hawkins house

@paul h wrote:

As much as i like to see high rise going up around Dublin
maybe this would not be the most ideal place……
Is seems a little too close to boi building and trinity, and the O’Connell st/Westmoreland St access?

But , im sure the outrageous value of the site will probably mean the only way is up

Surely the outrageous value of the site only exists because people feel they’ll get permission for a high rise?
if they were limited to 4 stories i’m sure it wouldn’t be worth anywhere near as much 🙂

Prediction: 12-ish storey “tasteful” faux-modernist replacement barely visible from anywhere. Only redeeming feature lack of mansard roof. An Taisce wins again.

@paul h wrote:

maybe this would not be the most ideal place……

Ya think?! Flippin heck, the high rise mania here really has reached new levels lol.

Same height predicted, with greater basement exploition and increased site coverage; it’s actually a low density collection of buildings at the minute as seen in Morlan’s linked picture.

My concern is that this development has the potential to homogenise what is the very heart of Dublin city; a sprawling medium-rise, mixed use ‘anywhere’ corporate scheme dumped in the middle of the historic city that by definition of its bulk and (appropriate) height limitation will make for an elephant-in-the-room-like impression in this otherwise traditional part of the city. ‘Traditional’ in the sense that this broad and spacious central core has a unique charm in feeling like it’s been captured in aspic – the Edwardian city frozen at five storeys. At present Hawkins is so monstrous as to almost make it invisible relative to this, but a glossy more expansive scheme will change that.

Hopefully some variety in height and design will make for a visually engaging modern quay skyline. How that disastrous Irish Press and associated decelopment was ever permitted I do not know – it makes me so angry passing it, with all that ignorant muck heaped on top. One of the greatest insults to the image of the city centre.

😀

I see Aviation House (in turquoise above) was recently put to auction as part of a larger property porfolio, advertised as having significant development potential in the medium term. From the outside one suspects it has one of those ghastly late-70’s first generation interiors with full-height fibreglass partition walls inserted about a basic concrete frame. Truly one of the worst buildings in the city, on what has to be the worst quay in the city. Destroyed by the most shamefully abysmal planning, reaching right up to the present day.

And the Immigration Service/Irish Press building once the site of the Tivoli Theatre too.

OPW joint ventures to develop State sites for €125m
Martin Wall, Industry Correspondent

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has entered into joint ventures with the private sector for the development of three State-owned sites in Dublin city centre which it said could generate up to €125 million for the exchequer.

Under the deals the State will receive a percentage of the rental income from the redeveloped sites.

OPW chairman Seán Benton said the largest site was Hawkins House, the current headquarters of the Department of Health, while the others were at Hatch Street and O’Connell Street.

He said the estimated €125 million in income from the joint ventures would be in addition to about €400 million raised from the sale of assets in recent years.

The money is likely to be used to offset the €900 million bill for the provision of new State offices around the country under the decentralisation programme.

Meanwhile Minister of State at the OPW Noel Ahern said unless there was a breakthrough on recruitment or on allowing staff in State agencies to transfer from one body to another, this element of the decentralisation plan would take longer to achieve.

The Minister described the Government’s initial four-year target for implementing the decentralisation plan as “unrealisable”.

However, he said it had “acted as a catalyst and made things happen”.

An OPW spokesman said last night the projected income stream from the joint ventures, worth €125 million at net present values, was substantially more than could have been accrued if the sites had been sold.

Mr Benton said the Hatch Street premises, currently used by OPW engineers, would be developed, probably mainly for offices, in partnership with a company which owned land at nearby Earlsfort Terrace.

He said the sites on O’Connell Street which were now “half-empty shop fronts” would be included in plans for a large shopping development at the old Carlton site.

Mr Ahern said the State was only putting its sites into the deals and not cash.

Details of the joint ventures emerged at an OPW press conference yesterday to announce a deal to have offices for 1,500 staff moving to Portlaoise, Mullingar and Carlow under decentralisation provided as part of a public/private partnership.

A consortium, the Macquarie Partnership, won the tender for the project. It will design, finance, build and maintain the offices under a 15-year contract worth up to €140 million.

Mr Ahern said “very significant progress” had been made in the decentralisation programme. Decentralisation for civil servants – about 6,200 staff – would be more or less completed by the end of 2009.

However, the Minister acknowledged that progress was much slower among professional staff and those in the State agencies.

Only about 200 personnel in State agencies have moved so far.

In the summer, the Labour Court effectively ruled out moves by State agencies to use promotions as incentives to encourage staff to transfer.

Mr Ahern said “the hope is that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions will get involved and try come up with a solution on a case-by-case basis”.

He said a problem was that staff in State agencies could not readily transfer from one body to another.

Some unions had been “rather anti the whole concept of decentralisation” and he hoped that talks could get under way to deal with the issue on a case-by-case basis.

© 2007 The Irish Times

Bye bye Hawkins House – it’ll be much missed, about as much as a bout of anal cancer.

At what stage did Hawkin’s House come into State ownershp? I’d be interested to know how the state came to possess such a cruddy building.

There is a piece on the finale of the Theatre Royal in Summer 1962, and another paragraph in the Irishman’s diary (August 1962) about the demolition .

It was very sad. What a mistake it was to let that happen.

I was looking at pictures of Hawkins Street with the Theatre Royal, and it is hard to imagine that the current decrepit dingy street was once so beautiful, lively and pleasant.

I really hope that Hawkin’s House is demolished and replaced by something that will bring some life and beauty back to Hawkins street.