well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?
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Can anyone explain a mystery to me? About of a third of the way up William street, coming from O’Connell street, you come to 2 shops, Peter Mark and Swamp, on your left hand side. Nothing too strange in that, but if you look above the shop level, you quickly realise there’s no windows on the upper 2 stories of the 3 story building. It is a bare, blank concrete facade. Can anyone explain how can this be? Presumably most architects are aware of the traditional role windows play in a building, or am I being presumptious? If anyone can get a photo I’d love if you could post it. It’s an incredible building, but can anyone explain how it happened?
Definately a contender for the title of limericks ugliest building, not sure how they managed to get away with it, the planning laws must have been non existant at that time, i imagine the building is around 30 years old or thereabouts, i suppose its not surprising when you see some of the muck that was built in the city centre around that time!, there are a lot of grotty buildings in william street that could do with a serious cleaning, some of them are almost black, fair enough some retailers have refurbished their premises in recent years but a lot more needs to be done as its certainly a street with a great deal of potential, a number of premises have been up for sale or letting recently, high profile premises such as the old gaeltacht cleaners and finns bar have been purchased and hopefully some suitable retailers can be found to give city centre shoppers more of a choice, the sports 2000 shop is also on the market, its definately one of the larger premises in the city centre and is also quite an attractive building.
It isnt often that 3 premises like this come on the market in the city centre, retailers are always complaining about the lack of suitable space, this is their chance. It looks certain that the city centre is going to lose out on some high profile retailers such as zara who are moving into the crescent but this was pretty inevitable as the crescent had set its stall out as to who it wanted for its new wing and it looks like there was no shortage of takers for the units!
I’ve also seen a plan for the george in the local press this week, cant say im too impressed, its a fairly predictable design, lots of windows once again,its roughly the same height as the aib bank next to it and it towers a good 3 storeys above the timberland store on the shannon street side.They’ve kept the original structure intact while removing the 1960s facade, all it basically consists of is stone and steel cladding, its looks pretty cheap in all fairness. Theres still a lot of contradictionary rumours flying around the place, some say its all going to be a hotel while others say retail space will be available on the ground floor, personally i think it’ll be a mixed use development with retail on the ground floor, no clues as to who’s in for it, the virgin megastore had an ad in the paper lately but seen as this development wont be completed until next summer i doubt its going to be them!
You obviuosly got the supplement in the L Post, Tuborg – The new George does look a bit bland and forgettable alright. Will scan in the picture later – there was a good written description of the project in the article too. It’s going to be a 160 bedroom, 3 star hotel with retail on the ground floor and the hotel lobby on the the first floor. It will looka bit bizarre though, I think because of the the small georgian building where Timberland is stuck onto the side of the much larger scale new development and AIB. There was a few other interesting projects mentioned in the supplement too, so will come back to them later.
When is the hotel and retail development opening? this will be a grat addition to city centre especially since the criuses hotel is long gone!
the RIVERPOINT units seems to be taken like hotcakes
phase 2 should be coming along soon.. still waiting fo dept of agri to move out of the ugly ducckling St.munchins buildingthe Ennis road high rise hotel got the green light , in anyone aware of its starting construction and opening phases???
the abbeycourt development is also taken up well with there units , this development is situated on the relief road to Baals bridge adjoing near the Barringtons devlopment.
Here is a pic of the Lord Edwards street development again, I still think this building impressive,
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and Its location
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A pic of the ugly building onto the right beside the rather impressive building which is been brought or leased by a developer, as stated by Turborg,
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brochure of the Ballysimon retail park % pictures[align=center:s8qp65xn]
[/align:s8qp65xn]If Limerick city and county wants to develop in a logical fashion, commuter links are going to have to get better. Ennis-Limerick is running, now hopefully there is progress for Nenagh – but Limerick City and County are going to have to follow through by concentrating development (and Section 49 money) along the line to fund more improvements.
Nenagh Guardian – Breakthrough for rail group
Saturday October 1st 2005
By Simon O’DuffyThe Nenagh Rail Steering Committee was able to announce a major breakthrough this week after Iarnród Éireann gave a commitment to change train departure times and introduce new carriages on the Limerick-Ballybrophy rail line.
The news follows the publication of a survey that found the existing rail service falling well short of public demand. Undertaken by independent consultant group Retail Research Services, this survey was part of the Nenagh Rail Steering Committee’s objective to prove to Iarnród Éireann that the Limerick-Ballybrophy timetable needs to be changed if it is to provide a worthwhile commuter service. Commuters were asked if they would be willing to take the train if it departed Nenagh earlier and returned from Limerick later.
The Retail Research Services study examined over 2,000 households in the Nenagh area and found that about 30% of commuters would be “very likely†to leave the car at home on a regular basis while a further 17% would be “somewhat interested†given the above circumstances. Some 91% of those interviewed said they commute to Limerick in their own car every day; 7% took the bus and 2% said they travel with someone else. 25% claimed that if the times were more suitable and there were more train departures to choose from they would also consider using the train for shopping and leisure pursuits in Limerick. 93% agreed that the train is a more environmentally friendly option than the car.
Pinning down the most suitable departure time was difficult. While two return times of 4.30 in the afternoon and 6.30 in the evening were suitable to most, the surveyors were unable to ascertain the best morning departure time from Nenagh. 78% of respondants begin their Limerick-bound journey at 7.30am, and the indication was that 7.45 or 8am would be around the best time to leave Nenagh at; the current time of 10.30am certainly did not appear to suit anyone.
Other factors taken into consideration were ticket prices and the availability of reliable connecting buses to ferry commuters on from the station at Limerick where necessary. A number of people working at the National Technological Park emphasised that they would only use the service if they could get off the train in Castleconnell and get a bus to the National Technological Park or to the University from there. More than half of those surveyed felt an integrated ticketing service would be of importance here.
In its overall context the survey added further substance to the Nenagh Rail Steering Committee view that the existing Limerick-Ballybrophy rail line serves little or no benefit to Nenagh’s commuters, a significant volume of whom would consider leaving the car at home and taking a differently timetabled train in and out of Limerick.
Taking these findings into consideration, Iarnród Éireann has agreed to alter the Limerick-Ballybrophy timetable in accordance with commuter preference by December of this year. In a statement the national rail company also gave a commitment to work toward allocating additional rolling stock to the Nenagh route as part of its ongoing fleet replacement programme. This rolling stock will become available early in 2007.
Speaking at the launch of the survey at Nenagh’s Civic Offices last Monday, Neangh Rail Steering Committee Chairperson Cllr Virginia O’Dowd said the figures showed that such a commuter service would work. She said that with rising fuel costs and environmental concerns it is time for the Government to move away from its policy of “motorway madness†and invest in public transport.
The Nenagh Rail Steering Committee welcomed Iarnród Éireann’s commitment to retime the afternoon service from Limerick to Ballybrophy, thus making it more attractive for passengers to use and also facilitating day trips to Limerick. Cllr O’Dowd weclomed also the undertaking by Iarnród Éireann to make more rolling stock available to service the Limerick-Ballybrophy line for improved services from 2007. This will include the introduction of a commuter service between Nenagh and Limerick, she said.
The Nenagh Rail Steering Committee now hopes that Iarnród Éireann will take the opportunity to reduce the number of 25mph temporary speed restrictions on the line before the new services are introduced in 2007.
Cllr O’Dowd said this initiative was a joint effort between the Nenagh Rail Steering Committee, Iarnród Éireann and Irish Railway News and was funded by Nenagh Town Council and North Tipperary County Council. The committee thanked the councils for their support. They also thanked Dr Paul Salveson, General Manager of the Association of Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) in England for the work he had carried out on the Ballybrophy to Limerick line and for highlighting its potential as a commuter and tourism line. He said the line has the ideal potential to become Ireland’s first community rail initiative, and urged the appointment of a railway officer to develop the line.
The committee members said they would like to work with Iarnród Éireann and with the local councils towards appointing a rail officer to help promote, market and develop the line. They thanked finally Sean Reidy of Retail Research Services and his team for carrying out the survey.
© Nenagh Guardian
& http://www.unison.ie/Thanks for the link Dowlingm, on the Nenagh to Limerick rail link.
I’m really looking forward to see the commuter rail project to go ahead as soon as possible
Especially now the Nenagh is a fast growing satellite town of Limerick I would like to see improvement on the line Its in need of repair and modernisation.
there’s is approximatley 6,000 vehicles who join the N7 every day en route to limerick
Bringing total traffic figures on the N7 to around 14,000 vehicles a day!
Well over a thousand houses be earmarked over the new few years to Nenagh.
There are currently over 700 houses been constructed this year and early of next year.
The Population is around 7,000 at present and could easily reach 10.000 with all these houses been built. This rail investment is well overdue. Great stuff 🙂
On the recent pics above of Williams street…
Yeah I agree Anto, 😮There are quite a few significant buildings on Williams street, yet again (like O’Connell’s street), on a main thoroughfare in the city, that is left underused and look bland and run down.
Yet another shop closed its doors on the street
Referral link
http://www.limerickpost.ie/dailynew…egory=Daily-Thu
Other news in relation the Ul developments,[align=center:29lk1b7d]
[/align:29lk1b7d]City Council backs UL medical school proposal
Noonan annoyed that Education Minister has made no commitment
LIMERICK City Council unanimously supported a motion to back the University of Limerick’s proposal for the establishment of a new type of graduate-entry medical school this week.
Proposed by Cllr Pat Kennedy, the motion was supported by all the city councillors, including the Mayor, Diarmuid Scully, who welcomed the initiative.
If given the green light, the graduate-entry school will admit students who have firstly undertaken a primary degree in other disciplines and works, based on recent experience of similar graduate entry courses in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia.
Cllr Kennedy said that the background to this “innovative and imaginative proposal could be seen from the fact that it is now widely acknowledged that the current system of medical education and training was and is highly unsatisfactory, resulting in an alarming drop-out rateâ€.
Both the Minister for State at the Department of Health and Children, Tim O’Malley and Limerick East TD and chairperson of the Dail Public Accounts Committee have been actively campaigning for a positive outcome on this proposal.
However Deputy Noonan said this week that the Minster for Education, Mary Hanafin, is “deliberately blocking the making of a speedy decision on the issueâ€.
Explaining that he is “deeply disappointed†with the reply he received to a parliamentary question from Minister Hanafin recently, Deputy Noonan said that she is “non-committalâ€.
“I would have expected that as a senior minister from the region she would have put her weight behind the University of Limerick. But there is no commitment from her that the medical school will go ahead, no decision time or information on what funds will be available,†he said.
Minister Hanafin’s reply stated: “The University of Limerick’s proposal is but one of a number of proposals being presented as a response to this development. It would not be appropriate for me to comment further on this until such time as the Government has deliberated on the matter.â€
Highlighting the benefits of a graduate entry medical school, Cllr Kennedy continued; “Students enter medical schools at 17 or 18 years of age without an appropriate aptitude test or an interview to gauge if their personality is suited to the profession. 590 points is what is currently required for entry into medicine but the dropout rate in the profession is alarmingly high amongst medical graduatesâ€.
Of 507 graduates, traced by the Medical Education and Training Group, chaired by Professor Patrick Fottrell, who graduated in 1994 and 1999, only 50 per cent of the graduates were practising medicine in Ireland and 20 per cent were not practising medicine at all.
Cllr Kennedy stressed that there is a growing medical manpower shortage and an urgent need for a much greater number of training places for Irish doctors.
“The excellence of Irish doctors is unquestioned and Irish medical schools have enjoyed a well-deserved reputation. However, it is strongly suggested that the existing system needs to be complemented by the development of an additional stream of medical education and training based on the graduate entry of students who have firstly taken a primary degree in other disciplines. This additional stream of medical education and training could best be developed on a green field site at UL, and would not easily fit on the existing system,†he said.
Cllr Kennedy said that the Government recognised the problem when it set up the study group, chaired by Professor Patrick Fottrell, former president of NUI Galway.
That report recommended that graduates from other disciplines be offered 40 per cent of all medical student places, and that the number of training places for Irish and EU students be more than doubled to a total of 725 places per annum.
Deputy Noonan is also calling on all representative groups in the region, Trade Unions, IBEC, leaders in education and on other politicians to support this cause.
At the recent conferring ceremonies at UL, Professor Roger Downer, president, University of Limerick, also stated that: “the possibility of a medical career must be open to existing graduatesâ€.
Commenting on the graduate entry type of medical schools, which operate abroad, he said: “Students are admitted to medical school following the completion of a primary degree and although high academic achievement is required, admission is based also on the personal qualities, which are deemed essential for a successful career in medicine.â€
Professor Downer said that he sees the UL proposal as part of the solution to the current shortage of doctors here, adding that the proposal is not intended to prevent the expansion of existing medical schools, as UL is not in competition with them.
“The final decision will, of course, be political but I hope common sense will prevail,†he concluded.
A super venue? Two teams in race
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Possible location: Limerick Docklands (LL)
IT was confirmed this Thursday that at least two groups are now interested in bringing a major 8,000-seater auditorium and conference centre to Limerick.
Fast-food supremo Pat McDonagh has already been linked with the multi-million venture but it emerged this week that another group of businessmen has been in talks with city officials and the Mayor concerning the venture.
If the plans come to fruition, it would transform the city, with Limerick hosting major international concerts and conferences. It is believed that Limerick’s proximity to Shannon International Airport and the improving infrastructure around the city are the main attractions for the investors.
Cllr Jim Long, who has had meetings with the consortium said the plans were “a real possibility†and that most councillors he had spoken to were very supportive.
“Discussions have taken place and further negotiations are set to go ahead. It would be a paramount venue for the city and would be as big a story as we’ve had here in years,†Cllr Long said.
“Councillors, officials and the Co-ordination Office have to grasp the opportunity and explore all avenues to ensure it doesn’t go to another county. It would put Limerick city on the world stage,†he added.
The group do not wish to comment publicly at this early stage of negotiations but four locations have been mentioned.
These are the former Guinness site on the Carey’s Road, the Fedamore Road near Carew Park, the Docklands and Bunlicky.
Meanwhile, Supermac’s boss Pat McDonagh has refused to confirm reports that he is to apply for planning permission to open an 8,000-seater indoor arena on Shannonside.
Mr McDonagh was in Adare on Tuesday night speaking at the official launch of the Limerick Business Week and said that it was “premature†to confirm whether or not the development would go ahead in the city:
“It’s premature to say that it will be built in Limerick. Limerick is on the list and there are a lot of advantages to locate here, but it’s all about finding the right site.
“It’s not just a conference centre, but will be a multi-event centre. There will be an indoor arena which will be bringing Disney on Ice there.
“I will be bringing consultants in two to three months time to look at locations,†Mr McDonagh said.
Originally a planning application was made to Westmeath County Council for a five-storey 144 bed hotel, a conference centre, offices, shops and a service station.
However, the application was withdrawn and the Galwegian is now looking at three alternative locations, including Limerick.
“Limerick is one of the most thriving cities,†he said. “The advances in the last five to ten years have seen it outstrip towns of equal size around the country.
“The advantages are that it’s so near Shannon Airport, it has a good port and good road infrastructure for the most part.
“The advances in industry, commercial and retail in the last couple of years are huge,†Mr McDonagh said.
He complemented the city’s third level institutions, adding that UL is “one of the best in the countryâ€.
“Two of my daughters are in UL and I spent a couple of years in Mary Immaculate so I have a bit of a grá for it,†he disclosed.
“I think that it’s going to continue to grow. It’s the main city in the Mid-West and should continue to grow.â€
Good news for Limerick commuters as the Tipperary to Dublin road distributer is to open in the coming weeks, and will relieve the burden and gridlock who commute in the area everyday. It will be the stae of the art road with cycle lanes and pavements.The route will run starting at the new tipperary RO(roundabout) adjacent to the retail paek developments,cross groody rivers by bridge and right through to the massive developments of castltroy to the Ul roundabout.
the purpose is to have direct acces to the busy national routes and also the Colleges and local areas
As alternate route to the choked Parkway and Tipperary roundabouts
As for te Childers road the county council have put monet into doing a traffic capacity study and the posible idae of bus lanes onthe route,In my opinion the route to be dual from Roxoboro to the Dublin road, if development goes at its current rate.
I think that was the plan, but cant quote that.[align=center]
[/align:3vbjgwph]Credit where credit due….
Reading through this thread, Limerick really seems to be planning and building some fantastic projects….the riverfront is looking really cool….and taking advantage of its proximity to Shannon by building an 8,000 seat arena will totally encourage more and more to the city for conferences ,concerts and the like…conferences and concerts that Dublin should be able to accommodate but that it cant….
Those in charge of planning down there are so on the ball, those in charge of planning in Dublin should take note….I mean there are suburbs bigger than Limerick within Dublin….God, it really grates on me!
I’m moving to Limerick.
@electrolyte wrote:
Credit where credit due….
Reading through this thread, Limerick really seems to be planning and building some fantastic projects….the riverfront is looking really cool….and taking advantage of its proximity to Shannon by building an 8,000 seat arena will totally encourage more and more to the city for conferences ,concerts and the like…conferences and concerts that Dublin should be able to accommodate but that it cant….
Those in charge of planning down there are so on the ball, those in charge of planning in Dublin should take note….I mean there are suburbs bigger than Limerick within Dublin….God, it really grates on me!
I’m moving to Limerick.
Electolyte, Welcome to the Limerick thread 🙂
BTW, I read on the property section of the Sunday times, and I seen a rather large post of the Abbey court development near Baals bridge,
Abbey Court comprises of a number of retail units at ground floor level and is a superb opportunity for a wide range of uses. There is a total area of 1,203 sq. m. which is capable of subdivision into various sizes to suit individual requirements. The retail element has a high profile to the Northern Relief Road and benefits considerably from a high volume of passing traffic. Of significant benefit is the convenience of an adjoining 240-space multi storey car park which forms part of the development.[align=center:typ80azn]
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Its quite a large scheme.
Royal George and Carlton sites (not great quality photos)
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[/align:typ80azn]Units are available to take up on the two lower floors of the Royal George building.
The other floors from the first to seventh will be 127-bedroom hotel. I think Turborg stated this a few threads back anyway, There is so many rumours as to what shops are going in there, but there is a lot of interest from what I’m gathering.Carlton building,
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Units are up for grabs at the two lower ground floors and above are apartments and mixed use I think, I’ll try update on that. Is this scheme completed, does anyone know?
And also…
Landsdowne hall apartements looks rather impressive to, I’ll post some on a later date.
Some festive news,
Limerick city council is to have a really buzzing Xmas season this year with their new Xmas lights.
They have improved all the old stocks including the new ones, which will light all the city centre streets
Henry Street is also going to be lit for the first time in history!It would be fantastic to see a concert venue in Limerick and great to see it in the City as well, not out in the burbs!
Also makes sense to look at bus lanes on the older roads that have been bypassed. Limerick has been a bit slow to put in bus lanes. Don’t think there’s many cycle lanes either esp. obvious ones like out to the university.
Hardly any around the Uni ……
@anto wrote:
Also makes sense to look at bus lanes on the older roads that have been bypassed. Limerick has been a bit slow to put in bus lanes. Don’t think there’s many cycle lanes either esp. obvious ones like out to the university.
Hardly any around the Uni ……
Yeah, Limerick is one the main cities in Ireland that really lacking any sort of a proper bus lane 😮 Shocking!
If it even has one???
The city council came up with a plan to have one running down O’Connells street to the Ballincurra road recently and were going to go-ahead with it until fumes piped up with the locals they didnt want it to take up the road etc…
So the plan was rejected. :confused:Apart from the Williams street and O’Connells street bus routes, there are plans to have one running along Childers road, and maybe the raheen and ennis roads???
It would be “fantastastica” to have a proper bus lane to Raheen and Uni !
Not certain any other other proposals.Also any surprises coming out of the rail loop going from the Colbert station to Parkway, and now since an overhaul of the Nenagh to Limerick commuter changes, will this further spark off the idea of a station at the Parkway ??
Castletroy alone will have 35,000 alone by 2009 or 2010 (not sure exactly), from predictions way back in 2000
Dublin road is rapidly fillling up despite the new improvements and Ringroad…Any comments ??
The official population of Castletroy is around 23,000 at present, I got it from online sources,
How does this fit into 87,000 persons living in Limerick city and environs (2002)
Raheen & Dooradoyle is also close to 30,000 peopleAn artcle that might e of interest on demography in the Limerick city area
Population Distribution and ChangeThe population of Limerick City and its suburbs stood at 86,988 in 2002, having grown by almost 10 per cent in the preceding 6 years. The rate of growth exceeded both the national average and the average for the countrys 5 largest urban centres. Population growth varied considerably throughout the urban area, but one of the most significant contrasts is that between the administrative city and the suburban Electoral Districts, with the latter showing a rate that was almost 5 times higher. This differential has been established for some time, and the result is that the suburbs now contain over two-fifths of the population. As a consequence, Limerick is a significantly under-bounded city, in which the administrative boundaries come nowhere close to encompassing all of the city’s population, built-up area or economic activity. Within the City itself there are huge variations of change. At one end of the spectrum the city centre has shown exceptionally high rates of increase, while at the other end, population levels declined quite precipitately. In general, however, decline was widespread in the City with two-thirds of City Electoral Districts losing population in this period. ( Ref: Limerick Profile Of A Changing City, Limerick City Development Board).
Some concerns over the amount of development occurring around the city.
Electrical exodus from city centre is denied by local business people
By John O’Shaughnessy and Claire Connolly Doyle
But city centre traders remain under pressure from retail parks as competition mounts.THE arrival of multi nationals Dixons, Currys, PC World and others into Limerick’s new retail parks may have resulted in a number of long established home based electrical, TV and Hi-Fi dealers either leaving the city centre or completely closing down.
The fact is that in all, the city centre has lost at least eight electrical retailers inside the last couple of years.
The latest to transfer their business to the outskirts of the city are Finucanes of Thomas Street, who this week relocated to the Eastway Business Park on the Ballysimon Road.
But the chairperson of Limerick City Business Association argues that there have been varying reasons for many of the businesses’ closures including retirement, change of direction, or simple relocation.
And Terence Cusack, who currently holds the chair of LCBA points out that the continued existence of four city centre electrical shops, including Dixons, Clancy’s, the Sony Store and Savins bodes well for the city centre.
“Especially when you consider that there isn’t even one in the Crescent Shopping Centre,†he stresses.
Newly appointed Limerick City Co-ordination Office spokesperson, Mary Dundon, also said that while they sympathised with the electrical businesses that have closed down, she stressed that the “future viability of city centre businesses is not under threat†and that several new businesses were on the point of moving into the city centre.
City coordinator Andrew Mawhinney also said that white goods shops weren’t necessariy suited to the city centre anymore.
“The city centre is re-aligning itself to new market forces and the movement of these businesses to the outskirts will be more than compensated for in the major new hotel and retail developments due to come on stream in the next two years,†he promised.
“These developments include two hotels in the city centre, the Lynch Hotel Group development on the old George Hotel site with 160 bedrooms and a boutique hotel on Bedford Row along with substantial retail and commercial developments. And the proposed new development on Arthur’s Quay will also bring more people back into the city centre.â€
The closures began a couple of years ago when Kiely’s moved from their O’Connell Street property to transfer to the Parkway Roundabout, just across the road from the Parkway Retail Park, and in direct competition with the multi nationals. But they then also opened the Sony Store in their former O’Connell Street premises.
John and Mary Donnelly, proprietors of Shannonside AV, a highly successful TV, Hi Fi and Video unit in Thomas Street, then also decided to transfer to new premises away from the city centre.
But LCBA chairperson, Terence Cusack argues that this business changed its nature, kitting out hotels, and no longer needed a city centre location.
Others, for various reasons, also ceased trading
RTV, who had been located in a prime spot on O’Connell Street, closed their doors, as did Finucanes in Upper William, Street. But Mr Cusack argues that the the rental of electrical equipment has “died as a businessâ€.
The ESB showroom at Bishops Quay, is also set to bring down the shutters, with the company’s network of shops having been purchased by Bank of Scotland, but again , Mr Cusack argues that they now “simply need a bigger premisesâ€.
Meanwhile, Dick Dufficy vacated his unit in Liddy Street several years ago on his retirement and his shop wasn’t replaced.
Joe Brooks who closed his Catherine Street operation a number of years ago, went into the property business with his son Aidan.
A spokesperson for Finucanes of Thomas Street said that there were many advantages to taking up residence at their new address, primarily for parking purposes so that customers and suppliers could be catered for.
However, another trader, who preferred not to be identified, was in no doubt that Dixons, Currys, PC World and more recently Maplin, had “seriously impacted on city centre tradingâ€.
“If you can’t beat them then why not join them?, he said, pointing to Kiely’s success story at the Parkway.
“These multi nationals have tremendous clout and buying power and it can be difficult to compete with them. City centre traders who own their properties are in a stronger position than their neighbours who have to pay rental. Also, overheads at the retail parks are not as high, and neither do they have the added burden of traffic wardens parading up and down outside their doors. The bottom line though is, if you compare prices the locals are well able to compete with the major players.â€
Last week, Newsoms of William Street announced its closure, citing increased competition from such outfits as Homebase, Atlantic Homecare and B
In my opinion the suburban development is’nt the major issue with retailers moving out. Its the high rates which are pushing retailers to move out thats the issue here, I think
There is more footfall, shoppers & businesses in the city centre than there was this time last year. This has to be positive news, and of course the current development in the city centre also.What do you think of the city centre’s performance and its prospect giving what’s against it
Other news from the Limerickpost
Gaelcholaiste to be built on Mary StreetAS SOON as plans are drawn up a planning application will be submitted to Limerick City Council for the transfer of use of a development already underway at the junction of Mary Street and Sir Harry’s Mall.
The site will house the city’s first gaelcholaiste, approval of which was announced by Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin last week.
Although no details regarding the school’s location were revealed last week the Limerick Post has learned that the first phase of the school, which will provide for first year secondary education will be located in the Mary Street/Sir Harry’s Mall site for which Kenrite Construction had secured planning permission for the development of 17 apartments over a retail outlet.
An application for change of use was later submitted for a consultant’s clinic associated with Barrington’s Hospital and also for an ESB sub-station on the adjacent, Fish Lane.
All that the chief executive of Limerick VEC was prepared to say this week was that a proposal for a city cente location has been proposed and is currently going through formal approval procedures.
When contacted, however, a member of the Limerick VEC said that the Department of Education is having plans drawn up for the construction of first year classrooms on the site, to cater for students embarking on secondary level education in September. 2006.
“The Department may seek an alternative site later to accommodate additional classrooms for students up to Leaving Cert but meantime the city’s first all-Irish secondary school will start off life here,†Cllr John Gilligan told the Limerick Post.
“It is understood, however, that residents of housing accommodation built on Mary Street in 1990 are objecting to the removal of car parking spaces at the back of their houses as well as three spaces in front, which were available to them up to now.
“The residents have no problem with the gaelcholaiste being built but naturally enough they resent the removal of the car parking spaces they have had available to them since 1990. A 10-space underground car park is being planned but no spaces have been allocated for the residents. There is no place else in the area they can park – Mary Street is one-way and Sir Harry’s Mall has been pedestrianised. While we all sincerely welcome the gaelcholaiste, the local people have been treated deplorably and some resolution must be reached,†he said.
No comment on the issue could be secured by the Limerick Post from Kenrite Construction.
The VEC declined to confirm the Department is locating the gaelcholaiste on the site and it is understood that City Council engineer, John Ryan, who met with some of the residents on Tuesday is conveying their concerns back to City Hall management.
Deputy Peter Power said he will be in touch with the residents to take their concerns on board and negotiate on their behalf with the developer and City Hall.
More news.
Council vote to maintain Planning Regulations
LIMERICK County Council members voted overwhelmingly against a controversial proposal to change an aspect of the County Development Plan, that relates to “housing need” .
Cllr Niall Collins put a motion forward last week to amend the Limerick County Council Development Plan by deleting any requirement by planning permission applicants to demonstrate a “housing needâ€.
However, the motion was defeated by 21 votes against to two votes in favour with two abstentions, after a marathon debate in Limerick County Council lasting nearly two hours, which involved comments from all councillors.
Currently planning officials have the say in deciding how to apply the definition ‘housing need’ because the County Development Plan (CDP) which is the primary reference document when planners are adjudicating on planning applications, does not contain a written working definition of ‘housing need’. Therefore Cllr Collins claimed that “the policy is being applied by the planners based on their interpretation only.â€
Applicants must satisfy planners on the housing “need” requirement in order to build in more than 90 per cent of the land area of County Limerick.
This was the second motion to be considered by councillors since the new County Development Plan was adopted in March of this year. The earlier motion was to reduce the “pressure area” and on that occasion both council management and the legal advisor cautioned against such a move. However councillors chose not to accept the advice, on this occasion. Last week the Countyv Counicl’s legal advisor said that it was structurally unsound to change the County Development Plan for this purpose. And the Construction Industry Federation also said that it would challenge it.
Addressing county councillors and council officials in County Hall last week, Cllr Collins said: “In my view the County Development Plan (CDP) is fundamentally flawed. We have created a policy, which is completely undefined within the CDP. Not having a working definition within the plan leaves us public representatives and policy makers at a complete disadvantage. The public must have clear defined policies in order that they know where they stand. In its present form, nobody knows where he or she stands in relation to this policy. Loosely interpreted, the application of the present policy is as follows – if you have a house you don’t then need a house. One can’t trade up or indeed one can’t trade down from their current houses and finally if one has no house there is an automatic presumption of refusal against the applicant. The policy in its present undefined state is anti-people and anti-rural communities and is in direct contradiction of the Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines and recent Case Law”.
Speaking at the meeting, Limerick County Council’s chief planner, Jimmy Feane, warned that the consequences of removing need will make sites more expensive and will lead to developers buying up sites and hoarding them until they want to sell them.
He also stated that planners are already utilising an internal working document to assess an individuals “housing need”. Mr Feane stated that this document of guidance contains “nothing that hasn’t already been agreed by the councillors”.
“Need is something that would assist a lot more people than it would harm. I am deeply concerned that if need is removed, we will be removing the one item of humanity in a highly regulated system. The County Development Plan is a legal document and it is very difficult to come up with a document that captures every possibility. The ink will not be dry on that definition when a case will come forward that we want to accommodate for housing need and it wont be included,” he said.
Cllr Collins said that the existence of this internal document “came as a huge surprise to all councillors as they had not previously known that such a document had existed”.
“It is now likely that the Planning SPC will get to work on this document in order that it will reflect the reality on the ground in County Limerick and not just the planners interpretation,” he said.
“Should the Council produce a clear definition in time then I will be happy to write this into the CDP, however in the absence of this any reference to ‘need’ should be deleted,” he added.
Cllr Collins also said that he brought up the motion because the public are completely frustrated because of the absence of a clear definition and criteria for “housing needâ€. And as a public representative, he finds himself unable to advise any potential planning applicants whether their circumstances will satisfy the planners that they have a housing need.
Referring to the internal planning need guideline, Mr Feane said that the most important thing is that the list of “needs” is not exhaustive.
“People apply on their individual circumstances and we take that into account in all cases. Individual merits which are genuine are always taken into account. I have only had two instances of individuals being refused solely on the grounds of need. There have been a number where need was one of the reasons, coupled with percolation problems for example. But I can think of about 13 cases where we would have had to refuse if need was not an issue. For example if the percolation fails marginally or the site distance, we have the right to say that the need of the applicant far outweighs the planning problems. We are becoming a very inflexible system and I know the frustrations out there. But this is the price we have paid for accountability and transparency. Need is the only element left that allows for compassion and humanity,” he said.
Mr Feane also pointed out that there is only a 15 per cent refusal rate in Limerick with 85 per cent granted.
However Cllr Collins said that although we have one of the lowest actual refusal rates statistically, “we all know that this is not the working reality”.
“The real question yet to be asked is what is actual number of refusals combined with the number of applications withdrawn, which are about to be refused. Indeed how many more potential cases have been turned away at preplanning stage and today how many live applications have the Council sought further information asking the applicants to justify their housing need,” he said.
Commenting on allegations that passing the motion would open the door to a “speculators charter,” Cllr Collins said that we did not have this problem under the previous plan. And “no evidence to date has ever been presented to this Council to support this contention”.
“This issue will be discussed in more detail by the Planning Strategic Policy Committee and I have no doubt it will come back to the Council in due course,” concluded Cllr Collins.
And…
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Major redesign of the city’s markets on way
by Marie Hobbins
A TOTAL redesign of the Milk Market is currently underway. The plan is to greatly enhance its physical layout, increase its trading, extend its opening hours and develop additional selling and display features.Chairman of the Market Trustees, Cllr John Gilligan has confirmed to the Limerick Post that a British based firm of consultants which specialises in all types of markets has been commissioned to investigate and produce a new design plan for the market.
The Milk Market is acknowledged as one of the country’s oldest and most popular outside of the capital.
“This plan should be presented to us within the month, so until then I cannot comment fully but under consideration is a whole new design plan for the inside of the market initially – whether we will make it rain-proof, a design pattern for the stalls, the possibility of extended trading hours and additional opening days, more facilities for the traders and members of the public, an exhibition space, etc,†Cllr Gilligan told the Limerick Post.
Confirming that the British consultants company, Quarterbridge has been commissioned to produce a blueprint for the redesign of the market, Limerick Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer, Maria Kelly said there is no equivalent company in Ireland.
“Quarterbridge has a proven record in this field and they have been given a brief to examine how best to develop further the potential of the market. Initially it is the Milk Market but they may also come back with recommendations for the Potato Market. While the aim was to concentrate on the interior of the Milk Market, they will look at all aspects of both markets including the trading area in the streets adjoining the market and we would also work with Limerick City Council, which has responsibility for the exterior trading area of the Milk Market on implementing any changes approved for this area.
“We left the brief very open – they are the experts and can look at everything to see how to enhance and develop the markets’ potential,†she said
@jimg wrote:
The situation with the bickering over the city boundary contributes to this process by making it impossible to implement a proper planning policy. But even if the boundary problem was fixed, I feel the general attitude towards planning and development among the general public in LImerick would be reflected in the council’s decisions – there is little appreciation of the idea that the city centre should be the focus of development and only when it cannot be developed any further should the planners start looking further out.
Good point on that Jimg,
I think this would be the final piece of the jigsaw to the current problems Limerick is faced with planning & development,
If the boundary issue were dealt with, I the commercial rates would come down and attract more retailers to the city centre, Limerick would develop immensely and in orderly fashion. As a result Limerick city would be a world-class city. The extra money pumped in will give this city the possibility spend money where is meant to and clear the unnecessary debtsI have to give credit to the City council for trying to get the boundary extension rolling and attracting investors to the city, and schemes such as Living over the shop & developments like the Old George site and Bedford row redevelopment.
hese new quarters will be very promising to the city centre and will lead to more businesses and retailers to relocate here 🙂A view of some new Apartements in Limerick and region.
Annocotty riverside apartments
Lansdowne apartememts at O’Callaghan strand, I like these apartments 🙂
attachement is broad street
A major interesting building on UL in Limerick!!!
http://www.murrayolaoire.com/education/projects/ul_millstream/index.html[align=center:308975×9]
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[/align:308975×9]It would seem that no decision has been made onThomond Park – the initial proposal can’t go ahead because nearby residents won’t sell their houses and the IRFU said their offer was non-negotiable when the story first broke. Seemingly a new site has been purchased somewhere on the Dublin Rd but it hasn’t been said whether a new stadium will be built there or not. Guess the IRFU will need a bit of time before they make a decision, although it’s difficult to see too many Munster matches been moved to Cork, as apparently 2/3 of Munster tickets are taken up by LImerick fans.
Well done on all the recent images etc Dave123 – where did the one of the Broad St apartments come from? Have they been built yet – the background looks like the Golden Vale plant on the north side, just off North Circular Road – doesn’t look like the most ground breaking design wherever it is! unlike Abbry Court which is a fairly striking looking pile, hope it does well, it would be good to see that part of town become a bit more of a lively spot.
Any news on the new pub near Denmark St? Haven’t heard anything at all bout it – but there was a notice up on William St a couple of months ago, at the junction with Todds Bow (I think) for a large enough sounding new pub, although no sign of anything happening with it as yet. The Brazen head on O’Connell St. is supposed to re-open too, so there might be a few interesting new places to head in the near future.
Doesn’t seem to be much development on the indoor arena – just Limerick leader recycling some slightly older news. Would like to get a hold of any feasability studies on it. I gather the Cork proposal was largely scaled down from 8000 seats to 2500 ( same size as the INEC in Killarney) if it ever goes ahead, which surely must have some impact on the Limerick plan – it’s difficult to say whether such a venue would be more suited to Cork or Limerick, Cork has a slightly larger hinterland population ( something like 325000 v 250000) but Limerick is much better connected both to the rest of the country, being roughly 100km from Cork, Galway, Waterford and Kerry as well as the proximity of Shannon Airport. However the idea of building it in the Docklands area seems a bit misguided – there’s isn’t even a bus route down there, it’s fairly removed from the city centre and what benefit is a river side setting to a big windowless concert hall ? Maybe a tram type service between Raheen, city centre and UL taking in the rail station and new Arena could alleviate potential traffic chaos! I’d prefer to see it built beside the railway station – there’s huge potential in that area (if agreement could be reached with local residents) . It’s only 5 minutes from O’Connell St, and directly connected to railway – which would add to the viability of new connections to the airport and Parkway (for parking) It could be a very exciting space in itself with a large semi public concourse connecting the arena with the station, new shops, cinemas hotel etc. and would have a major impact on what is a relatively stagnant area of the city. Just a thought, i guess. There’s also a large parcel of unused land just off Clare St, which connects with the Ennis line as it crosses into Corbally. Pat McDonagh seems like an enterprising enough person – so hopefully this project will show some vision and avoid being a big cheap box in the burbs stranded in a sea of car parking.
The new hotel on the Childers Road must be starting soon – there was an image of it in the Post a few weeks ago (can’t find it now – anyone else got it? ) It’s a three star Quality Inn and it’s being built on the site of a football pitch beside the old Krups factory – odd location if ever there was one and I think that the Roxboro shopping centre, nearby, is to get a revamp too – badly needed. It’s about time something happened in that area, think it’s going to be a missed opportunity though. Southill – Rathbane could really do something approaching some kind of urban civic space.
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