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FROM PETITIONS ABOUT ‘greedy developers’ to complaints over architectural merit, a plan to redevelop a once-overlooked quarter of the Liberties has locals drawing battle lines.
In recent years, there has been a concerted effort to promote investment in the city’s inner south-west, with projects from new student accommodation blocks, hotels and several whiskey distilleries all unveiled.
In July, three separate planning requests were sent to Dublin City Council to redevelop lands facing Newmarket Square.
The plans, submitted by Newmarket Partnership, a company set up by Robin Simpson and Martin Creedon, involve wholesale changes in the area.
The old structures would make way for several new buildings of up to six stories comprising offices, a hotel, apartments and a micro-brewery.
The plans come as the capital heaves at the seams with acute housing and hotel accommodation shortages, and rapidly rising office rents fuelled by an appetite for space for growing businesses.
When the plans were announced, the developers – who declined to be interviewed by Fora - were keen to point out how the area has “suffered significant neglect in recent decades”.
“Newmarket Square has witnessed a rebirth thanks to the Teeling distillery and some outdoor markets but we believe now is the time to transform the old enterprise centre into a residential and retail hub, with an iconic hotel and other attractions which will encourage people to not alone visit but reside in the heart of Dublin.”
Objections
The council’s Liberties local area plan makes clear in its overarching guidelines what is intended for the neighbourhood, which retains some of the city’s gruff, old-world charm.
“Anything built within the Liberties should be distinctly Dublin,” the guidelines state – and many stakeholders don’t believe the new development fits that criteria.
One petition, set up anonymously, has over 3,000 signatories calling to ”save Newmarket Square from greedy developers”.
There have also been over 30 third-party observations sent to the council by Liberties residents and businesses, the majority of which object to some aspect of the planned new scheme.
This week, Dublin City Council said it had “concerns” about the new development, which it was not sure would “contribute positively” to the wider Liberties area. It requested more information before making a decision on the application.
Dublin’s answer to Soho
A lot of the complaints centred on the belief that the new buildings would clash with the area’s existing character.
Architect George Boyle, who designed the nearby Teeling Whiskey Distillery, says she is not against developing Newmarket Square but labelled the look of the new buildings “insipid”.
“We felt the recession has saved the Liberties from this generic development,” says Boyle, who also founded the formerly Liberties-based Fumbally Exchange.
She says she had “electrifying” conversations with Creedon about how the area should be Dublin’s answer to Soho, and he seemed interested in the concept.
“We wanted to weave in the historic industrial fabric of the area. That kind of industrial chic, if properly cultivated, can be turned into a great economic brand. This is the thing developers miss when they’re looking at the euro signs and the bottom line.
“Like the Meatpacking District in New York and Soho in London, you want it to have that kind of brand. These are sought after areas in the city to live in and with design thinking we can do that.”
Rising rents
Meanwhile, the project has many local businesses wondering if they have a future in a redeveloped Newmarket Square.
Low rents during the recession attracted traders looking to pitch a stall, but those cut-price rates are unlikely to survive a major overhaul of the area.
Several managers of local markets were quick to distance themselves from any campaign labelling the developers as ‘greedy’ for wanting to build in the neighbourhood. They are all hopeful they can negotiate a deal to stay.
Sam Toland, secretary of the Dublin Food Co-op board, says the area has been “long overdue for regeneration” and it is quite “dilapidated” in parts.
But there is no guarantee the three-decades-old group, which moved to the area in 2007, will keep its place in Newmarket post-development, and it’s already looking into possible new homes.
Rents for the site have also crept back up in recent years after the landlords dropped their prices during the recession.
Nevertheless, the Newmarket Partnership says rents remain “significantly below market norms” – at only €8 per square foot, compared to €40 elsewhere.
A new home
A second petition, titled ”save the Dublin Flea Market” was created by the market’s organisers, and has attracted around 2,500 supporters.
The developers say there is a provision in the development plans for more market space, but it is not guaranteed this component will be reserved for existing market-holders.
Sharon Greene, co-organiser of the Dublin Flea Market, says the future of the market is up in the air.
“We would love to call Newmarket our home. We bring a lot of footfall to the area and we think we have a harmonious relationship.
“We’re not angry, we’re not objecting, we knew it would be developed. It was an underused part of the city. I appreciate the years we’ve gotten, but times change and you have to move with them.”
Nadia Cassidy, the organiser of the Fusion Sundays market, says she is already looking for a different space and is not optimistic about remaining in the Newmarket area.
“The city is going to be turning into this tourist hotspot with all the creatives being pushed to the side for hotels and breweries to come in.”
Following Teelings’ example
The consensus, even among many the objections, is that local businesses and markets are not anti-development – but they also want to be part of Newmarket Square’s future.
Boyle says the developers could learn a lesson from the manner in which the Teeling distillery’s owners has slotted into the neighbourhood.
“How the Teelings have approached settling into the community and becoming part of the landscape is a real exemplar,” says Boyle. “They looked at using the local materials and idioms of the area.
“They used local stone, timber and talked to all the people who were active in the area. They also made a market and opened a café that has its door open to anyone.”
She adds that she has a lot of respect for the architects involved and that Creedon’s “heart is in the right place”, but the current design is just not the right fit for the area.
“The new plans are brave and aspirational, but a lot of it looks very speculative.”
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
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Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always.
@Darragh Mcnamara: Thr IRA were always unlucky. Their violence set the clock for a united Ireland back by generations. In the 1970’s they believed unity was just around the corner. They still believe it. Such is their delusion,
@Frank: Frank that incident brought the Torys to the table read up Peter Taylor which now we actually have Peace
@Frank: the torys back then were still trying to make the world england, these days they’re just trying to make england england .
@Darragh Mcnamara: are you attempting to suggest that provisional Ira bombed the government to bring them to the negotiation table? Really?
@Thom Hunter: after the hunger strikes there was never going to be negotiation with Thatcher, channels were only opened after the torys voted her out? If she had been killed, channels could gave been opened sooner?
@brian o’leary: so you don’t think it would have created an even bigger mess to be sorted out?
It is on record from men such as Darkie Hughes, that Sinn Fein allowed the ‘hunger strikers’ to die, in order to force Thatcher to concede to their demands. Like all good governments should do, she refused to deal with terrorists.
I obviously have a completely different view of that period of history, but whatever tilts your Mercury Switch I guess fella.
@Frank: Leo and Simon are delusional. Also, they both have jumped on the United Ireland train in the last few years.
@Darragh Mcnamara: The British government negotiated a power-sharing agreement in 1973, which was rejected by hardline unionists and republicans. The IRA wanted a united Ireland or nothing, and ended up getting nothing. All its killing and maiming was in vain.
@Brendan O’Brien: At that point in time there was nothing in it for Adams, Paisley or McGuinness. Later on they were guaranteed a job for life, as a MLA with pension.
@Thom Hunter: my point was, that while we can only surmise what would have happened if she had been killed we KNOW that peace through dealing with Sein Fein and The IRA only really started after she was gone?
Sein Fein didn’t allow the hunger strikers to die, it was their own family’s that had that power to intervene , which is what eventually happened to stop the strike . Maybe you ment encouraged? argue that if you want, but my understanding is that it was a prisoner lead protest, but I’m sure SF tried to use it to their advantage, like all good political parties should do.?
@brian o’leary: The British government met with IRA leaders including Adams in the early 1970s. If the IRA had been realistic and pragmatic, peace could have been achieved much sooner. But it only wanted the politically impossible (a united Ireland), and wouldn’t compromise.
@Brendan so there were peace negotiations before and after Thatcher, but none during here reign?
Wasn’t the Sunningdale compromise attempt brought down by a unionist strike and the British governments reluctance to use force them…. the unionists that is, not the Nationalists of course ?
@brian o’leary: force against them.
@Thom Hunter: Dublin and Monaghan bombings biggest death toll in the troubles caused by British state forces should read up on it you’d be amazed
@Brendan O’Brien: Dublin and Monaghan bombings by British state forces should read up on it you’d be amazed
@Frank: For fifty years the Irish government sat on it’s hands, while people in the north of Ireland were treated as second-class citizens in their own country because of their religion. That may have been a satisfactory situation for you, but it was not for the northern Catholics!
@Darragh Mcnamara: I have read about it, from many sources. Those bombs, hahaha wise up. We dealt with bombings on a DAILY basis. Few car bombs later and you want the world to stop.
This was an everyday experience for us. Carnage. Shameful stuff. Murdering civilians daily. F.o. with your terrorist sympathies fella.
@Frank: are you on crack
@Vincent Alexander: do you have any idea about what went on in the north?
Feckin southerners you are some joke
@Brendan O’Brien: Sunnindale was the same as what Scotland has today ,a complete waste of time
@Brendan O’Brien: incorrect,it asked for the Brit army to withdraw and for the human rights of Catholics to be respected.
@brian o’leary: you must be joking.
Thatcher a truly horrible person.
@Paddy Ryan: and therefore must be murdered? Alternatively, vote her out or drop her from the party. And the IRA, and later SF. horrible people. But should they be murdered?
@Paddy Ryan: Yeah, she was so horrible she won three elections with ease. She’s probably the greatest politician ever and was as tough as they come. Even some of the IRA boys said they would have loved her on their side.
@Alan: Like Suddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden
@Alan: did I say she must be murdered, no. She was a truly awful person, look how she treated the coal miners, she cared absolutely nothing about the British people. If people stood up to her they were crushed. A bully
@Paddy Ryan: the IRA were truly horrible people.
@Alan Kennedy: like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
@Paddy Ryan: the IRA were truly awful people, and so were the NUM. They were bullies.
6 months previously in March 1984 a British State agent attempted to assassinate Gerry Adams in Belfast by shooting him 3 times.
@Matt Rogers: Gerry was never in the Ra sure. What is your point?
@Matt Rogers: Can you stop! Have you not noticed it’s anti IRA/Sinn Fein on the Journal, you’re not allowed speak the truth of the troubles being started previously by a blood thirsty, land grabbing empire, the IRA are the only ones who did anything bad in the eyes of our west Brit masters, nobody else!!
@Thom Hunter: He was trying to stop the war! Brits didn’t like that!
@Matt Rogers: John Gregg was a loyalist paramilitary, not a brit agent.
@Alan Kennedy: Catch yourself on. Fecking clown week or something here?
Horrible war replaces talk and the Russian bombs that are still killing in Ukraine now only on the inside pages. Random missiles raining on Israel for years ignored by white collar UN and media. Reaction to long term violence is even more violent rage response.
@thomas molloy: Them stones never land thanks to the American iron dome!
@thomas molloy:
Find it insane that people like you exist.
Those “random missiles” have done a lot of damage eh , wonder why oh why these countries have an issue with Poor little Israel. Funny that you try and swing it that Ukraine AND Israel are the oppressed in those situations. Insane is actually too soft a word
@Alan Kennedy: And the bomb did not get “Let them die Thatcher”. Israel defending itself but living in fear?
RIP Maggie, you’ll never walk again
Alone
@Finian McG: a silly comment as Liverpool hated her.
Very close to whacking thatcher but wasn’t meant to be.
@Buster Lawless: in a way, it is a shame they missed. There would have been absolutely no hiding place for the terrorist filth if they had have murdered, not ‘whacked’ her. No amount of hiding behind the public would have saved them. So yes, it is indeed a shame they missed her. Could have had a few more ‘patriot dead’ to commemorate.
@Buster Lawless: like they say the devil looks after his own.
@Thom Hunter: no it isnt a shame they missed. Murder is always wrong. Just like invading other peoples lands and treating the natives like dogs#*t is wrong
@Thom Hunter: a bigger bomb was required although it was only the blast trajectory that saved her bacon.
@Fergus Peter Smyth: born and bred in Belfast mate. Never invaded anyone. Ever. What is your point?
@Buster Lawless: hopefully they use the right size. When it’s your turn.
Shameless
@Thom Hunter: not you obviously.
Your ancestors though. Again not your fault, but historic actions have consequences to the present day
@Fergus Peter Smyth: OK Mr ‘Smyth’
You sound like you are of Irish decent right enough. From what part of the island did the Smyths originate?
We came home after the plantations, I will assume that is what you mean. My maternal line are Shannon’s mate. Probably more Irish than your familial line sunshine.
So please take your attempt at some sort of racial supremacy and put it where the sun will never shine (not under the stairs btw).
Smyth. Irish. Hahahahahahahaha
@Thom Hunter: Northern Ireland would’ve ended up like Gaza.
@Alan Ely: that would explain why the IRA were never eliminated.
Did you hear about Norman Tebbit? – A hotel fell on his head.
You can’t kill a bad egg!
@Alan Kennedy: hence why you couldn’t kill off the IRA!
A UK friend of mine read that book and said it was the best book they ever read.
Read that book, would highly recommend.
@Alan Kennedy: Iron Dome is an Israeli invention.
@Andrew Harrington: It was jointly developed with US companies also.
@Andrew Harrington: The illogical pro Hamas murderers in Ireland is an extension of anti U.S. phenomenon
@thomas molloy: The illogical pro IOF murderers stance in Ireland is an extension of a Pro US, Pro war phenomenon. Scxmbag
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