goodbye hawkins house
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Blisterman.
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January 4, 2005 at 5:49 pm #707562
Paul Clerkin
KeymasterHealth to get new HQ for free in land swap deal as eyesore faces demolition
THE Department of Health is to get a new headquarters for free under a land swap deal, the Irish Independent has learned.
The Government is expected to close a deal in the coming weeks with a developer who will provide a new modern office building for the department in exchange for the Hawkins House site in Dublin’s city centre.
Top officials from the Department of Health and OPW have been in negotiations with three major developers trying to secure a deal in recent weeks.
Junior Finance Minister Tom Parlon confirmed negotiations were taking place, but said he could not elaborate on details until everything had been signed off. “Interest in the plan has been considerable,” he said.
Hawkins House on Hawkins St behind the old Irish Press, has long been considered something of aneyesore and the building is not thought to be hugely valuable.
Civil servants say it is not a particularly nice place to work and it is totally unsuitable for modern office requirements.
However the location of the block, in Dublin 2, just a couple of minutes walk from O’Connell Bridge, and the fact that the building is high-rise, has made it very attractive to developers. Any future development would most likely be allowed up go at least as high as the existing one.
Mr Parlon said it was a good deal for the Government as well.
“It means we do not have to divert money away from areas in health where it is needed. It’s a win-win,” he said.
It is thought that while the new health headquarters will be in Dublin, it may not necessarily be in the city centre. The department was not included in the decentralisation plans.
However, another land swap plan involving the exchange of old garda stations in rural areas has been shelved because of a lack of interest fromdevelopers.
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January 4, 2005 at 6:04 pm #749161
modular man
ParticipantThe ‘Save Hawkins House’ campaign starts here
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January 4, 2005 at 6:31 pm #749162
GrahamH
ParticipantIt part of the heritage of the city’s heritage at this stage!
But unlike other more quirky or streamlined ‘monsters’ from the 60s, Hawkins is just horrendous in every respect, esp the steel windows, which are an interesting giveaway as to the age of the building – vestiges of 1950s construction.Whatever about the architecture, it cannot be nice to work in the place – apparently many of the windows won’t budge at this stage, true to form – do people ever maintain steel windows…?
Often laughed at the Dept of Health being sited in the most unhealthy looking building in the state – and when you see it on the News in grim dusky light it’s just embarrassing (and very scary looking)
The Minister’s office is funny too – a bog standard room (with manky steel windows), but tarted up with happy happy brightly coloured sofas and other suburban nick nacks to keep the depression at bay 🙂By far the worst view of the building is looking south down the tunnel of Marlborough St. With the rest of the city skyline out of sight it just dominates – it turns the city into Kruschev’s Moscow 🙁
Must take that pic before it disappears… -
January 4, 2005 at 6:46 pm #749163
kefu
ParticipantA redevelopment of Hawkins House would be one of the five most important developments in Dublin’s city centre over the past twenty years. If done right and not just a giant apartment block, I think it would give major impetus to the proprietors of Apollo House and the other monstrosities of the area to clean up their act. Could also encourage Trinity to open up Pearse Street.
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January 4, 2005 at 7:21 pm #749164
RevJamesFlynn
ParticipantFor a €50 donation to charity, the OPW should rent out a sledge-hammer and hard-hat, and let the people of Dublin enjoy taking the monstrosity down themselves.
I’d pay!
James
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January 4, 2005 at 8:03 pm #749165
Anonymous
ParticipantThat is excellent news; I think it is something that most have us have been waiting to hear for a long time and I am very happy that the site will not be used for the Abbey as it’s hidden nature would have done little for that institution. Only two left between Appollo House & College House. It is only a pity that one developer couldn’t secure that entire Block and do a unified scheme, with the Abbey sitting at the College St corner.
As for the Charity Sledge-athon a great idea but you would probably end up on a hospital trolley for the construction period of you got hurt.
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January 4, 2005 at 9:29 pm #749166
GrahamH
ParticipantEvery time I see the title I just think of that song…
If someone’s witty enough to compose a send-up, the words are here (think the Diana version offers greater potential for humour):
http://www.eltonography.com/songs/candle_in_the_wind_1997.htmlThe winner recieves a shiny new propeller pencil 🙂
(also please excuse that rubbish written in my last post – no not the content, just the 1st line)
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January 4, 2005 at 9:29 pm #749167
dc3
ParticipantWell whats missing here?
Note the absence of any location for the new office. Health was listed for decentralisation, but no location was ever indicated for it.
My guess is Citywest – what is yours?
I reckon the 50 euro a whack suggestion should raise a good few quid.
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January 5, 2005 at 11:37 am #749168
Lotts
ParticipantI think health are off to Naas.
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January 5, 2005 at 12:56 pm #749169
TLM
ParticipantNo health was’nt to be decentralised…though the dept might not be staying in the city centre (see the article).
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January 5, 2005 at 9:05 pm #749170
dc3
ParticipantSorry TLM
On the contrary Health was the only Department mentioned for decentralisation, in the Mc Creevy Budget 2004 announcement, for which no location was specified. This kind of got lost in the initial reaction to this very bizzare proposal.
At that stage M Martin was Minister for Health, leading to some suggestions that Cork was envisaged. as the favoured spot. There is, by coincidence no doubt, a strange but not perfect alignment of initial decentralisation location decisions and Ministerial home towns.
Now it is Ms Harney, of West Dublin who is Minister for Health.
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January 7, 2005 at 4:37 pm #749171
GrahamH
ParticipantThis pic really shows it at its worst – the view from Liberty Hall.
If Liberty Hall is purchased and the viewing deck reopened, Hawkins really must go.
For anyone who’s seen it recently can confirm, it is abominable from up there – really really awful: -
January 7, 2005 at 5:05 pm #749172
Paul Clerkin
KeymasterTalking of the Liberty Hall deck – when I was up there (mid 1995) it was quite breezy and the building seems to sway more than you would think for its height – like being on a ferry, just a constant slight movement.
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January 7, 2005 at 5:16 pm #749173
GrahamH
ParticipantThere is a certain ship-like quality to it alright – don’t remember it swaying, just the dizziness from the height!
There is something of the deserted 1940s swimming pool to it up there – like those abandoned ‘baths’ you see all over southern England. Just the mosaics, the railing, the roof profile, even the aluminium windows – it’s all slightly exotic, yet sadly decayed – F McD’s ‘misplaced optimisim’ perfectly sums it up. That man really has a knack for classic phrases, they just fall off the tongue! 🙂
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January 7, 2005 at 5:31 pm #749174
Paul Clerkin
Keymasterdeserted 1940s swimming pool is it completely
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January 12, 2005 at 12:29 am #749175
GrahamH
ParticipantIn 1998, Hawkins House was voted Dublin’s Worst Building on this site.
Nearly 7 years on, would it still top the poll?
The results of a re-run would be interesting… -
August 3, 2005 at 6:06 pm #749176
modular man
ParticipantThe Office of Public Works is to sell the Department of Health building at Hawkins House in Dublin city centre.
It has been described, ironically, as the most unhealthy public building in the country.Recent attempts to engage in a property swap have proved unsuccessful.
It was hoped that a developer would offer office accommodation at a separate location for the 500 or so staff in return for possession of Hawkins House.
However the offers received did not match market expectations, with the result the Office of Public Works is now planning to put on the open market.
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August 4, 2005 at 11:15 am #749177
urbanisto
ParticipantI read reports (possibly on another thread) which stated that staff were unhappy moving into a ‘modrin’ open plan style office. All those grades having to share the same space…ugggh.
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August 4, 2005 at 2:24 pm #749178
Anonymous
InactiveI think this site is a great opportunity for a true Dublin landmark building/s that is greater than 32 floors like Éire Tower for example. Then same should be done with Apollo House and the former An Post building behind Pearse Street Station (cant remember the name of it)
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August 4, 2005 at 11:02 pm #749179
GrahamH
ParticipantTell us that Heuston is not being titled ‘Éire Tower’?!
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August 5, 2005 at 12:24 am #749180
Morlan
ParticipantI hope not. It’s quite a tacky name to be honest – like New York’s ‘Freedom’ Tower.
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August 5, 2005 at 1:05 am #749181
gregos
ParticipantHawkins House is certainly appalling, but surely it doesn’t deserve the title of Dublin’s worst building? That must belong to O’Connell Bridge House.
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August 5, 2005 at 1:08 am #749182
GrahamH
ParticipantIf you put Hawkins on the O’Connell site, you might think differently 😉
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August 5, 2005 at 2:39 am #749183
ihateawake
Participant32 story at heuston isnt called eire tower, its “heuston gate”
eire tower is a fantasy building that never got much attention…. eire tower
how likely is a high rise in this site? -
August 5, 2005 at 4:30 am #749184
Paul Clerkin
KeymasterNot very I would imagine, if it comes down, it will be a chance not to make the same mistake again.
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August 5, 2005 at 10:19 am #749185
Anonymous
Participant@source for “Eire Tower” wrote:
Name: éireTower
City: Dublin
Country: Ireland
Illustrator: Buck McAllister
Status: fantasy
Finished: 2007
Floors: 41
Use: mixed use
Antenna:
Spire: 174.1 m
Roof: 160.4 mInteresting that the OPW have vetoed the first of the land swaps mooted and given this result which I would say is the correct one; you have wonder as to the status of the accelerated disposal programme of sites to be swapped for social/affordable housing that was announced with great fanfare only a short time ago.
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August 5, 2005 at 9:46 pm #749186
Anonymous
Participanti would hope that a newer building on this site would be the same height or higher again.
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August 6, 2005 at 3:20 am #749187
Morlan
Participant@alpha wrote:
i would hope that a newer building on this site would be the same height or higher again.
This is an awfully cramped area of the city and it doesn’t look like Hawkin’s fugly sister, An Post, is going to be demolished anytime soon. Had both buildings been pencilled for demolishment then a whole city block could have been developed into something worth while.
As for the replacement structure, I’m not sure anything above the current height of Hawkins is going to look great here. Ulster Bank has already sealed the deal in relation to maximum height in this area of the quays. What a shame.. 🙁
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November 30, 2005 at 4:21 pm #749188
fergalr
ParticipantPencil Please
Goodbye Hawkin House
Though we never liked you at all
You were the thing that placed itself
Where Dublin was torn apart
You called out to our city
And you whispered to those in pain
“Haha, tough luck, pal
I’m an architectural shame”And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a suicidal in the wind
Ever fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footplate will always fall here
Though we’ll rebuild-oh yes we will
Your design burned out long before
Your infamy ever willLoveliness we’ve lost
These empty days with your pile
This torch we’ll always carry
When we burn you to the ground
And even though we try
The truth brings us to tears
All our words cannot express
The hurt you brought us through the yearsAnd it seems to me you lived your life
Like a suicidal in the wind
Ever fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footplate will always fall here
Though we’ll rebuild-oh yes we will
Your design burned out long before
Your infamy ever willGoodbye Hawkin House
No we never liked you at all you
You were the thing that placed itself
Where Dublin was torn apart
Goodbye Hawkin House
From a country delighted you are gone
Who’ll miss nothing about you
When the demolitions blowAnd it seems to me you lived your life
Like a suicidal in the wind
Ever fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footplate will always fall here
Though we’ll rebuild-oh yes we will
Your design burned out long before
Your infamy ever will -
November 30, 2005 at 6:45 pm #749189
GrahamH
ParticipantImpressive attempt Fergal, alas we’re rather conveniently out of propeller pencils at the minute. Found these at the back of the stock room though – congratulations!
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November 30, 2005 at 6:55 pm #749190
Anonymous
Inactive@Graham Hickey wrote:
Impressive attempt Fergal, alas we’re rather conveniently out of propeller pencils at the minute. Found these at the back of the stock room though – congratulations!
Methinks there be a shortage of the milk of human kindness.
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December 1, 2005 at 4:30 am #749191
Devin
ParticipantI don’t mind Hawkins House too much. Maybe it should be kept; if all buildings from this time are demolished/changed, we won’t have any record of what buildings from this time looked like.
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December 1, 2005 at 11:07 am #749192
aj
ParticipantDevin wrote:I don’t mind Hawkins House too much. Maybe it should be kept]the same arguement could be used for small pox…flatten that pile and lets dance on the rubble
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December 1, 2005 at 11:16 am #749193
dodger
ParticipantI honestly cannot comprehend for one second (and i’ve tried) how anybody could see the slightest redeeming factor in hawkins street house. Some people like the loop line, some the screen college green, but how anybody can think this building acceptable is beyond me.
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December 1, 2005 at 3:46 pm #749194
Richards
ParticipantIn Britain certain so called Sixties Monstrosities are now preserved. The Centre Point tower at the end of Oxford Street is one example.
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December 1, 2005 at 4:09 pm #749195
jimg
ParticipantJust replacing Hawkins House wont do a huge deal for that area of town. The An Post office building is, in my opinion, just as ugly and visually damaging. Hawkins House is mostly “contained” on its site. While I’ve a soft spot for the Screen cinema because I was a frequent patron, the way it’s set back from the street destroys the screetscape from many angles. For example, it would be just about possible to visually “terminate” Fleet St. if there was a properly shaped corner building on that the screen site. A curved corner building would have symmetry with the Garda Station, Doyles pub and the ever changing corner resteraunt at the Townsend end of D’Olier Street. I know currently there’s a vital traffic artery running through it but, who knows, maybe in a decade or so, that “square” of Dublin could be pedestrianised.
I won’t be chaining myself to Hawkins House if the wrecking balls arrive but I would have like to have seen one of the Ballymun towers refurbished and retained.
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December 1, 2005 at 4:13 pm #749196
Rory W
ParticipantGet rid of Hawkins house – it’s fucking rubbish
Keep O’Connell Bridge house and restore Libery Hall – the best of the 60s
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December 1, 2005 at 4:15 pm #749197
Frank Taylor
Participant@dodger wrote:
I honestly cannot comprehend for one second (and i’ve tried) how anybody could see the slightest redeeming factor in hawkins street house. Some people like the loop line, some the screen college green, but how anybody can think this building acceptable is beyond me.
It’s very well located and must have good views. I’d be happy to live or work there.
Is this building brutalist?
Anyone know the story of how it got planning permission? Was permission granted around the same time as O’Connell Bridge House?
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December 1, 2005 at 4:24 pm #749198
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December 1, 2005 at 5:30 pm #749199
Devin
Participant@Rory W wrote:
Get rid of Hawkins house – it’s fucking rubbish
Keep O’Connell Bridge house and restore Libery Hall – the best of the 60s
Interestingly, though, the latter two have both had alterations, while Hawkins House is a completely unaltered example of its time.
(O’Connell Bridge House had alterations to its windows and mullions in the ’90s, and the original transparent glass of Liberty Hall was replaced with mirror glass after a bomb in the ’70s.) -
December 1, 2005 at 5:37 pm #749200
Frank Taylor
Participant@Rory W wrote:
It’s a very very poor example of 60’s architecture at it was “designed” prior to the 1963 planning regulations
There were planning laws pre 1963, including planning schemes for Dublin. I was wondering how this building was permitted under these older rules.
Is there a book on the 20th century planning history of Dublin pre-1963?
Why is this building worse than any other cuboid office block of the same height? Not shiny enough? No pyramid on the roof?When it is knocked, will it not be replaced by something that is essentially the same yet shinier?
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December 1, 2005 at 5:42 pm #749201
BTH
ParticipantCentre Point in London is a completely different story to Hawkins House – It’s actually a reasonably elegant piece of architecture for one thing even if it is a little frilly in places. It’s also well sited at a major London hub and has stayed pretty fresh looking down the years – nice white concrete…
Compared to the pile of cheap, nasty, and unhealthy (as in sick building syndrome) crap that is Hawkins house it’s a masterpiece…
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December 1, 2005 at 5:52 pm #749202
BTH
ParticipantIn that second picture of Hawkins House (courtesy of http://www.fantasyjackpalance.com btw) you can just see the An Post building sticking out the left hand side. As has been said already it’s equally offensive and should be removed as part of any redevelopment of the Hawkins House site.
I have to say I find the renovation of the old Irish Press building in the foreground pretty nasty as well when viewed from the other side of the river.
This stretch of the South Quays is a bit of a disaster, basically because of whats behind the quay frontage. The most offensive building in that picture is actually the apartment scheme in the lower right hand corner – take a look at it from Eden Quay and see how it looms over the actual quay buildings in a way that doesn’t really happen anywhere else along the river. It’s also unbelievably crap – obviously “designed” with no regard for the fact that the rear elevation would be plainly obvious from many vantage points – therefore random window sizes, cheap clip on balconies and plastic waste pipes abound… -
December 1, 2005 at 6:00 pm #749203
Devin
ParticipantYes, the apartment scheme on Poolbeg Street that rises over the Corn Exchange as seen from Eden Quay is shockingly bad – it looks like the back of a bungalow…
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December 1, 2005 at 7:12 pm #749204
dodger
ParticipantSo much crap has been allowed on eden quay precisely because hawkins street house is there. I agree that apollo house and an post are offensive too but neither are as bad as hawkins st house because neither are anything like as big. Let’s not forget the Screen too. All in all the ugliest few acres in ireland.
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December 1, 2005 at 7:29 pm #749205
notjim
ParticipantDoes anyone know where there is picture of the refurbishment plan proposed for Hawkin’s House a few years ago; the idea was partial reclad to break up the bulk a bit, something about the car and a funny floating roof thing on top.
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December 1, 2005 at 7:30 pm #749206
GrahamH
ParticipantYou just want to keep it Devin because it has steel windows 😉 😀
I would agree to a certain extent though in that it is by no means the most damaging building in the city; the western quays apartment stuff as far worse than Hawkins. Also as has been said, Hawkins is self-contained – it is so god-awful, and located in such a compact place as to make quite distinctive from everything around it. It’s almost acceptable as a token piece of trash 🙂
But I disagree that it is an example of its time, simply because it’s barely even architecture. It doesn’t attempt to be radically Brutalist, nor go in the opposite direction and have a more designed, self-conscious look like Gibney’s ESB, or Centrepoint. It is just a heap of concrete panels chucked together that just happen to form a building. Considerably more effort went into designing Ballymun.
As it is now, it’s something of landmark – it stands for everything that went wrong with the city in the 1960s and 1970s. It’s intimately associated with all the ‘old’ arguments, with The Destruction of Dublin, the call to arms in the 1980s to save the city – essentially pre-Celtic Tiger Dublin. As such, it is somewhat difficult to let go of it all, turn a corner and move on – something which will happen with the demolition of Hawkins House.
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December 1, 2005 at 7:32 pm #749207
notjim
ParticipantSorry, to answer my own question, there is a picture in the previous hawkins house thread:
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December 2, 2005 at 10:55 pm #749208
Pepsi
ParticipantI would like to see them do up Hawkins House. I know it is terrible looking but I’m sure it could look way better if they made an effort.
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December 6, 2005 at 1:39 am #749209
GrahamH
ParticipantBy far the worst view of the building is from College Green; it is hideous how it looms over the little Wide Streets Commission buildings like a dirty old man:
It is impossible to image how lovely this view once was with only the terraced buildings’ chimneys piercing the skyline.
How disgraceful that this heap of junk, along with College House, were permitted to be shovelled onto this site in the very heart of the city.The only time the former looks half decent is at night:
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December 6, 2005 at 4:54 am #749210
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December 6, 2005 at 12:35 pm #749211
jimg
ParticipantActually Graham, in my opinion, that “looming picture” highlights the fact that it’s the An Post office building and Apollo House (which I vaguely recalling hearing had contracted some sort of concrete disease a few years ago and was due – at the time – for imminent destruction?) which are the real “loomers” in that block. Hawkins House almost looks elegant and refined in contrast to them which is some acheivement.
Would those two buildings be the most brutalist buildings in the centre of Dublin?
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December 6, 2005 at 1:37 pm #749212
dodger
ParticipantApollo house isn’t even in the picture and cannot be seen from college green.
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December 6, 2005 at 2:03 pm #749213
jimg
ParticipantApollo house isn’t even in the picture and cannot be seen from college green.
If the building to the right with the “To Let” sign is the An Post building and the green building to it’s left is Hawkins House, what is the building behind Hawkins House towering over it?
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December 6, 2005 at 2:51 pm #749214
Rory W
Participant@jimg wrote:
If the building to the right with the “To Let” sign is the An Post building and the green building to it’s left is Hawkins House, what is the building behind Hawkins House towering over it?
Thats the rest of Hawkins House – I think the Destruction of Dublin said it best “a brutalist slab with two green biscuit tins strapeed on”
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December 6, 2005 at 5:21 pm #749215
fergalr
ParticipantWell the only arguments for retaining it will come from people who are congenitally blind..
Once it’s knocked, there’ll be taller buildings in its place. And fair enough, the Liffey frontage can take the height. But several mixed height towers would break up any horizontal opression that the view in the photos conveys.
In my uneducated opinion.
Oh it has to go…!!! Whoever had the suggestion to arm Dubliners with sledgehammers is on the right course.
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June 21, 2006 at 3:38 am #749216
Paul Clerkin
KeymasterSale of Hawkins House off as department decides to stay put
Office Market: Plans by the Government to sell the notorious Hawkins House behind Burgh Quay in Dublin 2 have been dropped following a decision by the Department of Health and Children not to proceed with the relocation of its staff to a newly completed office block over Penneys store in Parnell Street.
The Office of Public Works had been planning to seek over €60 million for Hawkins House, one of Dublin’s most rundown and ugliest office buildings.
Although the Department of Health had been offered exceptionally attractive rental terms on Chapel House in Parnell Street and had apparently secured the approval of the trade unions for the move, senior executives in the department and the OPW pulled out of the deal this week just before formal contracts were due to be signed.
The department had agreed a rent of €269 per sq m (€25 per sq ft) – almost half the going rate for third generation space in the city centre – even though it would have involved considerable expense (not less than €5.5 million) in fitting out the block of 10,219sq m (110,000sq ft).
The department had planned to lease the block for five years before moving to the current headquarters of the Department of Education on Marlborough Street. The education department is due to move to Mullingar within three years as part of the Government’s decentralisation plan. Liam Carroll, who developed Chapel House and several other office developments in the Parnell Street area, had obviously been banking on the Department of Health staying longer than the five-year lease period.
Either way, the short term letting made good business sense for a building that has been vacant for the best part of two years and, even if the department moved out after a short stay, at least the building would be fitted out and more attractive to a replacement tenant. The indications yesterday were that the OPW may be forced to carry out some remedial work on Hawkins House – many of the windows are defective – now that health staff are to remain there until Marlborough Street becomes available.
In the meantime, the OPW has sought expressions of interest from developers for a public-private-partnership (PPP) scheme that will not only provide the headquarters for the Department of Education in Mullingar, but also facilities in Port Laoise for the Department of Agriculture and Food, and space in Carlow where the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is to be based.
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June 21, 2006 at 1:01 pm #749217
urbanisto
ParticipantOn the one hand, its seems logical that OPW should hold off a move from HH until Marlborough Street become available. Afterall why pay rent needlessly for a short period of time. On the otherhand, will Marlborough Street become available in 3 years? Will the decentralisation of Education go ahead? Desirable though it is for HH to be redeveloped sooner rather than later I think the OPW decision probably makes better business sense.
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June 21, 2006 at 1:06 pm #749218
Anonymous
ParticipantDepends on what they were offered for HH which in my opinion should have gone out to tender as a straight disposal as a redevelopment opportunity, The investment return on the proceeds assuming a €60m sale would have easily exceeded the €2.75m annual rent roll on the Parnell St property with much of the fitout transferable if the new HQs were to be designed along similar floorplates which is entirely possible given that sites have not yet been selected.
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June 21, 2006 at 1:10 pm #749219
urbanisto
Participantmuch of the fitout transferable if the new HQs were to be designed along similar floorplates which is entirely possible given that sites have not yet been selected.
Eh?:confused: Not sure what you mean here. The new HQ has been selected – its the cureent Dept of Education.
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June 21, 2006 at 1:19 pm #749220
Anonymous
ParticipantWhich is already fitted out but many other buildings in the pipeline are not and if the floorplans were replicated it would post vacation be possible to transfer much of the internal fitout to new buildings.
It appears that the only reason given for not disposing of the property was the assumed fit out cost on Chapel House c€5.5m would have to be written down over a 3 year timeframe.
As a straight move selling HH as a development opportunity and investing the proceeds would over a 6 year time frame would exceed the costs of leasing and fitting out Chapel House should the proceeds be invested in a low risk NTMA type model.
Should NTMA be acquiring buildings in the knoweldge that they can provide the tenant as part of the National Pension plan?
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June 21, 2006 at 2:03 pm #749221
hutton
ParticipantWhat about recladding and refurbishing the building – this has been done sucessfully elsewhere, eg the awful eyesores that were on Stephens Green… It just strikes me that any developer of this site would be unlikely to get pp to replicate the volume as currently exists, as well as demolition being wasteful.
Now theres a thought – bet you never imagined that I would be advocating a development strategy that would in part keep/ reuse a building that we all – and me especially – depise!:p
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June 21, 2006 at 2:11 pm #749222
Anonymous
ParticipantNot a runner one two grounds unfortunately
1>>> Floor to ceiling heights are too low to install raised access floors and proper air-con services ensuring it would never achevie the standard required to secure a Grade A rent which would make up a 30-40% difference with the uplift probably being insufficient to justify the risk premium of 30% factored in by prospective developers.
2>>> Site layout; HH is plonked badly in the middle of the site with curtilage all round; through use of lucent cladding a much higher quantum of floorspace would be possible even at a slightly lower height
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June 21, 2006 at 2:44 pm #749223
hutton
ParticipantTP, I defer to you on grounds 1, however Point 2 would be irrelevent to any developer if they were then to lose sq area!
So back to whacking it anyway then 🙂
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June 21, 2006 at 7:40 pm #749224
GrahamH
ParticipantSo, who’s going to win the biggest PVC contract in the history of the state?
Might as well go the whole hog and clad the entire building in the stuff – a monument to Ireland’s love affair with plastic.
And aptly, a short term solution. -
June 21, 2006 at 7:50 pm #749225
notjim
ParticipantYou know its funny, when you look at the picture above you realised that someone loved this building once: real care was taken in designing it, it isn’t like a million other crap for the sake of it buildings, whoever designed it meant it to be great, they just did so at a time when there was no concern for planning rather than architecture and the materials have aged badly.
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June 21, 2006 at 10:33 pm #749226
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June 23, 2006 at 5:56 pm #749227
Rory W
Participant@notjim wrote:
You know its funny, when you look at the picture above you realised that someone loved this building once: real care was taken in designing it, it isn’t like a million other crap for the sake of it buildings, whoever designed it meant it to be great, they just did so at a time when there was no concern for planning rather than architecture and the materials have aged badly.
Actually when it was first built nobody loved it then either, not even the architect
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September 23, 2006 at 10:41 pm #749228
Cathal Dunne
ParticipantI’m not too certain on this demolish Hawkin’s House movement. I fully understand that hawkin’s house is the vilest building on the skyline in Dublin and the site it selfishly stakes out for itself could be used for something better but I think that, well, it acts as a sort of warning against architecture of its ilk. You know, if someone wanted to build a concrete monstrosity like it in the future all people had to do is point to Hawkins House and that would lead to the concrete hulk being shelved.
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January 5, 2008 at 4:27 pm #749229
missarchi
Participantfill in the blanks
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January 5, 2008 at 5:08 pm #749230
notjim
ParticipantI just hope tcd is involved in their alumnus’s redevelopment of this site: they are idiots if they aren’t.
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January 8, 2008 at 4:51 pm #749231
Blisterman
Participant@missarchi wrote:
fill in the blanks
You’ve come up with the ideal solution there.
Don’t demolish it. Save the money, and just paint it blue.
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