O’ Connell Street, Dublin
- This topic has 3,789 replies, 212 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 6 months ago by
.
- Posts
@a boyle wrote:
Since the arrival of email , post as we know it is in a slow and perpetual decline. The is no way the GPO will still be open in thirty years time.
As it is , others are going to be given a chance deliver post soon enough , and given the recent figures on An Post reliability they are likely to go extinct a lot sooner, as they do a crap job, and cost a lot.
It would make a great future abbey theatre.
I don’t think that the postal service is in decline. Seems to need a shake up in terms of delivery times etc, but surely the growth of amazon, e-bay etc has only increased the amount of post being sent.
Anyway, I am completely against the idea to turn it into a museum. One of its unique characteristics is the possibility of people to use it on a daily basis. As mentioned above it has a great atmosphere in and around it that defines this part of Dublin. Turning it into a museum is not going to enhance its historical importance. In fact I believe that it could have the opposite effect.
@Thomond Park wrote:
You would destroy this building inserting a stage and cambering seating banks a theatre at this location is simply not an option at this building of national architectural, cultural and historical importance.
I further consider that you over estimate the importance of e-mail as many items such as utility invoices and legal notices simply cannot be sent to every recipient, An Post has a viable future should delivery charges be structured to reflect the actual cost of delivery on an address specific basis.
Putting the abbey in the gpo is but an idea. The demise of an post has already happened! Re bills and that – i don’t think so ! Even my luddite parents pay all their bills online. There is no reason why bill can’t be delivered electronically in the future. Already more than half of people return tax forms electronically. We legislated for electronic signatures years ago.
If anything i underestimate the impact of email and the internet.
The only future is in the parcel delivery area. But an post had to close that division down because it was crap! We get a 3/4 days a week service. The published reliability figures don’t lie : an post do a crap job. in less than two years they have to face competition from others. There is no way they can justify keeping such a prime piece of property, no way. That assumes that they stay in business, why i very much doubt.
I don’t think that the postal service is in decline. Seems to need a shake up in terms of delivery times etc, but surely the growth of amazon, e-bay etc has only increased the amount of post being sent.
I go with Phils take on e-commerce it creates opportunities as well as threats.
@a boyle wrote:
There is no way they can justify keeping such a prime piece of property, no way. That assumes that they stay in business, why i very much doubt.
Aboyle,
The GPO is not a Prime piece of property; it is a heavily ‘heritage encumbered’ piece of property located at the edge of the prime retail zone; the number of uses it would be attrative to is quite limited and on conservation grounds wholescale alteration is just not runner. An Post already collect a healthy income stream from the GPO arcade so this property is already cash positive in a normal year.
come back to me in thirty years !
An post will annihilated.
RTE will be annihilated.
Eircom will be annihilated.
Ntl will be annihilated.
Unless they change completely. The last century and a half was about the revolution in transport. with the canals and trains annihilated in turn.
This century is about media and information.
In college (for now the only places with sufficiently fast internet) You can listen to up to 100,000 radio stations and a thousand tv channels.
Having only graduated in the last few years , i can tell you than an entire generation of people are growing up downloading the tv shows they want to watch, and performing everything media related in an electronic way.
The likelyhood for an post is a once a week bulk service to arrays of post boxes at the edges of housing estates or at ‘points’ along main roads in the country side.
This entire discussion is not really for here as it is economic.
It is fair to say that the nature of the postal system is changing, as is the way people do business and access entertainment. However for the forseeable future there is still going to be a critical mass of people availing of traditional services, and some current services are going to hang on regardless of technological advances such as parcel and basic letter post. That is not to say the GPO ought to remain in the dark ages – its continued use as a public building is more to do with its status as a communications hub than merely that of the headquarters of the postal service.
As we are already seeing in various shopping centres, the provision of public internet access is becoming increasingly common and something that is sorely lacking in the GPO at present, and no doubt many other digital media services into the future. As has been said, there is as much to be gained from technology as there is to be lost in the form of conventional services. Either way, the GPO ought to remain in public use for the provision of day-to-day services for as long as is practicable – hopefully indefinitely. This ought to be actively encouraged by Government, not pulled apart as suggested.
The proposal for a full-scale conversion of the building smacks of the ignorance of rural-based deputies who have never had reason in their lives to make use of the building, indeed may never even have been in there, and view it merely as a political plaything up in Dublin that’s a State asset rather than a public building provided as much for the people of Dublin as for the national postal headquarters.
And yet these are the very same people who would be up in arms at the ‘draining of the lifeblood’ from rural towns and villages at the very notion of the closure of local post offices (generally rightly so). More than a bit of balance is in order here.ok it is not quite so clear cut. But to have any hope the post needs to have the space to innovate and get it’s house in order !
The houses of parliament turned into a bank , so it is not unheard of !
Surely using the site to commemorate 1916 and turning it from the central post-office to museum is a complete paradox.
Would the leaders of the rising have occupied a museum?
@Thomond Park wrote:
Would the leaders of the rising have occupied a museum?
Well they occupied the middle of stephen’s green with tall buildings all around! Militarily i don’t think they were the best. They should have tried to occupy the castle. What they lacked in competence they made up for in bravery .
But to be honest i think they would have occupied a spar had they been around.
Hows the works going…. are we nearly there yet?
I have just been wondering if McDowells (The Happy Ring House) had to take their mosaic paving up or is it (hopefully) being left in place and if so will they consider a Stags Head-type makeover.
@StephenC wrote:
Hows the works going…. are we nearly there yet?
I have just been wondering if McDowells (The Happy Ring House) had to take their mosaic paving up or is it (hopefully) being left in place and if so will they consider a Stags Head-type makeover.
And hopefully get it the right way around unlike the Stags Head Mosiac which was put back upside down 😮
Aye, alot of the immediate areas outside the shops, ie Easons, etc… are left in an unfinished way and are in a rather substandard condition compared to the new paving. Plonks of cement, etc. This should surely be addressed. Flanagans the restaurent used to have a mosaic of some sorts too.
Will there be a grand opening of the street when the works are all complete, I wonder? Bertie cutting the ribbon etc….It’s all nearly finished, however there is about another month or more of work left before its all fully complete (and considering the way its dragging on …ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
What’s very irritating is the manner in which the median is lazily being used as a materials store in spite of being as good as finished for many many months, while pedestrians are forced to walk through mountains of muck and rough surfaces either side. At one stage on the western side it was like being in the countryside, with office workers in heels tottering about in farmyard conditions – and all the while the median finished but occupied by crates and reels of piping, and not even that much of it.
Even to open part of it would’ve been something, but the whole upper median up to Cathal Brugha St has been fenced off for months on end with materials randomly scattered the whole way along which could have been centralised.But at least it’s all finally coming to an end now. The McDowell corner is just nearing completion (with mosaic intact :)), while pretty much everywhere else is done. Just street furnishings to be put in, including those ubiquitous urban renewal median lampposts. The amount of clutter they generate around Parnell Monument is very disappointing – pics soon. The new trees marching along the side pavements look great, while the side lampposts are also going in.
Yes we have spoken about the visual clutter on the street on a number of occasions and I agree with your points about the excess of posts along the median. The lighting scheme is not really very impressive along the street and considering what a to-do there has been about this whole project the very least that could have been done was to get some striking architectural pieces of lighting in place. At least Patrick’s Street in Cork realised the need to be brave rather than go for some designs from a design guide. I dont the the DCC have fully realised the potential of lighting to change a space in say the way Docklands have. Still fancy lighting must be maintained and there are many examples of feature lighting around the city that haven’t been maintained…Ha’penny Bridge being a glaring example.
Its probably quiet difficult to undertake works such as these while leaving the street accessible to everyone so I suppose the use of the median as a storage area is somewhat justified. Can you really see another months work on the street GregF….how despressing. Still there are about 12 kiosks to be installed to complete the scheme so I suppose we should expect some remaining work. I would have hoped that everything would be completed to enjoy the street in the summer.
I think the idea of a ceremony or festival of sorts to celebrate the completion works is a great idea. Galvinise public opinion behind trhe makeover and perhaps stimulate the likes of JWT and Playland to do their bit.
The Dublin City Carnival held during summer times in the mid 1980’s was an excellent spectacle maybe it should be reintroduced;
the idea of waiting until March 17th next for the next showcase opportunity is depressing
Hasn’t the street been used for Blooms Day festivities over the last two years? Or was that only in 2004?
I am also suprised that there is no pedestrian crossing on the median at the intersection between O’Connnell Street and Abbey Street.
Reading through the posts, its obvious ppl are happy with what has been done. Personally I think its ok but im resigned to the fact its about to be dug up for the Luas and they wont put it back the way it was when thats complete. Also casual digging by the ESB and others will interfere, as usual with the pavement.:(
@darkman wrote:
Also casual digging by the ESB and others will interfere, as usual with the pavement.:(
Am I being totally naieve by being surprised that they couldn’t lay tunnels of some kind to run the utilities through? Even at a slighly higher cost, it would save the street being ripped up over the years.
@markpb wrote:
Am I being totally naieve by being surprised that they couldn’t lay tunnels of some kind to run the utilities through? Even at a slighly higher cost, it would save the street being ripped up over the years.
Hi markpb, I wish you were being naieve. I dont think theyve that much common sense unfortunatley. Its always the least they can get away with. Sure ive already seen digging done on the street where theyve put down tar a week later instead of putting the blocks back. It would be funny if it wasnt so stupid after millions being spent on the redevelopment.:mad: 🙁
And after all the effort the design team put in to create a real showpiece for the City
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
