-Donnacha-

@securityman wrote:

First of all I really hope that Ryanair can strike a deal with Cork airport authority cos its a pity that you have to go out of shannon for the cheap flights plus it would have a great knock on affect for tourism in the region.

Has anyone heard about a so called renovation of Mallow railway station by a UK company I think they are doing a number of stations throughout the country.

On a final point does anybody else here ever wonder how they are going to fill these offices and retail units that are being proposed. At the moment you have a lot of buildings Idle look at patrick st, the roundy on cornmarket st, bachelors on the quay and the places next door next to the GATE cinema, the new building on georges quay Trinity House, the office building in Angelsea St where Anglo Irish Bank is, Owen O’Callaghans new building on Lavitts Quay, The numerous places on the new Mallow road and on the watercourse road, Wilton shopping centre has a few spots, the old tsb in wilton and many more I just worry that there is going to be a lot of derelict places around our city before were finished.

It’s a very good point Securityman, but I suppose from the developers point of view there are a lot of housing units coming on line in the next couple of years, this is where the “critical mass” kicks in, commercial feeds off residential and vise versa…

I would be worried if we weren’t getting high densities in the city center, but fortunately our friends in the City Council have finally grasped the concept of reverse urbanisation. A city cannot and indeed won’t survive without a “critical mass” population.

A recent trip to Detroit is proof of this, a budy said I wouldn’t belive it and he was right, it is actually unbelievable to see such a great city and it’s derelict. I admit they have gang problems, decline in motor industry etc., but the city center is practically vacant, so there is no incentive for business, it’s definetly not a case of “if you build it they will come”.

An amazing place Detriot, scarey by day, i wasn’t brave enough by night!!! Well worth a visit if your in that neck of the woods…

Getting back to our city, you may have noted in that many retail spaces have struggled, especially the leisure sector, this should hopefully be reversed by an increase in footfall population. A cheaper pint might help, but thats an argument for my puplican friends… :rolleyes:

Nightlife in Dublin has never been better, even with the scarey thought of buying a round for five people…

I wonder sometimes when I read this PVC window thread: It seems to me that there are other far more damaging, permanent interventions in the Irish Landscape: at a Planning Scale: one off housing, awful tract semi-d housing, lack of bike paths etc and in terms of “architecture” (in the loosest sense): PVC fascias and soffits, concrete footpaths all round houses, destruction of hedgerows, bungalows and suburban housing in the countryside etc. etc. Sometimes it seems to me that PVC windows seem the least of our worries – they aren’t going to last very long anyway ( say 20 years?) and if legislation were put in place, it would be possible to force their reinstatement at some stage in the future.

Though I have to admit the PVC windows in that neo-gothic are as difficult to look at as Sly Stallone’s mother.

What does anyone else think? Is this PVC thing simply a small scale “winnable” battle, so people don’t focus on the horror of Irish “architecture”?

I know the rythm of the time is different here 🙂 , but I don’t think it is about two trees, it’s about two mature trees and repect for the environment and nature. I think it’s not reponsible to plant two new trees if they are going to be chopped again in 30 years. Trees are valuable things.

I enquired the day it closed and apparently the druggies had been intimidating people – which I believe, so I suppose CIE took that as their chance to close it. I enquired again recently and was told they have no plans to reopen it . I suppose at least while the clinic is there who blames them. Sad state of affairs really, for Amiens St at least.

@A-ha wrote:

[font=Arial:2s6qesyq]Ich bin sehr erbärmlich, wenn mein farbenfreudiges Schreiben Ihren Augen nicht anpasst, aber ich versuche, einer Konversation ein Licht zu bringen.
Glad ye all noticed, thx lex, I was going for the Carnaby Street boho look alright. As long as we get our 2 airbridges, I'm happy! The CAA has no problem forcing the DAA to pay for these new air bridges, but I doubt the third and fourth will come as easily as the CAA themsleves will have to pay for them.
Es tut ich Leid, den mein Deutsch nicht gut ist. (Sorry my German isn't any good).[/font:2s6qesyq] :rolleyes:

It’s better than mine, Halt Swine-hunt!!! Auchtung etc…… 😀

@jungle wrote:

Originally Posted by securityman
I see in the Examiner today that Harvey Norman are looking for someone in Cork are they eying up a new store I heard a rumour a while back that they were looking to buy the old Woodies Store??

Noooooo!!!! Does that mean we’ll be getting their ads on local radio too… 🙁

Word is they’re fitting out the old Woddies site on Kinsale Road… thats the rumour anyway…

@dave123 wrote:

Would anyone agree that the roundabouts in Limerick are treacherous???
the main N20 Dual carrigway to Cork and Kerry has a deadly right angle section of road that really is a planning disaster.
who ever design it , should be kicked out of the country!!!!
most dual carrigways are generally a straight strech of road and does not end in a an interection with a dealdy roundabout with other access roads off it.
Tourists find it very confusing!!!
Today I was heading back from the cresent SC and A tourist in front of me was indicating to stay on the ringroad towards Dublin and thought been on it you would n’t have turn right off the roundabout, instead nearl rammed into our car!!!
Its a very stupid juntion….

I presume the said round about will someday aim to continue on to the river to cross the shannon to the airport – or am I mistaken?

@modular man wrote:

I agree that limerick has some very high quality streetscapes, especially the Georgian areas however my impression (irish person, not from Limerick) is that it lacks any quality public spaces (the streetscapes aside). I never feel like there is a central point. Aurthers quay park is vastly underused addition which feels too tucked away from O’ Connel street behind a Dunnes stores which has seen better days.
I think that a lot people from outside Limerick only know it as they used to have to pass through on the way to Clare or kerry and have the impression of a one street town. Limerick has a lot of potential and there has been enormous improvements over the past fifteen years. I hope this trend continues.
I also think that the by-pass from the Castletroy side is one of the most important projects for the city and years overdue. I presume it has opened as live abroad so have not visited in a couple of years. Has it made a big difference?
It would be good if This thread could be kept updated in the same fashion as the ‘look at the state of Cork’ thread.

I am so glad the point (and this discussion at large) has come to pass. I have for a long time wished I had the insight to bring intuition if my 16 yr old mind to the planning table when Arthurs key Shopping centre was being built. It failed for a number of reasons. 1. It was so over hyped that everyone was very excited about it, so it’s flaws were initially accepted. 2. It was conceived very obviously by someone, perhaps not from limerick, or who had never been to places like paris, rome, copenhagen etc, where the use of space in cities is the very thing that makes them not just attractive to look at, but also places that are nice to be in. Arthurs Quay should have been built, but on the waterfront, where the (junky filled) park now is. The park is a hiding place, but could so easily have swapped position with the shopping centre, making it a wide cobbled centre piece to a city that would evolve promisingly thereafter. Imagine if limerick had a square/open space as its centre: It would be sheltered from the river, and even the shopping center on the river’s edge could have had it’s awful restuarants/cafes on the river front, overlooking the marina and some of the best views in Limerick.

I think the people who failed in their capacity at this level owe the people who are proud of Limerick a debt.

So they’re railing off the portico instead of getting a couple of guards to do their jobs by moving the homeless people on from the steps of the mosy inportant public building in the country. Jesus.
Anyway, whatever about the aesthetic issues, I think Graham Hickey’s point about the ‘symbolic and working importance’ of the building is probably moot, seeing as the courts are to be replaced by a new complex in Parkgate Street.
The new building will house the central and circuit criminal courts and the Four Courts will be relegated to civil cases and/or family law.
I doubt very much that there will be a public space fronting onto the street like the Fourt Courts portico. And McDowell wants underground access for prisoners, so the poor dears will be protected from the prying lenses of the press. The Minister doesn’t seem to like the bit in the Constitution about the justice being done in public. Possibly because sometimes it makes him look bad…

lexington – is the DAT Partnership image shown an Eastern elevation? With No. 6 Lapps Quay +Oliver Plunkett St to the left and bus station to the right +behind?

What do people think of this? As much as can be understood of the building from the image anyhow? I think it has some potential – although i would have preferred something a little sharper and triangular – with a bit more definition – in relation to the specific nature of the site – this building looks like its trying to escape the site, as opposed to reflecting its particular configuration – however i would be fairly positive – but would love to see more images – as well as more impressions of the E-Project’s proposals next door