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DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL says that the regeneration of the capital’s docklands area is about people – not just economic development.
Today, it welcomed An Bord Pleanála’s approval of the North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock Planning Scheme, which it said will facilitate fast-track planning for the Docklands Strategic Development Zone (SDZ).
This zone “is of significant economic and social importance to the city and state, keeping the focus on the social and economic regeneration of the Docklands”, said the council.
But it recognises it is about more than that, so it will actively pursue a community and social development agenda. It will also “seek to ensure that the Docklands area continues to develop as an exemplary model of good neighbourhoods and successful place making”.
Need for new offices
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisín Quinn said that there is an urgent need for new offices in the city centre.
“The Docklands area is highly attractive to international investors so the approval of the planning scheme should now lead to construction of new commercial developments,” he said.
The plan also prioritises residential development and the SDZ scheme provides for 50 per cent of the new development to be residential.
However, the Lord Mayor also warned that many of the sites are controlled by NAMA appointed receivers. He said that he welcomes the indications from NAMA that they will “play a pro-active role in entering joint ventures and releasing sites for development”.
But he added that it is key “that the government proceeds to legislate for the vacant sites levy recommended by my taskforce” to discourage short-term investors from ‘flipping’ sites.
Development
The remaining sites available for development in the North Lotts and Grand Canal Schemes equate to circa 22 Hectares, an area roughly equivalent in scale to the entire Custom House Docks / IFSC Area.
Under the SDZ, the floorspace to be delivered amounts to almost 2,600 residential units and almost 305,000 – 366,000 square metres of commercial floorspace. “This potential would deliver an additional residential population of almost 5,800 and employment of almost 23,000 people,” said the council.
The planning scheme for the Docklands SDZ aims to create “a vibrant living urban quarter and an economic cluster, capable of competing on an international level”.
The docklands area has the potential to support real economic recovery and provide for a critical mass of development, to foster investment and innovation and sustain the growth of key sectors, such as financial services and the services economy.
According to the council, the planning scheme provides a clear blueprint for development with a certainty of outcome for applicants.
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Hopefully anything new built will point upwards and won’t be the usual 5 story drivel as seen in the docklands.
If we’re going to create busy, friendly inner city neighbourhoods then we need to be building large family sized apartments with playgrounds, courtyards etc as per other European capitals.
And then use prime sites such as Grand Canal for 30+ high rise office, apartments as proposed during the Celtic Tiger.
I agree, I lived abroad for a bit and in a high density area. Made getting to work easier and getting the messages too. Also recycling is easier as its more carbon neutral involving less travel. Dublins too spread out, doing anything means getting into your car.just so long as we don’t start building new sink estates or tower hamlets type projects.
Don’t know why they can’t select an area (such as the one above) and build skyscrapers strictly within that area. Even Rome has it’s own area for such buildings.
At last we might get a right development in the right place. It’s all about ‘end use demand’ for developments. That’s what we got wrong before.
High density and high rise residential development is good and desirable. Concentration of population provides the necessary critical mass to enable economic provision of services. I live on the 7th floor of an apartment building.
That said, the inside track is a change in emphasis from residential to office. Office is now the preference and so the density of residential population will not be further increased, unfortunately.
If you check with the planners, they informally discourage residential at the moment and point to the better prospects of getting favourable office development approval.
Mixed is good. Office ghettos not so much so.
We need more fast track decisions in this country. Just look at Liberty Hall, the Childerns Hospital ect.
Martin
What’s a Childern?
Dick Rodgers, your pathetic correction should be written this way:
Martin, what is a ‘Childern’?
As his family are deeply involved with property companies it would be amazing if he said anything else. Labour never did get a socialist message across – they are capitalists.
During the Lockout it was noted that the biggest slum landlords were city councillors and not a lot has changed. How many houses do the Quinn families own or their companies own? Labours way.
DCC conducted a massive survey last year on what the people of Dublin wanted asking the public in the area. I wonder how the plan for more office space fits in with they results of that?
Still vacant office space in IFSC house and a lot of vacant space on Barrow street. There will be more space on Grand canal when FB move between buildings
U2 towers and the tower on the opposite side of the Liffey should be the first 2 buildings that get built. They’ll set the trend
They SAY they want residential this and that like they said last time. Last time they didn’t keep to that promise.
Good to see a bit more sense and less of the ego projects – no crazy towers or mini manhattans
What’s crazy about towers?
A proven principle of urban planning is that high density habitation is necessary to fund and justify high quality urban services. Something we’ve never understood.
Dublin City Centre should be a vibrant, active, modern and safe city; suitable for family or long-term living; with abundant services and life by day and by night. This is only possible if large numbers are encouraged to move in to the centre by the provision of quality community services (transport, employment, recreation, policing, schooling). This requires a dense population of tax payers to fund, use and operate the infrastructure. Let’s leave our ignorance in the past and move in to the 21st century.
Dublin will never keep up on an international level with other cities if we continue this policy of throwing up dozens of 4-5 story buildings in the city centre when the same amount of floor space can be compacted into several high-rise buildings with a fraction of the footprint size. Nobody is looking for a mini-Manhattan, in the same way that nobody is expecting the next Empire State Building to be built in the Docklands, ‘high-rise’ does not mean skyscrapers. People are looking for sustainable and future-proofed city planning and that can only be achieved with high density high-rise development.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for high denity development. Lest we forget what crazy ideas were proposed not too long ago.
http://thequietus.com/articles/00659-u2-tower-crumbles
Complete ego projects that ignored the community around them an were built on unsustainable economic principals. A semi-state agency competing with developers purely to see who could go higher for the sake of it.
You are right – Dublin should be vibrant and active. I don;t think this would have been achieved in previous schemes – this SDZ will hopefully out the community at its heart – it has been ignored and neglected for too long.
Agree, but lets get the basics of community right. Lets start with some decent schools – none built in the Docklands despite an increase in population. Lets look at decent public space – again, distinctly lacking. North Wall – ignored for years and now within the new plan.
Previous high rise plans in the Docklands were based on the principal of who could go higher without consideration for much else. Based on crazy economics and assuming people would queue up to spend multi millions euros on apartments. Totally ignoring the local community and ordinary people who should be encouraged to work, live and play in this area.
have your say