common sense approach, to making open space, accessible to urban inhabitants, in everyday life, but still keeping greenery as a large part of the equation. That is Terry Farell’s building in the side of the picture.

This image shows how buildings can be tucked into the park landscape, but done so in a way, which still facilitates access by people, through the green space…

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=886

I felt around the Dublin City Council Civic Office, this lesson was sorely missed, and pedestrian access to anywhere near Wood Quay offices now has all but vanished.

Which is a pity I think.

Brian O’ Hanlon.

Interesting images Brian you can almost see the Great Southern Hotel in the background if you think creatively.

Brian’s images arent a million miles away from what is currently half finished in Eyre Square- better materials and a purer concept in use but the general ratio of green to hard surface, the stepped terraces and the routes through the space are all very reminiscent of the scheme as proposed. I still think the finished product will be great, even moreso now that the kingston cowboys are gone – not only did they sneak off the job in disgrace but the general standard of workmanship on the completed parts of the square is abysmal. Some of the paving looks ready for ripping up and replacement already.
I must get some decent photos to load up here! Could anyone give me a crash course in how to display pics on the site??

@BTH wrote:

I must get some decent photos to load up here! Could anyone give me a crash course in how to display pics on the site??

There was someone else asking that recently, i’ll see if I can find it.

Found it

https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=4082

and that brings me to 50 posts , horah!

I am not sure what the the space will feel like at nightime now in Eyre Square, because that is a forgotten aspect of urban design and open public space sometimes too – and as I made the point in that thread:

https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=3968&page=2

Sometimes you can think a bit ‘out of the box’ as to where and how you place/direct your street lighting.

Brian O’ Hanlon.

Oh dear…things just go from bad to worse in Galway:

CHINESE paving slabs may have to be removed from Galway city centre after dozens of people were injured when they slipped on them.

Fine Gael councillor Padraig Conneely said that a restaurant close to Eyre Square had become an “accident and emergency centre” in recent weeks because of the number of people slipping outside the premises.

Staff at Maxwell McNamara’s, on the corner of Williamsgate and Eglinton Street, have treated more than 20 people in the past few weeks. “In six of these cases, the injured people, mainly elderly, had to be removed to hospital to be treated for their injuries,” Cllr Conneely said.

“I have held the view from the outset that the paving slabs for the new footpaths are totally unsuitable and will lead to pedestrians being injured.

“It is just another example of the shoddy work that has been carried out in the redevelopment of Eyre Square,” Cllr Conneely said.

Work on the €6m revamp of Eyre Square ground to a halt earlier this summer when the contractors, Samuel Kingston Construction, walked off the site. Tenders are now being sought from contractors to complete the job but work is not expected to restart until at least October.

Cllr Conneely now wants the paving slabs to be replaced. “I realise it will cost a lot of money, but in the long run it will cost a lot more if people who are injured lodge claims against the city council,” he added.

John Fallon
© Irish Independent

And in a rerun of the BurgerKing etc. fiasco in Dublin Supermacs were finally forced to take down their sign, commenting on the state of the square. They of course had no planning permission for it.

It has been replaced by a similar illegal sign supporting the county team…

This is an interesting picture…. the same aving as O’Connell St in Dublin, a similar lampstand as those on OC St and similar stainless steel bollards…as are found on Oc St Dublin. Is there no originality anymore. Are these pieces the faux-Victorian cast iron stuff of the 1990s.

Thats one mofougly building!
This where the law is wrong – it shouldnt matter that he took down one and replaced it – it should be seen as the same ongoing offence.

I think they should cover the whole building with a poster, it’s God awful!

Funny though – pity Burger King couldn’t have written the same about the O’Connell Street Project! 😀

Fully agreed Stephen about this ubiquitous street furniture – I noted the exact same stuff going down in other town developments that’ve been posted here – especially those McDonald’s of the lighting world, the median posts on O’Connell St in Dublin – they’re everywhere, and have been for the past 7-8 years.

Is Ireland now about to be swamped by a raft of matt-finish silver posts and furniture – the heritage look of the 2000s?
Not only is it dull, unimaginative and predicatable to have this stuff everywhere, it is especially damaging in flagship areas like Eyre Square, or Grand Parade if it’s going in there, or O’Connell St in Dublin – it strips these important places of their uniqueness & identity.
At least Patrick St in Cork has been magnificently saved from it (perhaps too much with those posts ;)), but I’d hate to see Eyre Square engulfed with more content from the Acme Regeneration Kit.

Work to recommence on Eyre Square

29 September 2005 12:55
Work on the controversial Eyre Square redevelopment project in Galway is to get under way again next week.

It came to a standstill three months ago following a dispute between the main contractor and the city council.

The council says another construction company will begin work on the €9 million scheme on Monday and it expects it to be completed early next year.

The city centre makeover will see Eyre Square finally transformed from what was once an enclosed Georgian square into a 21st Century plaza.

However, arguments about the design still continue with opponents arguing for a return to a St Stephen’s Green-type model, rather than the development of a European-style open plaza.

But the council is now pressing ahead with the plaza option. SIAC Construction will move onto the site vacated by Samuel Kingston Construction in June, and complete the project by March or April next year.

The council has not given any indication of the additional cost caused by the delay, but it is understood to be over €500,000.

A city council spokesman dismissed suggestions that it could be as much as €2 million. He said full details would be given to councillors in the coming weeks.

City Manager Joe McGrath said the completion of the scheme would give Galway one of the country’s finest city centre plazas.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0929/galway.html

I totally disagree the old Eyre Square was great and was designed for the JFK visit in 1963; sure the street furniture could have been updated but there is now nothing to remind the City of that day. Only more chinese granite

Campaign to support Great Southern sell-off

May 05, 2006 17:58
A marketing campaign is to be launched later this month to support the sale of the Great Southern Hotels Group.

The group’s eight hotels are to for sale on a going concern basis.

The board says that to date it “has been very encouraged” by the level of interest expressed in the hotels to date.

The board says the marketing campaign aims to attract the highest possible number of formal submissions of interest, both from the Irish and overseas markets.

It hopes to complete the sale by Auguest this year and is bing advised on the sale by BDO Simpson Xavier and CBRE.

Looks like the hotel could be in for major changes as well

@Lotts wrote:

And in a rerun of the BurgerKing etc. fiasco in Dublin Supermacs were finally forced to take down their sign, commenting on the state of the square. They of course had no planning permission for it.

It has been replaced by a similar illegal sign supporting the county team…

The Supermacs building was originally constructed in the 30ies (I think) and was occupied by Woolworths when I was a child in the 70ies, but it had a totally different glass frontage than it has today. Interestingly at the rear this building adjoins the rear of Savoy (which fronts on to Eglington Street) which is one of the few Deco style buildings in Galway and sadly no longer in use as a cinema.

Looking at the houses on Eyre Square its such a shame that all seem to have had original sash windows and fanlights removed. Even the Great southern has pvc outward opening windows. Would be nice to see a scheme to retore these details.

Otherwise must say refurbishment is a great improvement.

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

Thats one mofougly building!
This where the law is wrong – it shouldnt matter that he took down one and replaced it – it should be seen as the same ongoing offence.

The law or those running the city….Joe Gavin, will Galway take him back,,PLEASE? (Dublin rejected this man):o

what a missed opportunity, we could have had a large underground car park in Eyre Square today,

Unlike other Irish cities Galwy does not have a City architect which goes someway to understanding the mish mash of current planning there.