Tuborg

Just a few updates on developments!..

Demolition work started on the savoy complex last week,work is initially concentrated on the henry street side,a number of shop units and the old bedford row maternity hospital will be demolished very soon,the new development of a hotel and 14 shop units looks pretty exciting and will give the area a new lease of life, a facelift for the old central theatre across the street is due to start very shortly, the building is to be stripped and the old methodist chapel on the site is to be restored.This street is to be pedestrianised and work is due to start in the next few weeks, finally the city centre plan is gathering pace!. Meanwhile the two infill buildings on o connell street that have baffled people for years are no more, the 2 storey buildings that looked so out of proportion are gone and are being replaced with 2 four storey ovr basement georgian style buildings to fit the character of the area, allegedly the reason for the gap in the street was for the horse drawn coaches to access the rear of the buildings!,There are also rumours that a number of tenants on patrick street are in negotiations with a developer with a view to purchasing their premises, it is thought that a large retail group has major plans for the area!

I think this is one of the more ridiculous applications to come before the council, castletroy shopping centre has been a major flop since it opened 4 years ago, it still has a good few vacant units and i’ve been in there loads of times as i live only a short walk away when im in college and the place is always unbelievably quiet, if it wasnt for superquinn it would have closed by now!, i suppose they’re banking on the cinema to bring in the crowds. Its obvious that developers are more willing to take a chance in the suburbs than the city centre, again because the rates are much too high and we all know who’s fault this is!, if this goes ahead it will mean 3 shopping centres around the city being extended and at least 2 more major ones in the pipeline, i think we really need to fastrack some of the city centre proposals, bedford row redevelopment, city centre pedestrianisation etc.

As there are so many premises up for sale/lease in william street it means an excellent opportunity to give the street back its status as one of the best shopping streets in town as it was always considered in the past, quality retailers should be sought, no point replacing crap with even more crap!..

Its interesting to note that despite all the talk about the docklands redevelopment it seems to be very much full steam ahead for the park canal restoration,i thought this would be put on the back burner for a while but listening to an interview with the new mayor, a new masterplan has been published for the area between lock quay and the university of limerick,and about time too, this area has huge potential,the area immediately south of lock quay is a fairly prominent and visible area as one travels on the old dublin road. It is in serious need of redevelopment especially as many new buildings(such as the barringtons development) sprung up in recent years,this area rather undermines these improvements

EXTRACTS FROM PRESS RELEASE

The Park Canal was constructed in 1757-1758 to transport goods to and from Limerick City. The canal system was invaluable in the transport of heavy goods, such as turf, potatoes, coal and, in particular, Guinness. But by 1929, with modernisation of transport and the building of the electricity generation station at Ardnacrusha, the canal had become obsolete and fell into dilapidation.
The majority of structures and buildings along the canal are located between Lock Quay and Park Bridge. To the north side of Lock Quay there are two derelict buildings in a prominent location with potential for renovation to compatible uses. The lock gates were replaced recently as part of the Limerick Main Drainage Project. A terrace of partly-dilapidated buildings to the south bank of the canal have potential for redevelopment. Further east the old Guinness warehouses are derelict and subject to a demolition order.

Generally it is proposed that improvement works are concentrated at the two main focal points of Lock Quay and Park Bridge, and along the southern bank of the canal. It is envisaged that the northern bank would retain its informal character, and with the addition of fishing platforms, while the southern bank would accommodate a continuous cycleway, improved surfaces, lighting and street furniture. The first phase of the Canal Restoration Project will allow its banks to be opened up for leisure and amenity purposes, while providing the catalyst for a variety of potential canalside development projects, such as a sports museum, craft shops, some residential, cafes and parks. Other initiatives should include the introduction of facilities for watercraft, and the creation of canal bank walks and cycling paths.

Phase 2 of the project would include:

Renovation of the two buildings to the north side of Lock Quay (e.g. for refreshment and/or interpretation uses);
Redevelopment of the terraced buildings to the south side of the canal by Lock Quay;
Redevelopment of the Guinness Building;
Redevelopment of land on south side of canal between the proposed Corbally Link Road and Park Road;
Possible provision of public car park to southwest of Park Bridge to serve canal users;
Possible redevelopment of land to the south of Canal Bank, between Park Road and Plassey Walk;
Creation of a canal basin between Park Bridge and the railway bridge providing berthing and related facilities

i’ve found some good detailed plans of the area but they’re too big to be posted as this site has a 290kb limit or something 😡

This is the application for the area in upper henry street behind the old council offices,this site is crrently occupied by some fairly decrepid buildings and one or 2 have been derelict for around 15 years!, one of these buildings contains the hiv/aids mural,(i think it was a take off of the us army recruitment posters,with uncle sam pointing his finger) that used to freak me out when i was younger!

Demolition of sheds and structures at 23 Henry St.; Demolition of 24 Henry St. and the sheds and extensions to the rear; Demolition of the sheds and structures to the rear of 76-78 O’Connell St.; Demolition of a boundary wall and two toilet and stair returns to the rear of 79-83 O’Connell St. Construction of a pedestrian access and ancillary maintenance works to the archway at Hartstonge St. Excavation and construction of a basement car park on the site, to include the widening of Savins Lane and the provision of a through road from Savins Lane to Hartstonge St. via the Archway, Hartstonge St., a Protected Structure. Construction of a single six storey building fronting 23/24 Henry St. with 44 apartments (2 one bedroom and 42 two bedroom), ground floor and basement retail and ground floor office use. Construction of a single six storey building to the rear of 76-83 O’Connell St., with 74 apartments (6 one bedroom & 66 two bedroom & 2 three

And this is for the site immediately next door,

for the demolition of the existing buildings, out-buildings and structures at the above addresses, the construction of a basement car park including a retail storage area and the construction of a sixth storey building over to include four retail shops at ground level including all associated ancillary accommodation, first floor suite with 24 apartments over including all associated site works and site development works. This proposal is located in an architectural conservation area and no. 24, 25 and 26 Henry St. are Protected Structures.

Thankfully roches stores havent got permission to retain the liddy streets buildings for storage,if the city council were any good theyd totally reject it and tell roches they’re in breach of the city centre development plan although then again who would have any confidence in them hopeless shower!..

I wouldnt be too sympathetic towards the savoy, to be honest even though it was basically rebuilt in the late 80s it was never really finished to a high standard, to be honest i always hated it with its dull facade and horrible roof,the blank wall facing on to henry street just topped it off. Hopefully demolition will start in the next few weeks cos i think its replacement could be quite exciting. Meanwhile I’ve found a map of the boundary proposal and i think its pretty reasonable, the present situation is a pure joke, limerick city and its suburbs has a total population of around 100 or 110,000 yet only 52,000 live inside the city bounds!, castletroy has a population of 25,000 with a similar number living in raheen/dooradoyle and its plain to see how much development has taken place there in the last 10 years, a huge complex is to be built in castletroy, a similar one at coonagh cross and at the moment the crescent are extending again, this will bring its size up to around 100 units. All of this is bleeding the city dry, o connell st needs a serious revamp to bring it back to the prosperous street it was 40,50 years ago, it looks better in them old photos i posted than it does now!, there are a lot of trashy shop on the street at the moment, magic shops,tacky cheap shops and fast food outlets, a proper strategy needs to be put in place now. William street is also in need of attention, it has serious potential, we should get rid of the bus stops on the street and also the trailer trash that always seem to hang around outside the sports shops. Also I think it would help enormously if arthurs quay park was sold off for development, at the moment it is underused and only a loitering area for scumbags, it would certainly add a nice new quarter to the city centre.

I’ll try and find out some more about the docklands, as far as i know the plans are fairly wide ranging,shops,apartments,museum(s),financial services centre etc.

ps I think the actual map is a bit old but the proposed extension is correct

Munchins house actually looks worse in them photos than id ever imagined,never gave it a second glance usually because of its sheer ugliness,i think this is a classic example of how not to build an office block, kinda looks like the kgb headquarters,it has that kind of look to it!. Judging by the digital image of riverpoint it looks like the second phase of riverpoint which replaces munchins house will be around 14 storeys(this will be the apartment block),its slightly taller than munchins. The whole project includes 25,000 sq ft of office space,100 apartments, 8,000 sq ft of retail,restaurants and bars facing the river, a leisure centre and 225 underground car parking spaces. As for the savoy ,i saw a plan of it in the local press,its going to be quite a tall structure,parts of it are twice the size of the present savoy complex,the hotel will be facing onto henry street and the majority of the retail units will be facing onto bedford row,these retail units will be fairly exclusive offering space over 4 floors,obviously aiming at the higher end of the market, i’ll try and find some photos of the plans as well as the plans for the former jurys site on the ennis road. I suppose the part of henry street that is looking a bit left out is the esb site,maybe we’ll see some action there soon enough, there are big plans for the top end of the street aswell,the area at the back of the old council offices is due for redevelopment very soon,i’ll try and dig out the plans for that also.

Thats newtown house dave,it was completed last summer,you can see riverpoint in the early stages of construction behind it!

Its true a lot of new developments popping up in limerick(and indeed countrywide) lack a bit of ambition,its a real pity,most of the new structures tend to be quite boring,some try to use striking colours to distract from their banality,-never really works,unfortunately we’re also seeing the use of cheaper materials become more and more common.I’ve been pleasantly surprised though by the riverpoint building i must say,its turned out better than i imagined,the reflective glass facade makes it look quite imposing,according to the limerick leader it will be completed in the next month and get this all but one of the floors have been bought up,i felt it would be a huge gamble, but its obviously paid off,i wonder how many chose to relocate because of its landmark status.Anyway 1 thing we can say for sure is that limerick is almost unrecognisable from the city that was basically falling apart in the mid to late eighties!, theres actually a funny story of a planner from bilbao who was advising the city council on redevelopment plans in the early eighties, he commented that limerick seemed to have suffered a lot of damage during the war!..

Ya i mean the more you look at those buildings,the more angry you get,how could these buildings(especially the cannocks one) be allowed to be pulled down,it was an absolute disgrace,i think that in cannocks case it was decided that it would be cheaper to demolish it and build a new one in its place than to restore the original,how tragic when you consider the heap of s**t that was built in its place.I have a few more photos aswell(found em on some site couple of years ago,cant remember which one!).Another fine building to be lost was the old todds store,it was destroyed by a huge fire in 1959,apparently a huge section of o connell street and william street were at risk before it was finally brought under control,now we know why this section of o connell and wiliam street is so shabby,horrible 60s architecture,roches stores was also destroyed by a fire in 1948.Its such a pity that so much of o connell street was lost,imagine if all those buildings were still intact now!,how good would this part of the city centre look today!,o connell street has really gone down the pan in recent years and the city council seem to be taking for ages to do anything about it,brown thomas should at least be made do something with the front of their building,its unbelievably ugly.Hopefully the new department store on the george site will have some character.

I’ve included another pic of o connell street,again not sure about the date,the quality isnt great but then again it is at least 50 years old,the second is an old postcard,it gives a good idea of what todds looked like!.

I dunno dave,isnt newtown house the one behind the riverpoint building?

I think the problem with the parkway roundabout is the fact that it is a very tricky site with little or no scope for major improvements,as it is bordered on all sides by developments such as the parkway sc,the parkway retail park and numerous houses,its obvious that any worthwhile improvements would mean major upheaval in the area,surely some of the smaller buildings on the rebogue road side would have to be demolished,even if the unthinkable happened and a flyover was to be built,it would mean the realignment of at least half a kilometre of the dublin road to allow it to pass over the present junction and i just wonder how costly that would be.I dont think we’ll see the real benefit of the southern ring until the last section and the tunnel are built,if we’re lucky work will start late in the year,although early 2006 is a more realistic date.

just on another note i came across some old pictures of limerick lately and a very interesting building caught my eye,i think it was called cannocks,i know that this is where penneys is now,.Why was this building demolished?,does anyone have any ideas,what a shame that this building was lost,it seems a really beautiful building,am i right in thinking the building beside it is the present day roches stores?,Im fairly young so im only familiar with penneys current monstrosity,what a terrible shame this building isnt around now,it would really add to the city centres character,i also have an old photo of o connell street before todds fire,this was another fine building and when you see what they replaced it with it just makes it all the sadder!

i think this picture was taken in the 1940s