Tuborg

Just a few pics regarding the developments that are being discussed in this thread, The first picture shows Roches stores current frontage onto Sarsfield st, i think this section of the building used to house a supermarket until a few years ago and the 2nd is a photo is of the Harveys quay development that is directly across the street from the Savoy site that is currently being redeveloped! Looking at an overhead image i found it really shows the extent of Roches Stores land holdings, it really is a huge site that is hopelessly underused, you can clearly see the area to the rear of the store is mainly used for storage and deliveries with the vacant buildings fronting onto liddy street, there really is huge scope for a complete redevelopment of the store, i had posted the picture but unfortunately i made a bit of a balls of it, ill try and rectify the situation and post it at a later date!

Very difficult to find anything on the Roches Stores renovations, is the whole store getting a complete overhaul i wonder?, it badly needs one but given Roches reluctance to invest seriously in their Limerick store over the years you really would have to wonder, apart from some “papering over of the cracks” the whole store is a throwback to the 1960s or beyond. Roches Stores in Cork is spacious and well laid out while its Limerick counterpart has a claustrophobic and cluttered feel to it and the decor is drab and extremely dated. Looking at the drawings it seems that the main shop is to be extending into the adjoining building, i think this currently houses the nursery department!, i havent seen any plans for the liddy st side(if in fact there is any!), at the moment the 2 storey buildings on liddy street are used for storage with the garden centre directly behind,these neglected buildings present a very drab face to this area of town and there is ample space for Roches to develop the kind of department store the city centre needs and deserves!.

As for the design itself I think its a bit awkward and bulky looking, the sarsfield street frontage integrates very uncomfortably with the permanent tsb building, in fact i think it completely overshadows it, the O Connell st facade is also a bit dissapointing, consisting of the usual tiling and glass feature,seriously mundane, although in fairness its still better than the dour penneys next door and the monstrosity that is Brown Thomas.

I remember seeing that image of the savoy hotel in the leader last year, afaik its still the only available drawing of the development,all i remembered was it had a huge glass facade!,good to get a look at it again, thanks to CologneMike for that. Again there is very limited information on completion dates or anything else, all we know is its a 4 star hotel with the usual conferencing and leisure facilities,it also incorporates apartments and 14 retail units.The image is pretty deceptive with the henry st frontage planned to be up to 10 storeys in height!, along with the harveys quay/dunnes stores building across the street, this part of town is going to have a pretty imposing feel about it with 2 such large structures facing each other! It really is nice to see a bit of life being breathed back into this area, the pace of change in the henry st area over the last few years has been phenomenal and great news aswell that the yard behind the old county council offices is finally going to be cleaned up:)

This is another image of what was to be the new strand hotel now to be known as the Limerick hilton,the construction is making steady progress and the hotel is due to be open by the end of the year!

Final details on Opera Shopping Centre awaited
By Marie Hobbins
CONFIDENT and proud predictions of a bonanza of benefits to Limerick city were made in City Hall this week about Limerick’s newest shopping centre.

Limerick City Council management and the elected members of the Council were on Monday presented with details of the Opera Centre retail complex which will straddle Patrick Street, Rutland Street, Ellen Street, Bank Place and Michael Street and cover 400,000 square feet of prime city centre space with newly designed and regenerated business premises.

In response to a request from the city planner, Dick Tobin, and his team, for further information on the development, Suneil Sharma, chief executive officer of Regeneration Developments gave a broader outline of the overall development at the Monday meeting. While more precise details are yet to emerge, Mr Sharma said that he had met with the 18 objectors and that it is generally accepted that the principals of the project are “robust and good for the city”.

With a track record of major retail developments in Cork, Dublin and elsewhere in the country notched up, Regeneration Developments says the strategically located major shopping complex will be “an unforgettable Limerick landmark that will create over 1,000 full-time jobs, between 300 and 500 jobs in construction and will bring an estimated 110,000 people into the city centre each week”.

Stressing that there is a requirement for larger retail units, the developers said it is a “myth” that people who go to shopping centres in the suburbs do not frequent the city.

“Research shows that city centre and suburban shopping are two different experiences. You can have a half hour shopping visit in the suburbs but enjoy half a day’s experience in the city centre – there’s plenty of evidence to opt for the city centre experience just because it is the city centre, with all the variety and contrast it has to offer,” said Brian Lambe of Lafferty Project Management.

The British stores, Debenhams and Marks and Spencers, are likely tenants but the identity of the two major anchor stores going in are still to be announced.

Central to the mixed stone/brick/glass and concrete development will be an accurate and sensitive restoration, at an estimated cost of 2.5million euro of 5 Patrick Street in which the internationally acclaimed opera singer, Catherine Hayes lived. When restored as a museum the house will be given over to Limerick Civic Trust, free of charge.

The developers are also confident that its proximity to the Opera Centre will increase the numbers of visitors to the Hunt Museum on Rutland Street.

“We predict an increase of between 300 and 400 per cent to the museum,” said Mr Lambe.

City councillors’ reaction to the presentation is one of overall enthusiasm for the development.

However, a note of caution that a lot of consideration be given to the design of the imposing entrances planned for Bank Place and the junction of Patrick Street/Ellen Street, was voiced by Cllr Kathleen Leddin while Cllr Jim Long said he was glad to learn that old stone and redbrick will be incorporated into the new buildings.

When the development was first announced to City Council some weeks ago, the elected members were emphatic that City Council would take particular care regarding all aspects of this first major retail outlet for the city centre. While they are still awaiting more detailed information, senior planner Dick Tobin is optimistic that provided they receive clear information, they will be in a position to make a decision within four weeks.

“If the information is not clear enough then we may have to ask for more information but at the moment we cannot say how long it will take – that is like asking how long is a piece of string,” he said.

Reaction from leading property developer Michael Parkes who has located his shopping centres in the city’s suburbs is one of wholehearted welcome for the Opera Centre project.

“This is marvellously progressive for the city centre and more of the same are to be welcomed,” he said.

There is a lot of speculation that no.s 4 and 5 rutland street are to be demolished entirely, not even with facade retention!, there appears to be no preservation order attached to these buildings,it seems that these are the only 2 on this terrace not listed as protected structures.As far as i can see all the buildings in this area integrate very well and surely any disruption to this would only result in an erosion of the character of the street. This is a massive multi million euro project and is going to change the face of Limerick forever, i just hope the architecture of the proposed development will enhance and not disfigure this sensitive area, remember the site is bounded by the 18th century granary building and the market area is also close by, i hope we learn from the mistakes of arthurs quay, what we dont want are blank,faceless walls and the usual cheap plasticy features, a bit of imagination wouldnt go astray!

Minister is wary of riverside development
By Marie Hobbins
THE recently announced plans to develop a 30-acre riverside site stretching from the north bank of the river Shannon to Condell Road has been met with the self-confessed scepticism of Limerick’s Minister of State, Tim O’Malley.

He is referring specifically to a consortium’s aim to reclaim the 30-acre river strip between Shannon Bridge and Barrington’s Quay which is currently subjected to flooding at high tide with the erection of a dyke and securing it for residential development along the river bank.

The Progressive Democrat minister who of late has been openly critical of Limerick City Council’s role in the sale of a portion of the People’s Park, said it was most unlikely that such a site could be developed “without intolerable inconvenience and misery being inflicted on the residents of the adjacent Westfields and North Circular Road”.

Details of the plan are still emerging and members of the consortium, River Deep Developments, led by Limerick man, Ned Sheehy of the steel erection firm, ELM are currently acquainting City Hall management with the final points of the project.

But already, two northside councillors are voicing unease regarding any interference with the Westfields Wetlands.

Concerns for traffic management in the area of development are also voiced by Mr O’Malley who says: “One has to ask, where would traffic from this 1.5 billion project be expected to integrate into Limerick’s existing traffic network?

“Does anyone imagine that Condell Road and the Shannon Bridge, already choked to distraction, would be able to accommodate the kind of HGV traffic that this plan would entail,” he queried.

Insisting that it is “grossly unfair to expect the people who already reside in the area to live on a massive building site for the two or three years during which the development is proceeding,” Mr O’Malley said that if, as he expected, the residents will strongly oppose the development, they will have his full support.. Referring to what he termed the recent examples in Limerick that had illustrated the controversial nature of public assets being surrendered or sold to private developers, the Minister said: “There’s no Limerick politician more in favour of enterprise and the growth of local commerce than myself, but equally there’s no Limerick politician who holds a more jaundiced view of public paths, roads and amenities being sold or transferred, to private consortiums – I don’t like to see public assets being disposed of in this fashion.”

Although Mr Sheehy was emphatic when speaking to the Limerick Post that he is particularly sensitive to protecting and enhancing the Westfields Wetlands sanctuary, the reservations expressed by Cllr Kathleen Leddin and Cllr Michael Hourigan for the designated conservation area were reiterated by Minister O’Malley who queried: “How would the ordinary people of Limerick benefit from this development that involved the transfer of one of their city’s most notable environmental assets to a private consortium?

It is pointed out by Cllr Jim Long who has welcomed the proposed riverside development as “the most exciting since Ardnacrusha” that the project could not go ahead without an environmental impact study being submitted to City Council and that sanction to proceed would also be required from the´EU.

It is estimated that the sale of land required for the 1.5billion euro development would net over 25million euro for City Council, not including substantial contribution levies.

Outline plans for the development centre on top-of-the-range residential apartments, a riverside promenade, plaza, marina, hotel and other residential amenities.

Its hard not to be sceptical of this proposal in fairness, it smacks of oportunism for me, here we have a group of well off buisness people proposing luxury and reportedly obscenely expensive apartments in a highly sensitive area, maybe im writing it off too soon but personally i think the whole thing is a sham. I cant see how a development of this scale will not cause further damage to the wetlands, the construction of the condell road in the late 1980’s caused widespread damage to the wetlands even though assurances were given that the best construction techniques would be used to ensure they would be protected. Its obvious that the emphasis will be on the development of the site and no matter what the developers say conservation will always play second fiddle.Unfortunately Limerick has been defaced by mistakes before, just look at O Connell st and the many fine buildings that were lost and replaced by crap. Limerick has changed beyond belief in the last 20 years or so and we really can be justifiably proud of a city that is unrecognisable from the grey, dereliction ridden place it was in the 80s and look forward to more exciting developments coming on stream in the years to come(city centre pedestrianisation,bedford row/henry st redevelopment, opera centre,proposed stella lane/shannon st project etc).I just dont think this particular project is right for the city.

The westfield wetlands area is a great asset for the city and what we should be doing is trying to get more people to realise its value and make more use of it instead of selling part of it off for yet more apartments, there is plenty of scope for this kind of development on the opposite bank of the shannon. The docklands regeneration project stretches all the way from the clarion hotel right down to the proposed tunnel crossing near the cement factory, the project also takes in the old greenpark racecourse and many brownfield sites on both sides of the dock road. I had a look at the masterplan drawn up by murrayolaoire and i was pretty dissapointed that very little high rise seems to be planned for the area,the majority of the buildings seem to be in or around 10 storeys, surely this would be an ideal area for the development of high density, high rise buildings along the lines of riverpoint and taller!

@Niall123 wrote:

Can’t see Offaly getting a 50,000 stadium. Their just isn’t the need. Ideally the GAA should build a 20,000 stadium, but with better facilities, with stuff like an all weather surface and flood lights. Would be a lot handier considering that Nolan Park in Kilkenny is currently being expaneded to 40,000.

In fairness i dont think there was ever plans to redevelop o connor park in tullamore to accomodate 50,000, the new stand is costing €5million and for a small county like Offaly thats a big financial burden, i dont think the rest of the ground is being touched for the moment, possibly in the next few years the other 3 sides will be modernised probably bringing the capacity up to 20/30,000. We’ve seen in the last few years or so that there has been huge interest from developers in GAA property in or near town centre’s, there’s talk of the county ground in newbridge, cusack park in mullingar and austin stack park in tralee being sold off, also the clare county board recieved a huge offer of €30 million for cusack park in ennis, if this were to go through clare would then relocate to a 45,000 capacity stadium with gym facilities etc on a site near the ennis bypass. To be fair though there is no way a 45,000 capacity ground is justified here, a properly covered 25,-30,000 capacity with floodlights etc would be a much more sound proposal. Limerick undertook a €12 million revamp of the Gaelic grounds 4 years ago bringing the capacity to 50,000 yet it hasnt been filled once yet(the woeful form of the county’s hurlers over the last 5 years hasnt helped), the 1980s mackey stand is the achillies heel of the stadium and a new stand is really needed but aparently a 2 tier structure would cost around €20 million, money which just isnt available, however floodlights will be installed there this summer. There has been a lot of talk recently about the gaa prioritising 2 stadiums in each province for development, although in munster there may be 3, a lot will depend on the long term future of pairc ui chaoimh!

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They must’ve been listening about the childers road, maybe i spoke too soon, unfortunately its only a plan at the moment and as the city council only received around €800,000 for roadworks in 2006, its definately not going to happen this year. There is ample space for widening between the parkway and the kilmallock roundabout, however the railway overbridge on the way to roxborough is a problem. When/if this scheme goes ahead the junction for the childers retail park should be removed, it should never have been allowed in the first place as its a serious hazard to traffic, an entrance from the old singland road side would be a much better option as there is already a junction here. The inner orbital routes are also long overdue, we’re never going to get all traffic out of the city centre and a dedicated route around the centre is the best option, hopefully this might accelerate to city centre pedestrianisation programme.

Limerick Post 4th february 2006

City transportation plan gets kick-start

By Marie Hobbins
A WIDENING of Childers Road, the setting up of an inner orbital route and the formulation of a city centre delivery strategy are just some of the measures that will soon be rolled out as part of a new comprehensive transport plan for the city.

At a specially convened seminar, hosted by Limerick City Council’s Transportation Strategic Policy Committee on Tuesday, key issues were identified and the way paved for a programme that will set in motion radical new initiatives to accommodate the increased traffic that will arise from a doubling of the city’s commercial usage.

With major new inner city development due to come on stream next year, there is an urgency in upgrading the city’s traffic management and transport infrastructure.

Tuesday’s meeting identified key issues and will lead on to the establishment of a Transport Forum that will involve the Garda Siochana, Limerick City and County Councils, Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann as well as representation from the Limerick Taxi Drivers Association.

With a pathway and cycle lane currently being established on Childers Road, it was considered opportune to also widen the road in view of the substantially increased traffic volume due to the recent opening of a number of major retail outlets in the area.

“We will formulate a city centre delivery strategy, with no deliveries allowed after 11am and may kick-start this on William Street and Parnell Street and with increased pedestrianisation of the city – William Street, Upper Thomas Street and O’Connell Street will follow, we have to direct traffic elsewhere, which calls for the establishment of an inner orbital route,” Cllr Leddin told the Limerick Post.

It is understood that the first of perhaps two orbital routes will run though Henry Street and on to Arthur’s Quay, to Charlotte Quay up to Gerard Griffin Street, down Parnell Street and on to Mallow Street.

Newly appointed director of services with Limerick City Council, Pat Drummy said he is optimistic that inner orbital routes can be established this year and that with the public consultation process now completed, the green routes are ready to be rolled out.

However the provision of a light rail system, opposition to the tolling of the new tunnel crossing, a dedicated Shannon-Limerick transport service, an increase in the strength of the garda traffic corps, more roundabouts, improved timing of traffic lights and an electronic parking system are other live issues on the immediate agenda.

Cllr Kieran O’Hanlon recommended a northern relief road from Annacotty to Knockalisheen, exiting at the Radisson SAS Hotel.

“The Government plans to build a motorway from Dublin to Annacotty but unless we have another relief road the articulated trucks travelling to Shannon and Clare will use the Dublin Road and Clare Street and proceed through Thomondgate,” he warned.

The councillor also called for the replacement of traffic lights at St Mary’s Church with a roundabout and also at the Childers road junction with Ballinacurra.

“I recommended at the seminar that the National Roads Authority be invited down to hear our concerns and plans when the Forum is set up,” he said.

Satisfied that the Council’s director of services now has a clear idea of how the Transportation Committee would like to progress their plans, Cllr Leddin said: “Mr Drummy will now work on putting a time frame on each of the projects and at our next meeting will put more meat on the bones.”

It is also envisaged to prepare and present a case for a more equitable share for Limerick of Transport Minister, Martin Cullen’s 31 billion euro Transport 21 programme.

@Maskhadov wrote:

I totally agree PDLL. Most other countries have tolls and its a great way of getting people out of the car and into public transport.

Ah yes, but you need to actually have a public transport system in the first place!

It seems that Limerick county council have given the go-ahead for parkes properties retail,commercial and leisure complex on the dublin road at what is known as the groody valley. The proposed scheme extends from the current parkway retail park all the way down to the groody river near singland motors. This is another one that claims to be “THE BIGGEST SHOPPING CENTRE IN MUNSTER”. Plans were first submitted this time last year, it includes a shopping complex, leisure centre, cinema, library and a public park.Judging by the scale of the development its going to put huge pressure on an already heavily congested area which already includes the university of limerick campus, the parkway sc and retail park and childers retail park, added to this a large retirement village has also been granted permission in the grounds of the castletroy park hotel 500 yards down the road! Included in the proposal is what is termed a “tunnelled access road” to the old N7, whatever they have in mind here its only going to mean yet another unwanted access point on what is becoming a pretty dangerous road, typical of limerick county councils attitude. And of course this whole development is located just outside the city councils jurisdiction literally yards from the boundary so the city wont recieve a penny yet it will have to deal with all the traffic problems generated by this scheme.

This is the application approved by the county council

Decision Description: construction of mixed use commercial and leisure development incorporating public park. Construction of 2 no. main anchor stores and 46 no. retail/commerical units; restaurants; foodcourt comprising of 8 no. separate outlets; family leisure-plex; public library; creche; administration; staff facililites; 10 screen cine-plex; surface and basement mulit-storey car parking; 2 no. service yards; 9 no. ESB substations, pumping station, signage, mast sign, landscaping and associated site and development works. Modifications to the public park permitted 04/883. Access via existing Parkway Retail Park and new tunneled access road onto the N7. An EIS has been submitted as part of this application.