Grafton Street, Dublin

The Grafton Street ASPC Scheme is here for all to read.
http://www.dublincity.ie/SiteCollectionDocuments/grafton_street_planning_control_scheme.pdf

One interesting item regarding uses:

(a) Notwithstanding the interpretation of “shop” by Article 5 (1) of the Planning and
Development Regulations 2001 to 2005 (or any regulations revoking or re-enacting these
regulations) the change of use of a shop or part of a shop to a premises trading as any of
the following will now constitute a material change of use and will require planning
permission: –
• Catalogue shop
• Cosmetics / beauty products
• Discount Shop / End of lines / Closing down/ Sales outlets
• Hairdressers
• Health Food Shops
• Launderette or dry cleaners
• Mobile Phone Shop and related goods
• Newsagents / convenience store
• Off-licences and Wine Shops
• Pharmacy
• Sex shop
• Souvenir Shop
• Stationary / Card Shops
• Supermarket
• Travel Agents

The Council planners probably never even conceived that a Charity Shop might set up here.

‘Council seeks to enhance a stroll down Grafton St’ Irish Times 27th Dec

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1227/1224328186020.html

It was interesting to observe the crush of people at the top of Grafton Street on NYE for the fireworks over St Stephen’s Green. It made me think how few spaces there are in the city for public congregation.

In future, holding off on the fireworks ’till midnight, might also be an idea. :wtf:

Anybody know when the proposed repaving is to start work?I was on Grafton street yesterday and its appalling.Why have they let it deteriorate to such a level.Also why they don’t get on with pedestrianising the surrounding streets in a integrated way is beyond me. The area is bursting with new businesses and they are trying to flourish in poorly paved streets that don’t encourage footfall. If these areas were nicely paved businesses would thrive and jobs would actually be created. It wouldn’t cost a huge amount either.

@mcdanish wrote:

Anybody know when the proposed repaving is to start work?I was on Grafton street yesterday and its appalling.Why have they let it deteriorate to such a level.

I think the condition of the street is the whole reason for the project. Its true that it has gone on far too long but the proposal now is to repave the street in its entirety. Why it was allowed to get so bad is a good question however…but this is Dublin.

Also why they don’t get on with pedestrianising the surrounding streets in a integrated way is beyond me. The area is bursting with new businesses and they are trying to flourish in poorly paved streets that don’t encourage footfall. If these areas were nicely paved businesses would thrive and jobs would actually be created. It wouldn’t cost a huge amount either.

It would cost a significant amount. However again the “plan” is an integrated vision for the area from Kildare Street to South Great Georges Street. Haven’t seen the plan myself and I would hope that the Council would make more of this investment in the city centre and allow for reasonable comment on what it proposed.

As part of the 1st phase…which is Grafton Street (it having the most pressing need – see your point above), the recent temporary changes on Clarendon Street are meant to facilitate greater pedestrian traffic on that street owning to the works on Grafton Street.

You should read back the thread….lots of good information and comment on the project.

The Grafton Street & Environs Area of Special Planning Control is up for review and renewal. A draft is expected to be published tomorrow and comments are invited for the next 8 weeks.

Among the measures expected is a tightening of rules around discount stores, charity shops, fast food outlets, supermarkets, etc

The existing scheme can be viewed here http://www.dublincity.ie/Planning/OtherDevelopmentPlans/SpecialPlanningControlSchemes/Pages/SpecialPlanningControlSchemes.aspx

An interesting post on planning policy for Grafton Street from Ireland After NAMA:

I have commented on Grafton Street before (here and here), while also discussing Schemes of Special Planning Control (SSPC) and Architectural Conservation Areas (ACAs) (here). In light of the current draft for the renewal of the Grafton Street SSPC, there are, I feel, a number of elements that need to be discussed about the relationship between land-use, social space, and heritage in Grafton Street, which are, to a certain extent, reflective of wider dynamics in Dublin more generally. The revision of the Grafton Street SSPC provides the opportunity to redress the bias towards elite notions of heritage and instead celebrate the role of contemporary social life in the street.

The current draft of the Grafton Street SSPC opens with the following vision: “To reinvigorate Grafton Street as the South City’s most dynamic retail experience underpinned by a wide range of mainstream, independent and specialist retail and service outlets that attract both Dubliners and visitors to shop, sit and stroll, whilst re-establishing the area’s rich historic charm and urban character.” The language of such documents tells a very interesting story. There is an explicit perspective within the Scheme of Special Planning Control that the area of Grafton Street has somehow lost some form of character that needs to be re-established or reinvigorated. How this is to be achieved is perceived to require a set of processes that promotes certain forms of land-use over and above others.

In drawing on an imaginary of some unspecified ideal time, the document naturalises the connection between elements such as prestigious forms of consumption and architectural conservation: “A number of uses on Grafton Street are of special significance through their long association with the street. Businesses such as Brown Thomas, Weir and Sons and Bewley’s Cafe are now an essential part of the street’s character and continue in the tradition of providing prestigious products and fine service in high quality surroundings.” When taken at face-value, such language might seem innocuous, and it is difficult to dispute the relative importance of such establishments to the commercial core of Dublin. However, when looked at in more detail, I would argue that in privileging the connection between what are deemed as prestigious land-uses with notions of ‘character’, the SSPC presents an elitist ideal of what the street should be, and, by connection, whether it is intended or not, who Grafton Street is for.

This is not a desire to argue for the retention or promotion of poor signage and shop fronts (however they may be defined), but to seek to expand the remit of what is valued beyond the supposed virtues of exclusive high-end retail and a loosely defined notion of what the street is imagined to once have been. From a broader perspective, it can be argued that in light of the evolution of Dublin over the last number of decades, Grafton Street – and Dublin city centre more generally – has to distinguish itself to compete with the out-of-town centres. Yet, there is also a need to at least try to imagine or think through what the social life of the street might actually look like if the vision of the SSPC, as it currently stands, is achieved. Would it still be a container of a rich variety of social life that it is today? Would it be the street of buskers and flower sellers? Would it still be the street on which younger age-groups gather outside McDonald’s?

The street has and will evolve in response to the dynamics of wider social and market changes. Yet, there also seems to be a need to actually think through what the social dynamics of such streets are beyond the conception of notions of character and heritage-value as being directly connected to upmarket land-uses alone. Celebrating those social dynamics of the present and recent past which serve to define the everyday life of Grafton Street rather than decrying some loosely defined imaginary of what has supposedly been lost would be a start to such.

Philip Lawton

Without being facetious… what difference would it make here if the planners could draw or not? I’m just curious about your thinking.

There was a project similar to what you describe called Designing Dublin which looked at the public’s impressions of the whole area and how it should develop. This in turn was developed into a masterplan for the Grafton Quarter – although we have yet to see this plan from Dublin City Council. The works to refurbish the pavements of Grafton Street, and some secondary projects such as Clarendon Street and Fade Street public realm works, stemmed from this masterplan, although in the absence of the masterplan (or the final Designing Dublin report) its hard to judge how effectively they met the overall vision.

The SPC is specifically designed to affect use on the street and to maintain the street’s position as a high-end retail street. It all sounds like a good idea on paper but I agree in practice it is more problematic. Firstly, the Council are not particular adept at managing these areas in an holistic manner and generally only pay lip-service to the SPC. Most planners in the Council haven’t a clue how to make the lofty ambitions of the SPC and its sister ACA policy a reality. The street should have a town centre manager. It should have a team of knowledgeable professionals managing the area an responding imaginatively to the various challenges that it faces and the in particular the whole revolution of retail streets that is underway at present. Sadly many of the people in the City Council who could affect change on the street are ‘lifers’ who have been around for decades and are at this stage devoid of motivation and good ideas, as well as hamstrung by the inertia of the Council.

In an ideal world, where an important economic entity like Grafton Street was being proactively managed and promoted and curated then you wouldn’t need to adopt SPCs. Clever management and the Market would ensure that the mix of retail and other uses on the street remained in tune with consumer needs and demands and that the image of the street was enhanced and improved, including the important issue of quality and standards of buildings, shopfront design, interiors, public realm etc.

Sadly, as we know we are a million miles away from that world. Perhaps it is ‘elitest’ as suggested in the piece above to try and reserve this street for one type of shopping. But there are plenty of streets in the city where a variety of uses and shops operate. But the reality is that this street is an important economic engine for the city centre and it must compete with the likes of Dundrum SC, Liffey Valley etc. It has to attract and bring people into the city centre. People will not take the Luas in on a Saturday to browse charity shops and mobile phone advertisement shops. They want a high quality shopping environment and a mix of shops, place to eat and sights to see. Its a package they are after and that’s why in my view Grafton Street should be managed as a package or an ‘experience’ if you will. Quality architecture, good design, the impression that the place they area visiting is cared for and respected – all these are essential to the success of the street. If it is elitist to want to preserve quality architecture on Grafton Street as a backdrop to its economic activities then tell me why shoppers don’t flock to Mayor Square on the weekend – with its bland modern boxes. Or why all those shop units in Smithfield remain vacant.

HOWEVER, I do think that in this city at this time, the whole concept of SPCs is just a dead duck. When basic planning permitting is being ignored, where the Council is abjectly failing to enforce its own development plan standards, where senior managers in the Council will ignore a wealthy building owner gutting an historically significant building on the street and allow the developer carte blanche to disney-fy the building and ignore best conservation practice and planning law surrounding ACAs and built heritage, then I agree – writing all this guff and adopting it as an SPC and Council policy is pointless.

“Grafton Street’s a wonderland, with magic in the air…”

To be fair to Dublin City Council, they have at last taken the need to communicate these types of projects to the wider public, seriously. The panels, social media and even a glossy video (with Voiceover Girl) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SI50E_d1L4 all help to sell the scheme.

I welcome seeing the work start. It cant come soon enough in my view. Wandering the streets of Dublin last weekend it really struck me that the two streets that have decline most in the recession have been the two main shopping streets – Henry Street and Grafton Street. Streets like Aungier, Thomas, Moore, Talbot are where they were at the start of the turndown. The area from SG George’s Street to Grafton Street has positively bloomed in recent years. But with the fall off in retailing and the scrabble to get a rate paying business (any rate paying business) into the prime shopping streets, there has been a marked deterioration in quality. Plastic shopfronts, overload of signage, vacancy, lower end uses (yeah you heard me PC brigade, lower end uses like charity shops, newsagents, fast food and the like) have increased significantly. Add in unhelpful practices such as blanking out windows (ONE anyone?), big brash floodlighting, stickers, posters and a-frame galore, and it all adds up to a rather sad and sorry sight on Grafton Street and Henry/Mary Street are not far behind on.

Has anyone seem the elusive GRAFTON QTR MASTERPLAN yet?

It remains a shame about the street lamps disappearing and like you Graham, I wait with baited breath to see their replacement. Will they disappoint as O’Connell Street did back in 2003?

Suddenly, there is a huge desire among charities to set up shop on Grafton Street

Charities have been given a reprieve by Dublin City Councillors who have voted not to ban their shops from opening on Grafton Street.
Councillors were last night asked to consider the introduction of planning controls which would prohibit certain types of retail outlet from opening on the city’s main shopping street on the grounds they “would detract from the character of the street”.
Charity shops were proposed for inclusion on the list of shops which would not in future be granted planning permission. The list also covers sex shops, off-licences, amusement arcades, fast-food restaurants, euro stores and bookmakers, among others considered unsuitable for the street.
In his report to councillors, acting assistant city manager Jim Keogan said charity shops were recommended for exclusion from the street due to concern about the growth of “lower end retail”. Charity shops were welcome in “all parts of the city, with the exclusion of Grafton Street” he said.
“It is considered that this use would not promote higher order comparison retailing or contribute to Grafton Street’s status as the premier city centre shopping street.”
‘Outdated attitude’
Fianna Fáil councillor Mary Fitzpatrick said the ban displayed an outdated attitude to charity shops and that as long as they comply with the planning standards being required of other retailers on Grafton Street they should not be subjected to negative discrimination.
Independent councillor Mannix Flynn had supported the ban and said Grafton Street had become “somewhat of an eyesore” .
Independent councillor Pat Dunne said stating that Grafton Street should be an exclusive street “only for people with money in their pockets” was an insult to ordinary people and people working for charities.
Labour’s Dermot Lacey said he didn’t believe “any planning justification for the exclusion of charity shops has been made”.
Fine Gael’s Paddy McCartan said the council should be encouraging high wealth visitors into Grafton Street. “I don’t see how you can compare shops like Weirs and Brown Thomas and others like that with charity shops.”
Ruairi McGinley (FG) agreed there was a need for a “top end” street to be protected.
However, a group of Fine Gael councillors put forward the proposal that charity shops should be allowed to apply for planning permission and the planning department be allowed to decide whether the particular shop was appropriate.
A joint Fianna Fáil, Labour and Sinn Féin motion calling for charity shops to be removed from the list of prohibited outlets was passed by 29 to 16 votes and the rest of the planning control scheme was approved.
Fundraising Ireland and the Irish Charity Shops Association had asked the council not to go ahead with the ban.