High Specification Shroud Advertising
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“When properly organised and introduced using the right guidelines, rules and enforcement this scheme will create significant funding for carrying out conservation of our urban built-heritage” ……I’m not sure that I can say it any more clearly than this.
This is not me just saying this to ‘muddy the waters’…..I am taking the example of what is happening in over 20-large cities in western Europe. This concept was used to help fund repair work on the stonework at the Brandenburg Gate. It is regularly used to help fund restoration projects on historic buildings in London. I am currently talking with Brighton City Council’s and their Heritage Officer re.using this concept to help fund carrying out conservation works on the Brighton Pavilion.
This concept needs to be properly investigated before being disgarded…..we are too quick to do this in this country !
I was wondering if anybody was familiar with the following building on Grand Parade in Cork. The building has remained derelict for some time and I was wondering if anybody new of any recent or future efforts in store for restoring this building to its former glory.
http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=CO®no=20514098
I am interested in talking with anoybody who is interested in saving this building….and is interested in getting involved in a concerted effort to do so.
What is your strategy Paul?
Is it to assemble a list of buildings in breach of the protected structure legislation and use this as leverage?
Thomond.
For the last 10-months we have tried – unsuccessfully – to get senior planners to work together with us on this idea in an open co-ordinated fashion. Our strategy was to inform city councils of this concept and to show them how this concept can successfully work at raising significant funding to carry out necessary conservation work on our urban architecture. We thought that Dublin would be ideal – with so many buildings which are crying out for attention and the need for funding contributions. We have approached both the Dublin Civic Trust and the Cork Civic Trust regarding what we do and we have the full support of both organisations. Our hope was that we could work together with the civic trusts to identify buildings which are most suitable for this idea, in this way ensuring the right buildings were chosen and that any/all conservation works carried out was done so in the right manner.
I have made significant links with a lot of senior people who are operating in Ireland’s built-heritage who privately think that our idea is a really good one, but are unwilling to give our idea public support because they believe their organisations cannot be seen to support a private enterprise….and it would cause a conflict of interest in their positions.
My stategy is a simple one Thomond – it has been from the beginning. I need to build links with those operating within the built-architecture environment in Ireland – people who have a say and can make a difference to the decision-making process. I truly believe that if we are given the opportunity to talk to people and show people in an honest open fashion what we are trying to achieve we will win people over – of this I am sure. The majority of people I have had the opportunity to meet with in person – and decribe our work to them and show them previous examples of what has been achived using our concept – I have
managed to win over to our way of thinking.There are so many people/organisations that I still need to meet with and convince that this is the way forward for raising funding for urban conservation works.
Despite numerous efforts to get to speak with someone/anyone from the Heritage Council – it would seem I am being avoided. I think this is a really great pity….it would seem that just the very word advertising has urged this reaction. I am continuing my efforts to at least be given the opportunity of a meeting…I really didn’t expect to be just ignored.
I have also hired the services of a Senior Council to investigate the legality of what we are proposing under Irish planning law. The SC I chose was a very well-known SC in planning in Ireland, and he produced documentaray evidence which showed that what we are proposing is permissable under Irish planning law, and in many ways provides a very inventive idea which should be very seriously looked at….still nothing.
I have made various efforts to approach the Minister of the Environment, to arrange a meeting – still nothing.
Thomond, I am open to all suggestions as to what might be our next best step here. In co-operation with Dublin Civic Trust, I have already proposed quite a few buildings to the city council which my company was willing to sponsor to carry out immediate urgent repair work to…..my proposals have all fallen on deaf ears at council level.
I think what we need is the support of the Dept.of the Environment here…..but to date we have not succeeded in getting any kind of real response
…..I don’t suppose that you have any friends in the right places….all we want is an opportunity for a face-to-face meeting with some of the key decision makers to show examples of what we have achieved with our concept elsewhere……I am sure that
once the facts are known, and pressure comes from the right circles, that the city councils will be forced to take a closer look at what we are suggesting.…..without this pressure it seems that the city councils are not really bothered with providing extra funding for urban conservation works to be carried out on buildings which are government-owned or privately-owned…..it has been said to me many times by senior council members that the privately-owned buildings should pay for their own conservation work to be carried out. True as this may be – this not happening, and it is not going to happen in the next 10-years without proper enforcement legislation being enacted.
…..or without convincing our planners to think outside of the square in terms of raising sufficient funding to carry out necessary conservation works. However, it is my belief that the will-power is simply not there at planning-level….most senior planners are only interested in concentrating on the new more modern developments that are taking place in Dublin. I think many senior planners view our older buildings as a head-ache and a quagmire of legal difficulties in terms of carrying out enforcement…the result is inactivity and avoidance ! Meanwhile our beautiful older buildings coninue to decay.
You seem to have a genuine concern about this issue Paul, so could I ask you (in a not smart way), which do you think is more worthy of pursuing – the planning authorities to enforce legislation, or the planning authorities to come around to your advertising concept?
Graham, I have two views to your question which for me sit very comfortably;
Firstly, I do believe it is essential to find a way to encourage the planning authorities to do their job correctly and properly enforce legislation which is in place….unfortunately, however, since I began my campaign of identifying buildings to the council which may only be described as buildings-at-risk, I have not seen much evidence of that this is going to happen any time soon. I have played a very active role during the last 10-months in trying to encourage the planners to take some kind of action on a number of blatant breaches of enforcement legislation re. some very fine and prominent buildings in our city….95% of the time my letters, emails, phone calls to the senior planners have been ignored.
My second answer to your question is that in my opinion I find high specification shrouding beautiful on the city landscape – it adds colour, vision, and vibrancy to a streescape when done properly. It also is an indication to me that that the planners are willing to look outside of the box on occassions, and are willing to try new ideas to deal with old problems.
From my dealings with the planners the last 10-months it has become evident to me that some senior planners do not want change – it seems that too many changes are just beyond their scope of ability. However, I have also seen that some planners do want change but are afraid to take any steps to stretch their necks too far outside the box, as too often they get it chopped off.
It is my view that planners need to be encouraged to think outside of the box, to try new ideas, to be encouraged to push-out-boundaries to bring the best to our city. It is very unfortunate that as Irish people we tend to be a very cinacle race – so when new ideas come along they are often quashed before they even get to the drawing board. This has to change in our planning environment….planners need to be allowed to try new things after a thourough period of investigation of th ebest options….we need to get away from mediocre solutions to our planning problems, and we need to embrace vision.
All of this must lie on a bedrock of proper planning-enforcement, which can only come about with a complete rethink of expenditure funding in this area.
Hi Frank.
The Dr.Quirkeys banner on O’Connell Street is legal in the eyes of Dublin City Council – the reason it is considered to be legal is because it is thought not to be promoting anything commercial – it is instead meant to represent the facade of the building as it once stood…..I agree with you, it is dirty, tatty and is an embarassment to Dublin City’s main street.
I have written to the council on this matter and have suggested that something a little more appropriately designed and installed might be considered instead. I have suggested that my company would be very happy to submit a proposal to do something beautiful using shrouding technology at this site, so as to showcase what shrouding technology can do to brighten and improve a particular area in a streetscape….my company’s offer has never been answered.
We would truly love to do something on this site…..but it seems there is absolutely no-one in the council interested in taking any action at the site.
Why don’t you submit a planning application, you would get an answer
Mr.Park,
if you are interested in meeting with me to discuss working with me to submit an appropriate shroud for this site then I would be very happy to do so. I have a feeling that you probably have a little more experience than I do in dealing with Dublin City Council….I would be happy to talk through with you our difficulties to date in making a formal submission to the city council….are you available to further discuss this issue over a cup of coffee ?
Could be a Mrs Park for all we know 😉
Agreed that Dr Quirkey’s is in a dismal state now – though it has to be mentioned that it was warmly welcomed by most when first erected, and rightly so, after years of a gaping hole in the streetscape. Does Richard Quirke own this site?
I don’t think it’s a bad solution for the problem, just the condition is now poor.
An innovative shroud for the site is an exciting idea.We’re always open for new ideas and new suggestions. We would love the opportunity to show the council what it is we mean by high spec shrouding. We could perhaps organise a competition and get architects to submit drawings of what they would like to see the new Abbey Theatre looking like – if the drawings are good enough then they should be good enough to superimpose the image onto the shroud ?
I’m pretty sure that that would raise a few eye-brows !
from paul’s site…
before
during
after
i don’t think the middle image sells your idea at all. it’s garish and in my opinion, inappropriate, even on a temporary basis.
eh, actually Paul, y you might just have a point after all, in fact the whole archiseek, I mean shroud concept is an excellent idea 😀
That middle image is the one that turned me off the idea too – perhaps just cause of ever-typical concerns of globalisation etc etc. No doubt if it was an Irish company it wouldn’t seem nearly as offensive – almost ‘homely’ perhaps.
But either way, that image above shows what I meant about the advertising message becoming imbued in the streetscape – it’s not a nice feeling. It is not self-contained. It takes over the public domain in an unacceptable fashion – to me anyway.
Well I was travelling in Europe last week and I paid attention to these ads for the first time and sure enough they look pretty good. The quality of the production does make a difference.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
Personally I have never seen the difference between temporary and permanent. Either I can see it or I can’t.
I don’t feel any better about a Vodafone banner plastered across a building because it won’t be there in three months time.
Either it is there or it isn’t.I don’t understand this view. Anything you don’t like is better when it is shortlived.
I was also thinking it would be a great opportunity for the Heritage Council to do some self-promotion. Part of the remit of the Heritage Council is to inform the general public about our heritage – both archeoleogical and architectural. However, because of insufficient funding the Heritage Council simply doesn’t have the budget for any significant kind of proper media promotion of its work. I would have thought that what we do offers a great opportunity for the general public to get see what taking care of our heritage is all about. Unfortunately, it seems I am way off with this opinion – the Heritage Council to date have fully avoided meeting with me. I haven’t even been offered the opportunity to show how this concept can really work. I find this a great pity. We work a lot with the Heritage Council’s in other country’s city’s, all of whom embrace this idea as a means of promoting their Heritage Council’s work.
I like the superimposition though, you definately have potential in this area.
Frank,
as stated earlier in this thread, what we are proposing is nothing new. High-specification shrouding is now present in every capital city in Europe. Planners in these cities have embraced the idea nad put rules and regulations in place – strict controls – as to how it should operate.
….I believe it was said to me in one particular meeting here in Dublin – its not happening in Liege so its not happening here….it would seem that there is now a concerted effort to make Dublin a copycat city of Liege…..the mind boggles !
Thanks for your views Frank. I think it is very hard for people to accept this idea until they actually see it for themselves in other cities…..when done properly, these things look really great and can really add something special to a city in some circumstances….I really do believe this
At a time with so many ugly scaffold sites around our city….wouldn’t it be nicer to have something which adds colour and structure and really can make people smile and say “that’s clever !”
…the key is rules, structure and proper enforcement !
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