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The Spencer Dock apartment development has just been given permission by DDDA to go ahead. Which should be a relief to all this who snapped up the apartments the weekend they were on sale.
Unfortunately the social and affordable housing aspect will not be integrated into the development and will consist of isolated blocks at the back of the development. (other side of Sherrif Street).
This stinks.The crane was rented at a flat fee for the entire job rather than per day. So any overrun won’t be due to the crane lying idle.
Fionas comments are interesting – a wonderful part of the project is the discussion provoked. Crowds looking at the work and waiting for the event are what makes the monument an occasion. And the thought of so many mystery archeire contributers with digital cameras there adds to this!
I don’t know where TV3 drag their stock “characters” from, but the comments that are featured in the vox-pops certaintly don’t reflect the comments I’ve heard down there recently.
People are engaging in a way that was missing from the competition. I think people were sceptical back then as to weather the project would be followed through on. If the spire gets completed (and indications are good!) it should bode well for public consultations, competions in the future.
And it looks cool too! Well done .While waiting for the wind to die down, check out the latest public project aimed at revitalising Soap Lake in Washington State.
“The structure, similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, will provide worldwide interest and positive publicity for the City of Soap Lake, Grant County and the State of Washington.”
This was on the BBC during the week and made me wonder could it happen here… In fairness there were worse ideas entered in the Dublin competition…
Heard on the news this morning that there are 4 sections up at the moment. Looks like 3 to me. I presume the news (spin) got it wrong…?
From a distance (in dark) you only see the reflected light. Makes the whole thing appear even thinner.
Well done on the photos fjp
Is there a section going up now?
http://193.120.149.58/camera06.jpgThat’s the attitude!
See there’s 2 more sections arrived. One will be going up in the next couple of hours.
This is so cool, you’ll love it Paul.
I think the point is that they’re red so that they are easy to identify even if you are partially sighted.
No sign of it this morning…
Delays in packing it up meant it’s only got as far as Portlaois. First section (of 6?) should be here tomorrow morning.I suppose the question is how many people a day want to go from Heuston to the Point? A couple of runs when there’s a big gig on I suppose.
The bus from Heuston to IFSC runs only 25 times a day, mostly at rush hour. So I wonder is the demand unmet or is there just no demand(, or no point sitting in a traffic locked bus)?
Heuston to Custom house Quay might be profitable though as this would link to Busarus, Connolly and TaraSt. Could end up in competition to the luas docklands link…
That said, I would love to see the river being used for transport again. Does anyone know when did the last ferry service finish? I remember one running when the point was still new and exciting. What happened to that?
I see the proposed water bus got a mention in todays indo.
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=886134&issue_id=8473
As far as I remember, the water bus and water taxis are to go as far as the moorings outside the DDDA offices (where the boats are moored just past the bridge in the picture). I guess the weir would have to be further downstream than this.
The only mention I can recall of a weir in any documents produced by the DDDA (and I guess they would have to be involved) is for a possible one at East Link.
To answer your question Paul – from the press release
“The competition attracted over 80 entries from all over the world. The jury also commended the entry by Ahrends Burton and Koralek, Architects and Kellogg Brown Root, Engineers.
An exhibition of the entries to the competition will be held in the Atrium of the National College of Ireland, Mayor Square, IFSC II, Dublin 1 from Tuesday 10th December until Thursday 19th December from 9am to 5pm. “
I don’t like the LUAS sign on top. It looks silly. It’s already known as the luas bridge and advertises the project admirably.
The blue and white sign wasn’t in the plans – is it a tempory fixture? Will it be possible to rent the advertising space? The loopline probably started like this.New Irish Rationalisim? I never heard that phrase before. Care to give a few examples or indeed attempt a definition? Anyone?
Is the big crane for the spike here now?
Regarding the skytower – I hadn’t heard of it either. I found a photo here
http://www.aucklandnz.com/gallery/photos/towerabove.jpg
but I’m not impressed. I think there was a couple of entries in the oconnell competition that looked like that. I’m really glad the spike won.
As far as I can tell – what’s going on at the moment down there is as follows:
– PWC building is going ahead as there is a tennant/owner ready for this building.
– Spencer Dock apartments are also going ahead as there is no shortage of buyers. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the next phase may be hurried along too based on the strength of sales last weekend)
– The plot allocated to the conference center is still allocated to the conference center OR a park under the Docklands North Lotts Area Planning Scheme. A decision has not been made which way to develop it but I think it is up to the developers now. If a National conference center will make more money than a park I guess it will go ahead. There’s no reason for them to make the decision now and will pobably continue to put in the elements that are garaunteed to show a return for now.
Exciting competition though isn’t it? I hope there’s loads of brilliant entries. Here’s where it’ll go:
It’s a good deal for U2 – the top 2 stories and Bono said at the conference that it won’t cost them at all! Still it’ll make it easy to direct tourists to – it was hard to give clear direction to windmill lane and you often see lost looking fans down townsend and lime st. This one will be hard to miss!
What’s gone wrong/is going wrong in the docklands is not the height issue but the relationship of the buildings to the street. Most of the buildings there take up a full block. As a result there’s only one doorway opening to the street per block. And that’s on the main roads. If you go down the side streets it’s even worse. you can walk the length of the block and the whole side of the building is closed off and apart from the street.
Is there a need for every block to have only one entrance? Can the ground floors not be given over to small businesses with their own entrance and floors above use the “main” entrance.
Temple bar is exciting because you pass so many interesting things within a short walk. Walking down to the Point the most interesting thing is how many block sized buildings have their lobby full of barcelona chairs. Were grants to the developers really paid out in reproduction furniture?
