O’ Connell Street, Dublin
- This topic has 3,789 replies, 212 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 6 months ago by
.
- Posts
Jesus, considering those balus were cleaned a while ago, they really are hangin to bits.
And is that a feckin mouldy scarf hangin off the balu to the right? Hahah, good old Dub.@Morlan wrote:
Bit confused here. Does that mean he may not develop until that date or he must develop before that date?
Good to hear that the fugly Fingal offices will be demolished!
If and when he controls the site he will then make a new planning application to develop it and the other buildings he has bought there. That will take about two to three years as invariably somebody will appeal. Then he will have seven years from the date planning is granted to build it. I suspect it’ll be around 5 years before it’s done, depending on the length of time the court case takes, as it won’t take seven years to build. The plan was to increase footfall into the Ilac centre – which he owns 50 per cent of – by bringing people through the Carlton cinema site and then across the street but as I said the listing of the Moore St buildings complicates that. The traders on Moore St will have been moved on, per the agreement.
Graham Hickey wrote:Thanks for that information jdivision. So who exactly owns the site as of now? Is it in a state of limbo, or do the CC own it as a result of the CPO, albeit being contested?It may take seven years to develop the entire site, but there’s little reason why the main body of the Carlton link couldn’t be up in two years, post planning of course. Seven years would seem to be the contractual timeframe, but hopefully it’ll be up and running long before that.
QUOTE]Ownership of the site is still being contested. Side A claims it owns most of the land, Side B says it does. Side A has entered an understanding with Joe O’Reilly to sell what they say is their property to him. DCC has agreed not to implement the CPO if O’Reilly can buy the whole site. Side B is still disputing ownership. This one will run for a while yet.
@jdivision wrote:
Ownership of the site is still being contested. Side A claims it owns most of the land, Side B says it does. Side A has entered an understanding with Joe O’Reilly to sell what they say is their property to him. DCC has agreed not to implement the CPO if O’Reilly can buy the whole site. Side B is still disputing ownership. This one will run for a while yet.
It only has another 4 years to run to eclipse the Stephens Green Centre as Irelands longest running site assembly to project delivery saga. One would love to be a fly on the wall for some of the goings on in this one. I like yourself can see the lawyers grabbing a lot more loot before this one is sorted by which ever party ends up with control of the site. A pity really given the prominence of the site on such a potentially grand street.
O’Connell Street overhaul due to be completed in May
Olivia KellyThe redevelopment of O’Connell Street in Dublin, which has caused huge disruption to traffic and pedestrians for the last four years, is due to be completed next May, six months ahead of schedule.
The final phase of construction, at the northern end of the street, began on April 26th this year; it was estimated it would continue for 18 months. However, the city council said the work had been accelerated and was now scheduled for earlier completion.
The first phase of the regeneration of the capital’s main street began in 2001 and was completed late last year. It involved the creation of a central plaza outside the GPO and the installation of the Spire.
This second phase comprises the area of Upper O’Connell Street from the junction of Henry Street-North Earl Street northwards to Parnell Street. It also includes the east side of Lower O’Connell Street from Abbey Street Lower southwards to Eden Quay.
Work on the section of Lower O’Connell Street will be “substantially completed” by Christmas, the council said yesterday, and Upper O’Connell Street, a larger and more complex area of redevelopment, should be finished in the early weeks of May.
The acceleration of the project was made possible in part because of good weather, Martin Kavanagh, executive manager of the council’s development department, said. “It really makes a difference to schedules.”
No major difficulties were encountered with underground services such as tele-
communication lines or water and waste service, which also helped to shorten the work.
The council now proposes to begin work on the Parnell Square improvement scheme. A public consultation project will start early in the new year. During the first phase of this project the road will be narrowed on Parnell Square North to two lanes, where a new gate to the Garden of Remembrance will be opened. Paving, lighting and tree-planting will also start.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/1214/534538783HM5OCONNELL.html
© The Irish Timesgood news:)
That is good news. It has taken far too long to do up this street. It is nice to hear that it will be back to normal sooner rather than later.
The northern end is certainly skipping along nicely, faster than the Lower phase it seems – the Plaza in particlar seemed to take forever at the time. Good news about May – remember hearing the 2006 deadline all those years back and thinking how far away it seemed!
A great pity the GPO isn’t unveiled for Christmas, especially Dec 8th when so many people in spite of the odds still come up to Dublin for the day.
There’s no activity going on inside though, and the job appears to be finished. Perhaps there’s a lighting contractor that’s holding things up…Two parking bays as shown in the plans released last year are being installed – outside the Gresham Hotel and the Royal Dublin Hotel.
It is a shame that these will impact on the otherwise straight run of pavement and trees along the entire length of Upper O’Cll St west, and for most of Upper east.RDH
Gresham
It remains to be seen just what effect they will have.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
Two parking bays as shown in the plans released last year are being installed – outside the Gresham Hotel and the Royal Dublin Hotel.
It is a shame that these will impact on the otherwise straight run of pavement and trees along the entire length of Upper O’Cll St west, and for most of Upper east.Could they be for wheelchair taxi purposes? Or are they long enough for the Aircoach? As has been noted here before the stopping of the coach on OCS is a big problem- perhaps a dedicated bay is justified?
@ctesiphon wrote:
Could they be for wheelchair taxi purposes?
Well considering what is probably the State’s largest taxi rank sits about four metres away, with a dedicated pedestrian crossing and wheelchair-friendly kerbline, it would certainly be a pity if they were built just for this reason.
As for Aircoach, surely Cathal Brugha St, again but a handful of metres away from the main door of the Gresham would be capable of catering for residents’ needs? If Aircoach terminate other services here (I don’t know, do they?), well surely O’Connell St is the last place they ought to be ending up – again more ‘Pillarism’ as Alek Smart has referred to.
Again, it remains to be seen if the bays have much impact – they may only require the uprooting of one tree, though coupled with the Cathal Brugha break right next to the Gresham, it’s an unfortunate arrangement.
It seems parking bays are being provided for the two hotels because everyone else has one – the Westin, the Merrion, the Conrad, the Shelbourne…Aircoach doesn’t terminate here, but it does stop for boarding/dismounting, one of the longer pauses on its journey. I thought perhaps it was a traffic flow measure? Maybe not just for Aircoach, but for coaches in general? I fear you might be right about the ‘but mommy I want one too’ mentality.
Not being a taxi getter I don’t know the answer to this, but do wheelchair accessible taxis have large doors on both sides or just on the left/passenger side? If not, it might explain the unsuitability of the Callely strip (remember him?;) ).
It’s just one of those drop off points for the hotels – if you look outside the Fitzwilliam there is one there, Chief O’Neills has one and there is a few knocking about around most new hotels
Not an aircoach in site
Whats the likelihood of the street being completed for St Patricks Day? Or Bertie’s Military Extravaganza at Easter? There is still a lot of work to do. However the first section (Plaza to Abbey St) seemed to have been competed in noi time once they had a bit of pressure applied (for the May Day Concert that never materialised). Perhaps they can get some speed up in Feb.
Meanwhile the GPO is still under wraps!
I noticed the other night that around a third of the Downlighters along the eastern side between Nth Earl St and Eden Quay are out to lunch and have been for quite a while now.
There is obviously a great improvement in the general lighting situation since the erection of the new boulevard poles however it is only when the searching eye moves up that the lighting defecit becomes apparent.
I wonder if the Council has decided to simply allow them to wither and die on the vine or is there a new Lighting masterplan ready to surprise us all….? 😮Well most certainly a lighting masterplan is something that ought to be developed for the buildings on the street – not that many aren’t trying something or other out at the moment, but many more properties ought to ‘take part’, and in a fashion better than what most currently do. And it would be better still if a lighting contractor was paid for by property owners to maintain the scheme.
To have most of the buildings on the street floodlit would be a great boost for nighttime O’Connell St. A reasonable attempt is made with buildings like Clerys, Grand Central, Irish Permanent, Easons, Lynam’s Hotel and Best on the corner with Nth Earl St, but it could be much better. The usual problems of mishmashed colour temperatures, blown bulbs, inconsistant light intensities, mis-directed floods etc abound – the Gresham and Clerys being two of the worst.
A spectacular, permament lighting scheme ought to be drawn up for the whole street, or at the very least owners encouraged and incentives offered for such work to be carried out.It’s sounds lovely Graham but will it ever happen? I’m not sure the council will want to spend more money on the street after the rejuvination. I can’t see property owners paying for something that doesn’t benefit them either.
Many European cities put a lot of money into flood lighting for their buildings. It would be great if Dublin could do the same.
As a daily user of O Connell St end to end I must confess to an increasing concern at the emerging end-game.
My expectations (elevated perhaps) were of a wide traffic-free environment which was also devoid of clutter.
This open-vista looked good in the CG images and encouraged me to keep schtum on my concerns.
What we appear to be facing into as an outcome of the total HAR Programme is essentially a road resurfacing and cobblelock job.
I get a very strong sense of Dilution,especially at the Northern End of the street where the primacy of the private car has it seems overridden the potential for increased pedestrian/public transport usage.
One only has to watch a full size Articulated Truck attemting to reverse into Princes St to get a feel for the loss of direction which the street now appears to stand for.
When added to what appears to be a total indifference to the issue of signage,street furniture and public lighting we really are back to asking ….”Is it worth it” ???? 🙁@Graham Hickey wrote:
The usual problems of mishmashed colour temperatures, blown bulbs, inconsistant light intensities, mis-directed floods etc abound
The blown bulbs comment is particularly apt. Just look at many of the state owned buildings that have poorly maintained flood lights, and just because of lack of will to change the bulbs. For a couple of years Government Buildings had a number of blown bulbs yet suddenly on the 2nd of January 2004 I saw two maintainance men replaceing all the bulbs, Methinks it was no coincidance that this was the day Ireland took over the EU Presidency.
I understand that the OPW has mamoth task in maintaning all the state properties but theres many examples of poor maintance just look at the weads growing out of the portico of Green Street Court House, a protected structure into the bargain.
It looks like the O’Connell Street kiosks are firmly back on the agenda now that the paving element of the rejuvenation plan nears completion. DCC have just published a request for tenders for the finance, construction and completion of about 10 kiosks and 9 bus/taxi shelters along ‘Dublin’s historically premier street’.
The RFT states that the kiosks will be based on the design completed by LONDON BLOC ARCHITECTS, images of which are found at the reflectingcity website.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
