Tara st station

missarchi, there have been plans in the pipeline for years to redevelop the area around it and part of the station itself. The last ones were shelved after fears were raised about whether the structure proposed could be supported if hit by a derailed train. New proposals seem to have been drawn up however, seem to remember something about them being in the Tribune in February maybe?

It beats having to look at the fabric of Tara st. Pearse has the potential to be a nice station, I always feel. Esp with that great roof over it.

I’m confused as to where the new buildings would go? surely there isn’t plans to nock the very modern and stylish Georges Quay plaza buildings?

The building would go over the station, I think. They have a station on the DLR in Canary Wharf like that.Then again, they have a public transport infrastructure in London.

I think the building would be predominantly to the east of the station. no chance of Georges Quay being demolished, different owners. As for coming up from the station in Canary Wharf, foster did a superb job I think in terms of materials and light. First time I used it it did feel like an experience

@jdivision wrote:

no chance of Georges Quay being demolished, different owners.

word on the street is that exactly that is planned. Not the towers but the rest of the scheme.

as in the ulster bank bits?

if so good riddance!

Sorry should have stressed that I was referring to the Cosgrave scheme. There has been some mutterings re: Ulster Bank alright

I have never understood the antipathy to the ‘Ulster Bank bits’ – it’s not great architecture, but it’s not as awful or as overbearing as some. What about the overbearing monster currently housing the Irish Times? Townscape, context, relationship to neighbours? I don’t see it.

Do you mean the Irish Times building on Tara St? I’m amazed you say that. I personally think its a great building. Contextually its not unsensitive. The context is quite scattered as it is, given the areas mixture of development and height, bulk, materials etc.

This building establishes a new benchmark in the street for the creation of enclosure and immediacy to the street. I also have to admire the architects (Donnely Turpin) for creating a dynamic, quality design from a banal, city council led, speculative commercial brief.

I really like it I must say.

I don’t get it. The Ulster Bank Buildings are great. They could do with being a little taller but still great design a feel

re: tara st – especially given this was Dublin City Council!

Me too! (irish times bldg) Its an excellent development

Ulster Bank is good and IT bldg bad?

Talking through your shlong A.J. per usual

ulster reminds me of Christchurch from city hall X 10
I like the main buildings but I don’t like the connections to the public space I would have preferred a brick Georgian outer layer but this is smack city

joanlemmon: Obsessed with dicks? You’ve got a problem, usually expressed through your arse.
The other serious posters: I reserve my right not to like the IT bldg – it’s substantially taller than any of its neighbours and sets a new benchmark only if you knock everything else in the immediate vicinity. It’s an above-average vehicle for cramming the maximum commercial floorspace in the smallest possible footprint- it does not respect its context. It’s also black, shiny and reflective – a bit like a spiv with shades (and I’m not referring to skin colour).

@johnglas wrote:

it does not respect its context.

What context is worth respecting? Tara St is total pants from one end to the other. So is Townsend St.

The IT building is the first attractive development in the area.

@johnglas wrote:

joanlemmon: Obsessed with dicks? You’ve got a problem, usually expressed through your arse.
The other serious posters: I reserve my right not to like the IT bldg – it’s substantially taller than any of its neighbours and sets a new benchmark only if you knock everything else in the immediate vicinity. It’s an above-average vehicle for cramming the maximum commercial floorspace in the smallest possible footprint- it does not respect its context. It’s also black, shiny and reflective – a bit like a spiv with shades (and I’m not referring to skin colour).

twaddle my dear boy

JL: keeping up your high standard of critique, I see.
sarsfield: I agree about Tara St in general, but we all have our opinions and we just don’t agree.

I gotta agree with johnglas. The IT building should be at the Grand Canal dock area. Although Tara St is a mess, the IT building is the most out of place building on the street. Plus I hate its treatment of its corner position – I like straight city corners and this interscetion was nearly there – three out of four.

Downturn fails to derail high-rise plan for stations

By Paul Melia
Monday November 03 2008
The Irish Independent

IARNROD Eireann is to press ahead with plans to develop high-rise buildings at Connolly and Tara Street stations in Dublin, despite the economic downturn.

The company is to seek planning permission for buildings over 60 metres tall later this year, and in 2009, after Dublin City Council indicated that both sites were suitable for high-rise development.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/downturn-fails-to-derail-highrise-plan-for-stations-1518409.html

Last week, An Bord Pleanala ruled that plans to redevelop Tara Street station, one of the country’s busiest transport centres, were classed as strategic infrastructure, which meant they could be fast-tracked through the planning process.

Now the company plans to invest €125m building a 14-storey office tower above the tracks on the 0.3-acre site.

It is also developing a masterplan for Connolly Station which will see the air rights — or the empty space above the tracks — developed as offices and new homes. “It is our intention to lodge a planning application for Tara Street before the end of this year,” a company spokesman said yesterday. “We’re finalising the overall plan for Connolly, and we would intend to apply (for permission) next year.”

Major increases in customer numbers have seen throughput in Tara Street grow to 10 million passengers a year, and further growth is expected as Transport 21 projects — including the underground DART tunnel — come on stream.

The Tara Street plan is being updated to take account of the growth in passenger numbers, and Iarnrod Eireann has already been granted permission for a 60.8-metre, 14-storey office tower above the station.

The permission included approval for a new 12-metre-high, €20m station concourse with 13,000 square metres of office accommodation above.

The main focus of the new design will be to provide an improved concourse area that will cater for up to 14,500 passengers per hour at peak times.

In addition, it is hoped that the revised design will provide for a similar area of office accommodation above in a landmark tower feature.

– Paul Melia

Good News!!:D

View of original design and site……

It’s good to see redevelopment in the area, although I have to say the old plans don’t look the best. Hopefully, something better will surface in the next few months. Also, think the ultimate succes of this development rests with the revamp or replacement of Liberty Hall.

I also think that the a revamped station will be a big bonus, I can’t believe it’s taken this long given that they had a design. What stopped it? I’m guessing a land ownership dispute with the adjacent pub or something? Hopefully the station will get built quickly.:)

there were different designs for this station back in my college days with a double height station concourse and a high rise building. Those days were 2002. Don’t hold your breath

The area between Tara St station and College Green is badly in need of some changes. Prime urban space that is largely wasted. I’ve always liked those Tara St designs (they’re a few years old now), personally I hope it gets built. Then knock the ugly sisters (Hawkins House and An Post building), and we’re getting somewhere…

The original scheme for Tara Street, as published here in the past. I would imagine a future scheme will not look like this.

wow shown with liberty hall, george’s quay and the customs house it really adds character to central Dublin. I only hope Hawkin’s house gets demolished fairly quikly. What were they thinking when that was built?

Looks good, although I’ll miss the view of the Ulster Bank building.
I’ve always liked the look of that in the skyline, like a mini manhatten or something.

Just to re-iterate – THIS IS THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FROM SOME YEARS BACK – AND NOT WHAT IS PROPOSED NOW

love the sleek bullet trains emerging from the stations, and the besuited businessmen seemingly holding meetings on the station platform! Artist’s impressions really are such a load of bullsh!t.

@jdivision wrote:

missarchi, there have been plans in the pipeline for years to redevelop the area around it and part of the station itself. The last ones were shelved after fears were raised about whether the structure proposed could be supported if hit by a derailed train. New proposals seem to have been drawn up however, seem to remember something about them being in the Tribune in February maybe?

I imagine that IR Architects could design a train resistant building to be honest.

The flexibility in having a secondary concourse in place now allows the station to remain open by relieving the pressure at the main entrance.

The new scheme is based on the 2002 scheme but updated to reflect current legislation on sustainability etc.

@shweeney wrote:

love the sleek bullet trains emerging from the stations, and the besuited businessmen seemingly holding meetings on the station platform! Artist’s impressions really are such a load of bullsh!t.

And no exits…that poor aul wan with her shopping has been wandering around in there for days 😀

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

Just to re-iterate – THIS IS THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FROM SOME YEARS BACK – AND NOT WHAT IS PROPOSED NOW

What is proposed now? Wow, every single tall building in Dublin has to go through this kind of traumatic birth ritual. U2 tower, Watchtower, Heuston Gate, this. And they’ve been planned for… years? There is some sort of mental block regarding high rise. I really don’t understand the mentality. The mentality that brought us the current Docklands. How underwhelming it all is.

Hopefully Tara will break the monotony a bit.

Ehh… you have Canary Dwarf next door and the wonderful high(ish)-rise Hawkins House nearby; high-rises are subject to scrunity because they make an impact, not always positive.

From todays IT

PLANS FOR the regeneration of the George’s Quay area, which would allow the construction of a 22-storey tower opposite the Custom House, are to be released for public consultation by Dublin City Council early next year.

City councillors, who were shown a draft of the plan this week, have raised concerns about the effect a high-rise tower would have on the historic core of the city, particularly the Custom House, Trinity College and O’Connell Bridge.

The council is seeking to develop a new “midtown” for the city through the regeneration of the area on the south side of the Liffey stretching from Hawkins Street to Lombard Street and south from the river to Townsend Street and part of Pearse Street.

The draft George’s Quay Master Plan proposes the demolition of Hawkins House, the current headquarters of the Department of Health; the redevelopment of Tara Street station with the potential for a 22, 14 and 12-storey building “cluster” and the construction of two new towers of up to 15 storeys, the height of Liberty Hall, at City Quay.

If, following public consultation, the plan is ratified by the city councillors, it would be incorporated into the city development plan and used as a template for development in the area.

The plan was written without reference to the council’s recent Maximising the City’s Potential document which sets out the principles for locating high-rise buildings.

This document does list Tara Street as a location where a building of more than 16-storeys could be allowed. However, the George’s Quay Master Plan is the first indication that a building of up to 22-storeys could be built at Tara Street. If constructed such a tower would be 1

@Rusty Cogs wrote:

Tara Street would be transformed into a tree-lined boulevard with bicycle lanes.

Woo hoo I can hardly contain my excitement – a few trees and some dotted lines 2 ft out from the kerb – I can hardly contain meself

sounds good! Although, while I favour the demolition of Hawkins and the surrounding eyesores I’m not sure if highrise has a place there, but at tara st, george’s quay and city quay if should be welcomed!

“To allow a 22-storey building opposite the finest Gandon building in Dublin is absolute madness.”

Er, isn’t there already a 59m building directly to the west of the Customs House? Oh and an intrusive Victorian railway bridge. Oh and an ‘exciting people place’ to the east?!

DA, indeed. It’s typical bullshit from the typical quarters. Where exactly is appropriate for tall buildings? We need someone with a set of nuts to sit down and write the damn policy and slap down these people as the luddite fools they really are. Imagine! A medium rise building across the river from the Custom House – how dare they!!!!!

I was hoping City quay was developed some 10 years ago. It’s a prime spot if you ask me and i would be all for it being developed. I don’t understand how tara street or city quay would impact on the customs house. I mostly look at it from across the river in its full glory and the only thing that seems to impact on it is that damn bridge and busaras…unless Mary is thinking about some weird angle that the general public would never assosiate with. I walk down the quays from time to time and it can be quite peaceful, yet there is something quite cool and reassuring looking over at the ulster bank HQ and Canary dwarf that you are in the 21st century and you live in a modern, dynamic city opposuite the majetic customs house.
Or is it just me?

Where exactly is appropriate for tall buildings?

In answer to your question perhaps you should read the DEGW study 2000 – Hueston and Docklands is the answer to your question, as incorporated in the current Dublin City Development Plan.

We need someone with a set of nuts to sit down and write the damn policy

They did

The plan was written without reference to the council’s recent Maximising the City’s Potential document which sets out the principles for locating high-rise buildings.

Maximising was absolutely thrashed at the public consultation stage. Dubliners don’t want high-rise. Simple as that.

Imagine! A medium rise building across the river from the Custom House – how dare they!!!!!

22 storeys might be mid-rise for Frankfurt or London. In Dublin it is high-rise, context is the measure not the actual number of storeys.

and slap down these people as the luddite fools they really are.

If following a democratically agreed Dublin Development Plan is luddite, perhaps I should reverse the implication. Why in an age where sustainability and energy management are so important, would you be calling for an old-fashioned, ego-led, approach to increased height for the city. All that will do is increase rents to pay for the higher cost of development and the energy consumption of the buildings. Isn’t that equally ‘luddite?’

Does it not make more sense to build according to a sustainable, right-sized development plan? Especially in this new economic reality?

SR, There are many many more appropraite locations in addition to those 2. when i said “write” the policy perhaps i should have said adopt and implement. We’ve had 2 policy documents now and not one single high rise building constructed in the city centre in that time (maybe I’ll let Alto Vetro in there as one). Dubliners may not want high rise, but they don’t want traffic on one hand or bus lanes, or cycle lanes or higher densities on the other. They want trams but no disruption for cars, they want semi-d houses but to be close to everything. Dubliners have to cop on and realise how “urban” works

While i fully appreciate your argument re context for the labelling of high rise, I just cannot accept that 22 storeys in the centre of the city at a rail station is inappropriate. Is this proposal contrary to the DEGW study and development plan? Is there not allowance made for well served transit nodes?

And it’s not about ego. It;s about proper planning and sustainable development which cannot be achieved if Dublin has a crippling phobia for anything that rises over 8 storeys or impinges on the fine “Georgian” view of the ESB and Holles St hospital.

Smithfield – very good points, well made. I agree with your points on the intensification strategy. If it was slammed by the people, it should go.

Generally speaking though: why does the height of this proposed building immediately mean it is out of context? What about if the paper reported the specified materials instead of height as the main ‘characteristic’ of the scheme? This interests me more. I find materiality a much better judge of context than height. While it is important, height is prioritised by the press because it is ‘newsworthy’ in Dublin. But it is in many ways not the most important thing. I would prefer to see an appropriate variation in height in this city, rather than the usual jarring variation in materials used.

Here for example, once ’22’ storeys is mentioned, the buiding is immediately slammed in a yawn-inducing rent-a-quote. In this specific case, I don’t believe a well designed 22 story building, perhaps 1.5 times the height of Liberty Hall, would in any way be out of context here. And I don’t except that its height would intrinsically detract from the Customs House. Why would it? Hawkins House isn’t that tall and it detracts from the city as a whole. It is hideous by way of its materiality.

I must add, I would equally welcome a well-designed 10 story building here. I am not a ‘born defender’ of height, no more than I am a born defender of curtain walling. 😉

And I don’t think Alonso was calling for an ‘ego-led, approach to increased height for the city’. In many ways, I don’t know what this means. His personal, egoic plans? The high rise as phallic symbol? The developer’s ego? Why is height egoic?

And this phrase scares me a bit: “right-sized development plan”. Is this the plan most right-minded people would adopt? The moral majority perhaps?!

I jest 😉

Good to hear the plans for the George’s quay area. It will improve the area greatly if completed but what about the lack of highrise on the northside of the river??? Is all future highrise in central dublin just going to be located on the southside and just liberty hall on the opposite side?? If liberty hall is redeveloped along with the possibility of irish life centre,abbey theatre and lower abbey designated as highrise area it would bring a balance to both sides of the liffey instead of having the George’s area dominating the skyline.:):

Construction to go ahead next year with planning application been applied for next month according to the herald.:D Theres a good render in the irish indo paper, not available on the internet.:confused:

By Jane Last
Monday March 16 2009

A NEW €100m skyscraper, incorporating a train station, is planned for the city centre, despite the economic downturn.
Iarnrod Eireann said it will press ahead with its ambitious plans — and is confident about finding a development partner to build a ten-storey 60m high office development at Tara Street.
The company will apply for planning permission later this month to build the office block and train station, which will allow up to 14,500 passengers an hour to access Dart and other rail services.
Tara Street is one of the busiest train stations in the country, currently catering to 25,000 passengers a day, or 20pc of all people using the network.

Disruption
Office space of 13,000 square metres will be provided, while the building will be 60.8m tall.
The station will remain open during construction as the project, to minimise disruption, will be delivered on a phased basis.
Tara Street has been identified by Dublin City Council as being one of several sites across the city suitable for high-rise development.
Because a station is at the heart of the project, An Bord Pleanala has deemed the proposal to be strategic infrastructure meaning the Board, not the city council, will decide if the application should be approved
A planning application will be lodged later this year, and construction is expected to begin next year with completion in 2012

@johnny21 wrote:

A NEW €100m skyscraper… 60m high

Lol.

@Morlan wrote:

Lol.

60.8 😉 This skyscraper is epic.

Its even got its own shinkansen.

Whos the architects????Does any1 know???Tried searching the net but no look……

Iarnrod Eireann Architects

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

Iarnrod Eireann Architects

Cheers, they dont have a website so….no???

@johnny21 wrote:

Construction to go ahead next year

Lol. My arse.

A speculation on the skyline – a follow up to another non-entity of recent times: you too know what I mean :p

@hutton wrote:

Lol. My arse.

A speculation on the skyline – a follow up to another non-entity of recent times: you too know what I mean :p

Quote from the herald and the indo!!!! 😡

@johnny21 wrote:

Quote from the herald and the indo!!!! 😡

What do you mean – I’d never quote from that rag :p

You must be having bad day………..i leave you to it!!!!!!:rolleyes::mad:

Apart from all this hi-falutin stuff, are you aware that, of the four major Dublin railway stations, Tara St. is the only one without a public toilet. Think about it. You could have to wait till Greystones or Malahide.

I have documented the comparison with Pearse here.

There used to be a toilet there when I was going to school, but the convenience lost out to commercial interests.

On a slightly different tack, the UB buildings are quite harmonious from one angle.