Rory W
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Well Eurocycles/Eurobaby are a little bit braindead in my opinion – must be the only baby store in the world that is UPSTAIRS and HAS NO LIFT to bring a pram/buggy up.
I’m sure those going in to buy a bike are fit enough to climb the stairs!!!
@GrahamH wrote:
The bollards are fancy, but are they needed? I thought it was DCC policy, or should that be best practice, to limit the alterations, i.e incisions, to original paving? In all fairness, if you’re walking along the kerbline with that vast extent of paving to walk on, you deserve to be clipped by a bus.
Aimed more at drivers pulling up “for just a few minutes” I’d wager – give it 5 minutes it’d be full of white van men cracking the newly laid/restored surface
@jdivision wrote:
There are two airports in Belfast which is just as accessible for people from Drogheda upwards
But if you every go to the long term car park (esp in the summer) it’s full of Yellow Reg’s because there is more routes out of Dublin than Belfast
Anyway it’s 35 mins to the airport from my house (on the lovely M1 motorway) or at least 2hrs (a lot of which isn’t even Dual Carriageway) to Belfast which would you choose?
@Andrew Duffy wrote:
It’s not that recent – the site for the Alto Vetro tower on Pearse St. hasn’t been cleared yet.
That image doesn’t show the site of Alto Vetro – this is the NW corner of the main basin
a boyle wrote:And when bus start shuttling people through the port tunnel much faster than the metro will be able to , i think people will start to question the phenomenal expense.
QUOTE]that’s utter bollocks – for a start do you really think an aircoach would get from St Stephen’s green to the airport in 20 mins or so (not even at 6am matey)
you’re just a victim of the “it’ll never work, we won’t use it and we’ll all hate it so why bother” mentality which applies to all projects in the country – we need to think on the bigger scale if we are ever to be taken seriously as a city
From todays Irish Times
Spate of antisocial activities on Liffey boardwalk
Hélène HofmanA meeting will take place tomorrow to address the problem of antisocial behaviour on Dublin’s Millennium Boardwalk by the Liffey.
The boardwalk, which attracts many tourists to rest, view the river and drink coffee, has become a magnet for people with alcohol and drug problems.
A Garda spokesman said yesterday that an operation to tackle the problem resulted in 46 arrests in the first two months of operation, and the problem has escalated this month and in July.
Between April 2006, when the operation began, and June 2006 gardaà arrested 26 people under the drugs misuse Act and 20 for public order offences. They also carried out 404 searches under the misuse of drugs Act during that period.
A cross-section of agencies, including the Homeless Agency, Focus Ireland, addiction services and community groups, will discuss measures to address the needs of those congregating on the boardwalk and at other Dublin city centre locations at tomorrow’s meeting .
“It’s not yet clear whether the problem relates to housing or drugs, so the meeting will focus on that so the relevant support can be delivered,” said Derval Howley, director of the Homeless Agency. “It does seem to be one of the main places people go during the day.”
A spokesperson for the Merchant’s Quay project, which works with the homeless and people affected by drug abuse, says the combination of good weather and a lack of day centres for homeless people means more may be congregating along the promenade during the peak tourism season.
The boardwalk, which stretches from Grattan Bridge to Butt Bridge, was built as a tourist amenity as part of Dublin’s millennium projects and was completed in 2000. Last May, a month after the Garda operation began, Dublin City Council erected a number of signs along the boardwalk informing people that the consumption of intoxicating liquor in a public place is prohibited. The council says it has received no complaints from the public since.
However, employees of the kiosks on the boardwalk say the antisocial behaviour is continuing to affect business and that most of the clientele now consists of tourists.
“It’s not good for business and it’s not good for the tourists,” says one vendor, who did not want to be identified. He has witnessed several incidents involving alcohol in the past month. “It’s the worst on sunny days when there are lots of customers. The guards are watching but when they come the people just put away their drinks and take it out when they are gone.”
“I don’t really feel safe, to be honest. But I have a security camera if anyone comes,” he said indicating the camera and monitor set up on a top shelf.
“We won’t call the guards unless something really bad happens,” said the vendor.
Was just about to post a scan of that image – really is fucking awful isn’t it. You’d think that on an important site like this they’d come up with something better.
STW hang your heads in shame – this would look bland in a retail park and a six year old would do better than this crap
More from today’s times commercial property – image in the paper which I’ll scan later
Boland’s Mill to be developed as office, hotel complex
Three 12 to 16-storey office buildings, a boutique hotel and a restaurant to be run by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes are planned for a key site in Dublin’s south docklands. Jack Fagan reports
One of the key sites in Dublin’s south docklands, the former Boland’s Mill at Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 4, is to be redeveloped as a major office and hotel complex at a cost of over €150 million. When completed, it is likely to be one of the most distinctive and important new developments in the fast changing south docklands.
A development company headed by Sean Kelly of Benton Properties is finalising a planning application for three new office buildings ranging in height from 12 to 16 storeys – the tallest matching the height of the Millennium Tower apartment block at Charlotte Quay, on the opposite side of Ringsend Road.
Boland’s Mill, a cut-stone grain store dating from the 1830s, was sold by the food group IAWS to Mr Kelly 18 months ago for €42 million.
He recently completed a large own-door office and retail scheme at the junction of Mary’s Abbey and Capel Street and previously handled the redevelopment of the former Adelaide Hospital, now one of the highest value apartment schemes in the inner city.
Enda Moore of agent Hooke & MacDonald Commercial, who is letting agent for Boland’s Mill Wharf, says he believes it will set a new benchmark for offices in the city in terms of design, quality and location. It is just a few minutes’ walk from Grand Canal Dock Dart station.
The redevelopment is likely to prove even more challenging than the Adelaide because of its primary position in the Grand Canal Harbour area. Eoin O’Morain of architects Scott Tallon Walker says that one of their objectives will be to enhance the three existing protected structures and to achieve maximum accessibility to both the retained buildings and the waterfront.
Top conservation architect David Slattery has been retained to advise on the listed buildings which were used up to recent years as grain stores. The promoters estimate that the cost of restoring and refurbishing the cut-stone buildings – one of them has around 250 wooden windows – is likely to run to about €3,000 per sq m (€279 per sq ft) as against a cost of €2,000 per sq m (€186 per sq m) for new build.
The existing six-storey building on Ringsend Road is to accommodate a four-star, 53-bedroom boutique hotel along with a health spa and brasserie. The building will also have a 150-seater restaurant at ground floor level to cater for visitors, as well as about 2,000 people who are likely to be working on the site. The restaurant, to be known as D4, will be run by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes, who has also opened a restaurant in Mr Kelly’s newly-completed development off Capel Street.
Several Irish, UK and international hotel chains have already expressed interest in operating the hotel, which stands to benefit from the large number of companies moving into the Grand Canal docks area. The hotel opening will coincide with the closure of at least two of the Jurys Doyle hotels in nearby Ballsbridge.
Two other listed buildings on the Boland’s site, a multi-storey warehouse fronting on to Grand Canal Dock, and numbers 33 and 34 Barrow Street, are also to be redeveloped as offices, bringing the gross development to 40,647sq m (437,524sq ft). The tall concrete silo pits that dominate much of the site were built in the 1950s and will be demolished. The two listed buildings being turned into offices will be for sale or to let.
The two main new buildings will stand 12 and 16-storeys high and will face on to an impressive public plaza that will extend from Barrow Street onto Grand Canal Dock. The taller block will have a net floor area of 15,488sq m (166,711sq ft) while the other will have 7,442sq m (80,104sq ft). They are likely to be used as corporate headquarters and will be interlinked by a glazed central core featuring 10 lifts, each capable of carrying 21 people as well as a stairwell.
The two blocks will be capable of being operated as a single headquarters or as two separate entities. Floor sizes generally will range from 887 to 1,206sq m (9,548-12,981sq ft).
The third new office block planned for the site will be 14 storeys high and will bring the new floor areas up to 34,268sq m (368,857sq ft). While the three new buildings will have air conditioning, windows will be capable of being opened to allow natural ventilation. A further 1,608sq m (17,308sq ft) office building on the north-east corner of the site will cater for small to medium-sized occupiers.
The fines for this sort of thing should be increased to a week in the clink for the MD of the company – that would put a stop to this sort of bollocks.
Alternatively – they should be made hang a banner of some overweight lard-ass with bad skin with the caption “eat here and look like this” on it
Ever since FF abolished rates in 77 local councils have had no tax raising ability (other than commercial rates). We are now reaping the benefits of this – if you want better services you’ll have to pay higher taxes for them, good luck to the government that brings that in.
Graham Hickey wrote:The article leaves one wondering though – what exactly is a ‘]Why it means it has a subway as well as a KFC.
Was in the Marshes centre recently – crock of shite both architecturally and shopping wise!
Because it’s such a pleasant experience walking along the boadwalk along Eden Quay (Irony alert). By all means built nice stuff for decent folk but don’t let the winos/junkies take it over. Until such time as there is better policing (when was the last time you saw a garda moving people along????) no more places for them should be built.
Better policing is the answer and it’s about time the decent people in this city (i.e. 99%) stood up and were counted – why should we be intimidated in our own city?
Wherever the there are seats (or indeed steps) in this town there is junkies or winos congregated around.
Until such time as the Devil’s Bit Cider brigade are put off the streets I don’t think we should provide venues for their alfresco refreshment – at least those in “Privatised” pavement areas don’t intimidate
@notjim wrote:
You know its funny, when you look at the picture above you realised that someone loved this building once: real care was taken in designing it, it isn’t like a million other crap for the sake of it buildings, whoever designed it meant it to be great, they just did so at a time when there was no concern for planning rather than architecture and the materials have aged badly.
Actually when it was first built nobody loved it then either, not even the architect
From The Sunday Business Post 18/6/06
100m Drogheda scheme gets go-ahead
18 June 2006 By Neil Callanan and Susan Mitchell
The Southbank scheme on the town’s revived south quays and the Marsh Road area is being developed by Edward Holdings, the company controlled by Galway property developer Gerry Barrett.The scheme is about 300,000 square feet in size and includes a proposal for another vehicular and pedestrian bridge that will connect the southside and the northside of Drogheda.
Planners gave notification of the decision last week. The proposal, designed by Douglas Wallace Architects – which regularly collaborates with Barrett’s development firm – has been modified significantly.
It will contain retail space, an office block, a hotel, a spa, restaurants, bars, cafes and an eight-screen cinema. An additional 600 car parking spaces will also be provided. Hugh Wallace, of Douglas Wallace, said the developer had not sought planning for a tower. The developer initially proposed to construct a 13-storey tower and a 27storey tower, which would have been one of the tallest buildings in Ireland.
‘‘We left that element out but we are looking at that and it is our intention to reapply for planning permission for a tower,†said Wallace. Establishing an exhibition centre on the site is also under consideration, he said.
Wallace said there was good local support for the development. Phase one of Scotch Hall – one of the largest mixed-use developments outside of the Dublin region – opened last November and is already fully let.
‘‘It has already had a great impact on the development of the town centre,†said Wallace.
