The Spike

Can we not get anything right/on budget/on time?……..

From the Sunday Times (Needs Registration)

‘Rusty’ Spire clean-up will cost €30,000
Daniel McConnell and Jan Battles

THIS time it is not a joke. The €4.8m Spire on O’Connell Street in Dublin will have to undergo an elaborate cleaning operation costing up to €30,000 to remove rust-like ribbons on its surface.

Dublin city council officials admitted this weekend that the monument, which was supposed to be self-cleaning, will have to be washed by special machines — possibly as often as every 18 months.

On April Fools’ Day, the Gerry Ryan radio show ran a mock item claiming that the expensive steel structure had rusted and would require significant funding to repair. RTE later admitted the feature was a spoof, but this time it appears the Spire’s problems are real. Reddish-brown streaks have appeared on the monument but its designer and engineers say it is dirt and not rust.

The first stage of the clean-up will take place in the autumn and will take three days to complete. A special crane will be brought in to allow the full height to be washed.

The Spire, which is the centre point of O’Connell Street, is seven times the height of the General Post Office beside it.

Michael O’Neill, the Dublin city engineer, said: “A complete clean will need to be done once every 18 months to two years, meaning one will take place sometime later this year.

“We have estimated the cost of the Spire’s clean-up to be in the region of €25,000 to €30,000, as we will need to bring in a specialised crane to reach its summit.”

When the 120m (390ft) structure was erected in January last year, the council and Ian Ritchie, the architect who designed it, said the stainless steel needle would be self-cleaning. All that would have to be done to maintain its appearance would be to clean the first 10ft to get rid of graffiti.

Stringent testing of the material was conducted prior to its erection to ensure that it could withstand the elements.

Ritchie said a small failure by a contractor to smooth out a number of the surfaces toward the top of the structure has caused dirt to gather. He said people could mistake this for rust. “Any talk of the structure rusting is complete rubbish. The material went through a number of weather-conditioning tests and it passed with flying colours.”

However, O’Neill rejected Ritchie’s explanation. “The contractors did a fantastic job. Each section lines up perfectly and we frankly couldn’t have asked for better.”

Dublin city officials said the stainless steel structure, which was treated with a special coating to withstand Ireland’s weather, would not need a major refurbishment for some time.

After being billed as a blade of light for the new millennium, the Spire’s weather-beaten appearance is in danger of perpetuating Dublin’s dirty image. Another infamous art project in the capital, nicknamed “the time in the slime”, had to be abandoned. This was a digital clock submerged in the River Liffey that was to count down to the year 2000, but couldn’t be seen through the grimy water.

The Spire, which cost €4.8m, was the winning entry in the 1998 competition to replace Nelson’s Pillar, which the IRA blew up in 1966.

The controversial design went through a number of legal battles before getting the green light and has since been the subject of much public debate about its merits.

I totally agreed, it doesn’t do what it says on the tin, DCC quite rightly should get their money back.

I wonder could some sort of mechanical device be developed that would grip the outside of the spire and run up and down it to clean it or even bring in some abseilers. Bringing in a huge crane every 18 months just seems excessive.

Copper is a very pricey metal though…

Should’ve got Gormley in to do something. At least his stuff is supposed to go rusty!

Stainless steel doesn’t rust unless the outer layer is damaged. The Spire looks fine to me, better than when the bottom part was removed from it’s packaging and seemed to show the discoloring from the dirt of dublin on the rest of the structure.

Now it looks nice and clean, maybe becuase there is less activity around it, less traffic on the street, and less construction. And it rained. which is what they said would happen – the accululated soot and dirt would be removed by rain.

The “rust” on the top ( which is clearly not rust, the article uses scare quotes to emphasise the fact even though they felt the need to add rust to the headline) is no big deal. Why bother cleaning it, why is this ‘rust” a problem, and why does anybody on this forum think it needs to be cleaned?

The article says
“After being billed as a blade of light for the new millennium, the Spire’s weather-beaten appearance is in danger of perpetuating Dublin’s dirty image.”

Weather-beaten? Do they know the meaning of the word. I dont think this money needs to be spent, at least not for another few years. Look at the photos of th spire on the thread about O’Connell street, it looks fine to me.

yes its intentional. its been like that since it was unveiled

I agree Paul & Graham it is an irreplaceable icon,

We all acknowledge its flaws but look at it as a symbol as what we hope will lead to better contemporary design. It has if nothing else given Irelands best shopping centre a sculpture.

I see that the chimneys at poolbeg have new flashy lights, very bright, kind of takes attention away from the spire from vantage point on the outskirts of the city …