millenium bridge damage

I always thought that the bridge looked decidedly shabby far too quickly after it opened. I guess this is the natural extension. The materials probably sounded good on paper and as we found out so often – real life is an entirely different matter!
At least the bridge is doing the right thing and going the way of all the other Millenium projects!!!

The bronze handrail is particularly bad – dirty, full of wavy dents and the joints too obvious.

Saying that, the bridge’s profile is strikingly elegant and well designed.

What’s causing the damage is the Garda Horse Patrol – which I have witnessed crossing the bridge – approx 1 tonne of horsemeat should do it

This bridge suffers from the usual problem with the new additions to the city in that its quite poorly maintained. I see that the Council have at least replaced alot of the LEDs in the centre although there are some missing from the entranceways. In addition a steamclean would do the bridge the world of good. It gets a high footfalll and its maintainance needs are high.

I am amazed to hear that the Garda are responsible for the damage… good luck with your complaint!

I was appalled to see the guards take two horses over it – the iron shod shoes ripped up the surface of the bridge.

There should be an investigation and the guards should have to pay for the repair. If the guards have no respect for public property why should anyone else.

I’ve dropped the Garda Press Office an email… i’ve seen them cross it myself.. also seen them leave a nice mount of horse shit on it…

EL ARCHITINO has photgraphic evidence of the police doing their filthy crimes

The damage under discussion are the result of a number of events.

LED lenses are cracked. Since these are below the level of the metal (aluminium) it would take considerable effort with something quite small in diameter, probably metal, to inflict the damage. Even heavy set people in stillettos are unlikely to cause this. Currently someone has placed stickers (musical notes) over these.

The ribs on the planks are being eroded from wear, or dragging of (again) heavy (stone/metal) over parts of the bridge.

There are a number of puncture holes in the planks. These could only be inflicted by driving a sharp tool (pointed crowbar or other spike like item into the plank. Aluminium is relatively soft in comparison to other metals.

It is clear that most of the damage is deliberate. It is very unlikely that the horses are the cause of the damage above, although the steel shoes will cause some wear on the raised grips (serated edges).

Not sure I agree with you, should a foot bridge not be able to take the weight of a horse – the average weighing less than half a tonne. Surely the damage they are creating is only showing the weakness in the materials which it seems will degrade with sustained usage?

Nice photo el architino, but you might want to run it through photoshop, the colours seem slightly unreal.

………………………

Sorry, Shadow. I agree with you. You happened to get a post in without me seeing it.

Could people be driving umerellas into the surface?

What I meant was, surely the damage being done by the horseys is only speeding up the inevitable degradation of the surface.

I went down to have a look at it this afternoon – Isawthat hole you speak of what?, which was evidently caused with some significant force, someone literally rammed a sharp rounded object into it, like a golf umbrella tip, the metal looks like it exploded with a bullet through it, with all of the frayed edges pointing towards the underside.

And I too saw the stickers that some idiot placed over each and every solitary LED in the centre of the walkway.
The amount of effort they must have gone to to do this – what pathetic individuals they are.

And as for those bloody white stickers on the bollards, which also taint every piece of furniture on Henry St etc…

Perhaps the bridge should be closed at night – this may seem silly considering this is when Temple Bar is it’s busiest – but all of this damage must be happeningunder the cover of darkness.

I think the metal is far too soft – it should never have been used underfoot. I always found it decidedly vunerable from the first time I walked on it, even then it was being damaged.

Also… a third of the lights on the Boardwalk needing new bulbs. The lanterns on Grattan Bridge still not connected and a summer passed with no Book Fair. All of the (albeit ugly) lamps on the Wellington Quay side are out… The flagpole all need a paint and some interesting banners. So much for the Quays being the place to be seen!

The hole in the Millennium Bridge was done with a drill, as far as I know. Read fifth paragraph.

Vandalism of cow art on Dublin streets is ‘symptom of wider malaise’
Nuala Haughey

The Dublin city manager has deplored the vandalism of fibreglass cows which led to their removal from the capital’s streets.

Mr John Fitzgerald said it was disappointing that the 10 cows, which are part of an international art exhibition, could not be left on the streets. Vandals destroyed several of the exhibits.

“It’s a symptom of a wider malaise that needs to be tackled by us as a society by asking ourselves what levels of tolerance do we want and then doing something about it,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said acts of vandalism, littering, public drinking and other forms of anti-social behaviour had worsened in the past five years.

In recent days, a vandal bored a small hole in the walkway of the Millennium Bridge, he said.

“The message has to go out that while this kind of behaviour might represent good fun for someone at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, it is a problem that costs money and ruins the environment,” he added.

Ha!

I saw the Grattan Bridge lanterns too Stephen, these have been like this since the spring!

And the flagpoles too are appalling, esp the feckity little lamposts set between every pair along the quays with those awful 80s suburbia heads on them.
I walked along the quays from the civic offices, and was nearly blown over the quay walls about 10 times with the trucks going by – so much for 30mph in built up areas.
Some very fine Georgians along the quays – most surprisingly with original sashes.
An especially fine detached townhouse to the left of the civic offices set back from the quay that I never saw before.

Originally posted by Graham Hickey
An especially fine detached townhouse to the left of the civic offices set back from the quay that I never saw before.

…this one?

On the corner of Essex Street West (R) stands the oldest surviving private residence in Dublin, believed to date from the 17th century. The house had to be shored up with timber after the demolition of neighbouring buildings in the 1980s.

the flag poles & especially the lamp posts smack of the 80’s & should be replaced, they look awful …

Those flagpoles are there a long time, as far back as I can remember… Any idea when they went up? I quite like them especially on a breezy day…

The “hole” in the bridge plate is not a drill hole. It is a puncture. That aside, I find that the assesment procedures in competitions (Ireland) tend not to be rigorous enough or tailored to deal with the issues in depth or even shift in principle to suit the assesors.

It dosn’t look like a drill hole alright…

The flags look great but not the poles.
The date no earlier than 1970 anyway.

Colinsky – the house isn’t on a corner, it’s set back a bit from the quay with a bit of scrub/park and a small road infront between it and the quay.
The facade at least – is late 18th century.

just to clarify … I think the flags themselves look great, esp. when looking up or down the river, the poles though are fairly scruffy at this stage.

The cheap lamp posts should be replaced, half of which don’t work and the ones that do give out a miserable amount of light.

I used to detest those lights and flagpoles too along the quays……hoping that a more retro traditional style would be apt…..But not now; especially when Henry Street has been upgraded with a more contemporary style of street furniture as well as O Connell Street to follow suit (and also the upgrade of Capel Street bridge)
I think now that the lights and flagpoles are very apt and fitting…..maybe if the lights emitted more light…and colourful flags/bannners were hung from the flagpoles more often, it would be a marked improvement.

Of course they’re fitting, they just need replacing, not because they’re old, because they were crappy from the moment they went up.
London makes such an effort with it’s bridges, and the lighting along the quays – all linked up with chains of twinkly lights, and Dublin is tiny in comparison.
Its hardly difficult to execute something attractive along Dublin’s quays, especially considering that because its so small the improvements would be dramatic.

Originally posted by Graham Hickey
Colinsky – the house isn’t on a corner, it’s set back a bit from the quay with a bit of scrub/park and a small road infront between it and the quay.
The facade at least – is late 18th century.

Is this it?
http://www.archeire.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/southcity/templebar/essex_quay/house.html

Currently starring as the priest’s house in “Strumpet City” – but now a language school.

Spot on!

And what a distinguished pile it is – somewhat unusual in that it’s detached – it really shows what conservation can contribute to a city.

I recongnise it as the priest’s house now!

Poor old Henrietta St is’nt shown in its best light as ‘Chandlers Court’ in the programme, interesting to see how these houses were used as tenements though.
And the opening shot has a fantastic view of the long-lost St Georges Wren spire – indeed the first time I’ve seen it with the exception of an old photo.

The vandalism of the new bridge is disgraceful as well as the slack maintenance……but surely the grid surface should be easily replaceable as part of the design.

if people had listened to EL ARCHITINO in the first place instead of these howling harrignton characters, the milenium bridge would not be the disgrace presented to us today.
EL ARCHITINO’s entry to the competition did not even make the shortlist due to the short-sighted-ness of the jury.
taking as its concept divine phenomenalogical experience and stopping the colloquial dublin “nacker” from wrecking the bridge, the structure manifests itself as a solid mass of brick wedged in the river. as it is an impervious mass through which no water may pass it also functions as a dam (should one be needed ).
each of the bricks would be made from diomands dipped in platinum covered with brick dust (showing EL ARCHITINO’s interest in the unseen).

EL ARCHITINO demands that the current bridge be ripped down and this, more suitable structure be erected poste haste.

rofl… love your drawings

EL ARCHITINO’s linguistics department has informed him that the word rofl is not farmiliar to them..
EL ARCHITINO thanks you for the praise of his visuals but would remind you these are not simply drawings but a composite of maya, autocad, photoshop and many unreleased render plug-in packages which accentuate the photorealism of the images

Walked over the Millenium Bridge in London this morning, guy on a cleaner/mower chemically cleaning the hard metal walking surface and a guy walking in front sweeping debris up!!!

Now that’s what I would call a clean.

Funny, as you approach it, there is a sign saying HSBC Bank gates, I wondered do they sponsor it and what a good idea if they pay for its upkeep?

I also notice they surface is way tougher than the Dublin one and no stupid lights underfoot, they are under the bridge and to its side, i.e PRACTICAL.

Originally posted by Niall
I also notice they surface is way tougher than the Dublin one and no stupid lights underfoot, they are under the bridge and to its side, i.e PRACTICAL.

In my opinion, the great design elements are the modernisation of the Hlpenny Bridge concept. Though technology they have been able to reverse some of the traits of the original bridge, while maintaining a visable relationship. E.g. Where on the old bridge the lights needed to be structurally supported overhead, on the new one they are reversed and placed in the paving. The old bridge needed to have a high arched back in order to support itself, the new bridge has a more shollow arch due to advancements in material strenghts & manufacturing techniques.

I love the new bridge, it is a truely modern rendition of the original.

Whatever about the material underfoot, the design of this metal – ie it being ribbed – is silly, an inevitable dirt-trap.

The Ha’penny Bridge has been cleaned – should point it out considering the many complaints here of its condition just weeks after reopening.
The dirt is building already and could do with another in a few weeks.

Does anyone else find it astonishing the cheapness of the finish underfoot on the Ha’penny considering the tens of thousands spent on its restoration.
All that was done was bog-standard tarmac poured and concrete kerbs laid as steps.
Not even a coloured asphalt or similar material was used.

Also on the subject of damage to bridges, has anyone seen the state of the James Joyce bridge lately?

The practice of climbing the arch now seems to be a thing of the past, but the benches are now occupied by groups of street drinkers most days. They have the place wrecked!. The whole of the pedestrian walkways are in dire need of a powerwash to rid the place of urine/vommit/godknowswhatelse.

i didn’t really get this bridge til i saw it coming down blackhall place in a taxi and from there the splayed form is very sexy.

I’ve always felt a little nervous going over that bridge on the bus 8)

you pervert jim(not)

Someone was cleaning the millennium bridge this morning so maybe the DCC have read this thread. Mind you the guy was only using a scrapper to remove some stickers but it’s a start I suppose.

The DCC really have to understand that even new buildings and structures need constant maintenance from the word go to prevent them becoming run down and grubby. It’s also less costly in the long run.

I think the Jervis centre is a great example of how a building should be maintained. It constantly cleaned having little face-lifts here and there and it shows. It looks new compared to some of its Irish run contemporaries.

From the Garda Press Office

“The Garda Mounted Unit do use the Millenium Bridge to meet operational requests on both sides of the river as required.

The issue of damage being caused to the bridge by Garda horses has not been officially raised with us by the relevant authorities.

If it is raised we will address the matter appropriately.”

The bridge should be able to take what traffic is required of it. This should have been taken into account when building the bridge. It is not fair to blame the Gardai for the damage, as their use of the bridge is quite reasonable.

The material specked should have been up to the task.

How were the designers to know – the Garda didn’t have a mounted unit when the bridge was being designed and who would have thought the guards would use a pedestrian bridge for non pedestrian traffic??!!!?

Was there even a mounted unit when the bridge was commissioned?

There’s a few stories of new fangled motor cars using the Ha’penny Bridge in the hectic 1920s.

Originally posted by Paul Clerkin
From the Garda Press Office

“The Garda Mounted Unit do use the Millenium Bridge to meet operational requests on both sides of the river as required.

The issue of damage being caused to the bridge by Garda horses has not been officially raised with us by the relevant authorities.

If it is raised we will address the matter appropriately.”

So basically…

“Yes, we realise that we’re f*****g up the bridge because we’re too lazy to go around it. But unless someone really forces us to stop using it we’re not gonna bother. And let’s be honest, no-one’s arsed.”

Is there anywhere we can write letters of complaint? Garda Press Office, relevant Corpo contact, etc.? Damaging the bridge is bad enough – leaving horseshit on it sounds like they really don’t give a damn how the public perceive (it must have been a Garda horse, since i doubt anyone’s been trying to drive carriages across the bridge).

P.

I’ve seen horseshit on the Ha’penny bridge…. doesn’t mean its garda horses… we need a photo