Cathal Dunne
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Hahahahahahahaa!!! Those are really funny, i say go for it and lob in a planning application for these, Paul Clerkin, just to see a look on the faces of the DCC people. That triumphal arch would look COOL in the Docklands. That’s an architectural monstrosity to be proud of. Plus if Labour are back in government by the next election(its likely, if our PD friends fall on their face:) ) Big Jim on the Lib Hall will be yours!
Has the stairwell/building core gone up in the U2 Tower yet? Its already shooting up in the Eglinton St. development in Cork as I’m reliably informed by the ‘Developments in Cork’ Thread. These things go up fairly quickly as I saw myself with the HSQ development, it’d be greatly appreciated if there were any photos. It would, if anything, give us a scale of the development going up(And up!)
@yorktown wrote:
You might want to rethink the 15 storey tower bit……..the planes on approach to the airport may have a problem with it……
Is it near the airport? I thought that the ariport was way outside the city in de country. Well, that factor would leave a proposal for a Liberty Hall, or more appropriately, Cork County Hall-lite in serious doubt. Oh Well.
@kite wrote:
Today’s Irish Examiner
By Tommy BarkerCONTROVERSIAL property investor Joe O’Donovan is putting Cork’s Wilton Shopping Centre on the market for €285 million, less than two months after 172 people lost their jobs there.
The Wilton complex was bought just two years ago for €124m from Tesco, who paid €80m for it in 2002.
The Cork centre, which was at the centre of a rent row after anchor tenant Roches Stores closed and left 172 staff out of work, is being marketed with joint agents DTZ and CBRE.
The complex is being earmarked for major development. Subject to planning, CBRE says it could quadruple to become a new western suburban town centre with a shopping mall, apartments, offices, basement car parking for 1,480 cars and medical centre on up to four floors.
Mr O’Donovan had initially bought 60% of the shopping centre in partnership with Howard Holdings. Last month, he bought out Howard’s 40% share for an undisclosed sum.
The huge price differential being sought is justified by investment specialist Sean O’Brien of CB Richard Ellis, selling for Mr O’Donovan, claiming “it is the best development opportunity in Corkâ€. The site sits on 17 acres, with scope to develop a new town centre and to go from 150,000 sq ft of buildings to 750,000 sq ft.
However, Tesco has retained ownership of its new 55,000 sq ft store and controls a significant portion of the parking area.
Mr O’Donovan hit the headlines in October after he and Marks and Spencer failed to agree over the rental value of retail space.
Roches had agreed a deal with M&S for the British retailer to take over its lease on the 45,000 square foot anchor tenant’s plot for the same rental price. It also agreed to take on the former Roches staff.
However, Mr O’Donovan demanded that M&S pay an increased rent. When agreement could not be reached, the deal fell apart. &
Last night, Linda Tanham of the retail staff union Mandate said: “The debacle with Roches and M&S did seem to be all about money. We did always suspect that there had to be an ulterior motive. Any shopping centre would jump at the chance to have a retailer like M&S going into it.â€
Wilton traders’ spokesman Jim Byrne said traders would have an open mind on any possible redevelopment, and said they’d be glad not to have to deal with Mr O’Donovan as landlord.
“People are entitled to a profit, but it shouldn’t be on the backs of traders. Our business is down 25% or 30% since Roches closed. We will make a sale difficult for him until our concerns are addressed. It is like a bad divorce and a messy divide.â€
Mr O’Donovan could not be contacted for comment last night.
I saw an aerial view of the whole complex in the ‘Commercial property’ section into today’s Irish Independent and the whole site looked like it could do with a lot more than theusual paint-job and nice flowerboxes. The site looked hugely underused with vast expanses of car-park, very inefficient.
My idea for redeveloping the site is the increase of density on the site with the whole complex bult up several storeys in parts. The car-parks should be built on and replacemnt capacity created in multi-storey car-parking/underground car-parking. The site has plenty of access roads so a public transport could be routed into a new Wilton.
There’s a nice grouping of houses up arund an old church at the back of the site as well. That got me thinking, maybe they could have pedestrian access through a low-rise village-style area there. They could put loads of street cafés, open-fronted clothes and bazaar-like shops there in conjunction with things like street performers to really recreate the environment of old Town Centres.
There’s a black-box like building in the middle front of the site. That drew my attention as that building looks like its on a site where a central building could be put. I was thinking of a fifteen storey building there as a draw for the complex at a distance.
What do other Archiseekers think?
@Devin wrote:
Looking at that picture, with One George’s Quay and Liberty Hall far off in the distance reminds me just how far that part of town is away from everywhere else. I’m personally over the moon that this part of Dublin, that’s frankly been neglected up until now is getting lots of life into it. It must be a apin for the neighbours with all the mess and noise and concrete but it should be fantastic once it, the U2 Tower, Lansdowne Road are completed and the IGB gets a great revamp. I think this is going to be THE place to be next decade.
@Blisterman wrote:
I agree, a recladding would be better (and probably cheaper) than building a new building.
I like the overall shape, as well as the wavy roof. It’s the cladding that’s ugly.Talk of recladding has got me thinking. What do people propose to change the exterior of Liberty Hall to? Terracotta? Steel? Limestone? I thought some sort of reddish clad could suit the place considering who owns it.
@The Denouncer wrote:
People on these forums get too nostaligiac about buildings like this..Liberty Hall is a piece of crap, and the Spire too. And time for Busarus to go aswell.
Tell me how Liberty Hall is ‘a piece of crap’? I’ve laid out a structural case for its retention and you seem only capable of issuing expletives without any basis of logic or reason.
How can you get nostalgic(that’s how it’s spelled) about the Spire, its only 3 years old and as a matter of fact is’nt even related to this thread topic about Liberty Hall.
The same goes for Busáras, whatever about its architectural merits, the subject of this thread is Liberty Hall.
The pictures put up by Morlan are the case for the retention of liberty hall in its present style. I accept that the building has broken and mismatched and generally uneven windows which detract from the general aesthetic of the building, but the central point cannot be avoided that a fundamental refurbishment of the existing structure is far more desirable to the wholesale destruction of the current construction.
To all of you who seek the Hall’s destruction I challenge you to come up with something better, something more in keeping with the area around.I challenge you because the likely successor to this building is some stumpy 8-9 storey creation which in the long-run will cause more damage to the surrounding area. This is because will not have the same tall/slim, short/fat contrast with the Custom House, it will not provide a focus for the eye as one looks from the sky down the Liffey, it will not be any Architectural case-books or grace the web-pages of landmark-focused sites and will not have the same quality of a landmark tower in our city.
this is the likely scenario as many developers seem more keen on building any sort of edifice these days simply to make more money instead of creating a genuinely unique and good-quality building. A whole plethora of things could be done with the Hall: street cafés, viewing galleries, a twin tower on the site to the west, a restauraunt at the top, changing colour lights at the top for seasonal celebrations, placement of sculptural pieces on the side foot and top of the building or a roof garden for the enjoyment of workers on a break or for visitors from other parts of the city and country.
On that point on the fact that workers are demoralised with the current building and the limitations, drabness and general dullness of the current edifice, surely a revamp would be better than a complete destruction of the existing building. Dealing with a few months of electricians, plumbers, plasteres and painters for a few months working on a floor-by-floor basis or a few years waiting for a completely new site to be found, bought, rezoned, built and fitted out, I’d pick the first option if I worked in Liberty Hall.
Whatever about the architectural right-to-life of the current building, that illegitimate love-child of polyvinylchloride and moulded concrete that they hope to spring forth from the rubble of the old building is as ugly as it is obscene. Upon seeing the ‘render’ I thought of an idea, if the builders of this execrable edifice get through and they have a respectable Ailesbury Rd house, their house should be demolished and replaced with a concrete Borg Cube.
I love the ormonde Hotel anyway, whenever I’m coming in on the bus from my west Dublin residence its always a landmark for me to get off. To lose that building would be to lose my enjoyable trips via bus into Town.
First they lodge a plan for a 60 metre tower and then the DDDA say they’ll raise it to 100 metres. And now second they put in the planning application and they want 130 metres:eek: Nothing against them doing it really, I think there’ll be little if any extra impact with the 30 metres but it really sounds like this is turning into the ‘Incredible Expanding U2 Tower’
@corkdood wrote:
Speaking of Cork redevelopment and regeneration, that site there looks fairly bleak, underdeveloped and underutilised area. Maybe its just the slight darkness in the photo but that area looks like it could do with a decent bit of building, crane-work and densification.
Where is that area in relation to Cork? I’m not that familiar with the positioning of landmarks in Cork, is it near the centre, or out Midleton/Blarney/Glanmire/Cobh way:confused:
@paul h wrote:
Thats fantastic news with the uefa cup final
I think its worth pointing out that UEFA chief exec Lars- Christer Olssen said that it would
probably be only the uefa cup final as opposed to the (more prestigious and financially rewarding) champions
leauge final due to the 50 000 capacity of the new stadium.Exactly, it should be fandabadozy when our European brothers and sisters descend on our Fair City to see the match. After the Special olympics and the Ryder Cup, I believe that our country can host any sport competition given it. The decision also helps our cause for a Celtic Euro 2012 bid with our Scottish friends and allies and the Rugby World Cup in the middle of the next decade, and, I like to think, the 2020 World Cup.(I live in hope)
I was looking at that especially because they slot really nicely into the whole rebuild. Perhaps what they could do is just flatten everything there and build it up to a 10-15 storey range. It would be good to have another tower about the same size as the Eglinton St biulding (or higher!:) down that end as a contrast and counterpoint. Plus, the tower being beside the river could act as a sort of gatehouse to the whole rebuild. Maybe that’s they should name it that, the gatehouse!:)
Just looking at that panorama of the Corconian skyline, what’s going to happen to those sheds/warehouses between the apartments around the Elysian Tower and the Lee? Are they being rebuilt as well, or are they going to be just done up like those dockland warehouses in CHQ.
When is the U2 Tower going to be finished? I heard that it would be opened in 2008 on one site and on another it said 2010, what’s the exact date?
I’m not too certain on this demolish Hawkin’s House movement. I fully understand that hawkin’s house is the vilest building on the skyline in Dublin and the site it selfishly stakes out for itself could be used for something better but I think that, well, it acts as a sort of warning against architecture of its ilk. You know, if someone wanted to build a concrete monstrosity like it in the future all people had to do is point to Hawkins House and that would lead to the concrete hulk being shelved.
