We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
CULTURAL GROUPS IN Dublin’s Docklands claim that they’re being forced from their homes by Nama’s plans to develop office space in the docks.
Mabos, a shared cultural and artistic space on Hanover Quay, packed up this week after failing to secure a lease extension on a property that is to be developed as office space by a body in which Nama has a shareholding.
Director Dave Smith says that the move throws Nama’s commitments to retain the character of the area into doubt. The Docklands attracted several artistic bodies and cultural entrepreneurs during the downturn.
“Ultimately the result of it will be seen when you have nothing but one-dimensional office space.”
Read: Pathway to ‘Dublin’s Canary Wharf’ – Nama’s €3 billion property play
The company behind the planing application for the Mabos building is Targeted Investment Opportunities (TIO).
TIO in turn runs the South Docks Fund, a joint venture between Nama, Oaktree Asset Management and prominent domestic property developer Bennett Construction. Nama is a 16.5% shareholder in TIO.
The objective of the fund, according to Michael Noonan, is to “generate capital growth over the longer term by developing, managing and realising property assets on development sites in the Dublin Docklands”.
TIO landed planning permission in April to develop a 4,500 square metre office block on the Mabos site in the Docklands.
A letter was issued shortly afterwards informing Mabos that it must vacate the premises, a process that was completed yesterday.
Opinion: Is the effort to ‘revive the property market’ pushing creative groups out of the Docklands?
When asked about the issue, Nama said that while it is a minority investor in TIO, it does not control or manage the entity or the property.
Cultural commitment
Nama announced major development plans for the Docklands last week, with Noonan saying that the area will be transformed into ‘Ireland’s Canary Wharf’ under the agency’s stewardship.
However, many in the Docklands fear that the commitment to retain cultural outlets in won’t be adhered to.
Colin Harris is a neighbour of Mabos – he runs Surfdock, a watersports centre with activities in Grand Canal Dock.
“All these things have developed as social amenities. They managed to spring up in the downtime, and as things get better they could be trampled on.”
Harris is afraid that his company, which currently operates out of portacabins in the Docklands, could fall by the wayside.
They might want to, and they may aspire to these things, but there’s no way of enforcing it.
“There’s no security for us now. You try to find out if there is something there, but nobody cares.”
Smith agrees: “Everyone is scrapping for survival but it’s tough when you’re against faceless power on that level.”
The commitment to encourage artistic and cultural presences in The Docklands will hinge on what people in power want, he argues.
“You’ve got people in the City Council who are really committed to it, but they don’t have power because they don’t own the land.”
Harris says that it may not be in the nature of Nama to be concerned with the cultural character of the Docklands.
Nama’s remit is to generate as much of a return as it can with no recourse to social provision. There’s nothing in the DNA of Nama for that.
Social cost
The upshot of evicting bodies like Mabos, Smith says, is to dismantle the work they have done in what he describes as a “diverse and complicated neighbourhood”, where corporate wealth exists alongside areas of social deprivation.
Barbecues, clean up days and public art exhibitions organised by Mabos helped bring the professional and residential communities together, he says.
“Underlying the whole project was the social initiative linking neighbours and neighbourhoods.”
There’s a darkness now in this place, and it has the potential to be something so special and so unique.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
You hardly expect culture to get in the way of greed, do you ? Looks like the Celtic tiger is being resurrected. What an awful pity just as a little humanity was slowly being reintroduced.
You only need to look across to the IFSC to see how sterile a place can get after business hours. Amenities such as the watersports and others around Grand Canal Dock make it an environment that people want to go to.
It will end up as sterile as Canary Wharf in London while the usual suspects trouser fat brown envelopes as usual!
NAMA is a minority investor, at 16.5% shareholding, with no responsibility for the development.
Eerily reminiscent of the Docklands Authority and the Glass Bottle site.
Should the project go belly up I wonder who will be left carrying the can and footing the bills?
Muggins again no doubt.
Dublin 8 around new market square and the liberties is becoming Dublin’s new trendy small business area. Much cheaper rents.
Very creative and cultural places opening all the time
Just to clarify Mabos position here, this is not a rage against the machine. It is simply a difference of opinion. NAMA have a very clear remit and to be fair are fulfilling that remit.
What differentiated Mabos from other entities was that it had a wider criteria for assessment of success than just financial gain e.g. quality & quantity of creative output, spectrum of education/social activities, level of engagement etc etc.
In the current climate what constitutes “real development” is exclusively driven by monetary gain.
Our position is simply that we feel a wider criteria for “real development” should be considered.
We believe this small shift in values could have a transformational impact on how our community and cityscape develops.
We have witnessed a soulless expansion of our city once before, it’s not something we need to experience again.
A brave new world…maybe not. But definitely a more fun, engaging and fulfilling place to live your life :)
It will end up as sterile as Canary Wharf in London while the usual suspects trouser fat brown envelopes as usual!
I used to travel all the way from Blanch to the Docklands just to hang out in Mabos, some of my best memories are playing ping-pong and training parkour there :)
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE VIBE !!
This is awful news. Real culture from right in the heart of Dublin to lost to more office space. Can we not try fill the empty offices and business parks across the country first?? Clowns.
Scary to see those powers make decisions over peoples heads. I wonder if there was/is even a level playing field between the communities in the grand canal area and those that ultimately retain the power to just decide what this area should look like. The problem is that nama is not accountable to anyone in the actual community or in fact to any ordinary citizen in Dublin and hence can literally do whatever it wants. The problem is then that there is no incentive for those in power to evaluate and work out alternatives that may be able to achieve multiple goals. This stuff is actually possible, if you care! So the better way to do this would be to understand all needs, value all of them and to work out an option that will benefit everyone with minimal impact on cultural goods. I dont need a second Frankfurt with a space that clears out after 6pm, wouldn’t make for a great part of the city.
The Minister for Finance said, last week, that NAMA’s specific objective should be to create Dublin’s equivalent to Canary Wharf in the Docklands
have your say