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PHIBSBOROUGH IS A BUSY, busy area, with a strong sense of community.
But for years it has been lacking amenities that those who live there say would make life so much easier for them.
Now determined locals have joined forces to create a plan to make life better for everyone in Phibsborough.
“It has really been seven years in the making,” said Marian Fitzpatrick, one of the organisers of the group Phizzfest Reimagining Phibsborough, which came out of the annual Phizzfest arts festival.
It was set up as a direct response to the shelving of the local area plan (LAP) for the area. Locals looked at the situation in Phibsborough and realised “the one thing we have going here is our social capital”, said Fitzpatrick.
We want our village back – we want a living village, not just a place that people from Longford and Cavan can drive through at speed.
The festival helped reinvigorate the area’s arts community – despite the lack of a community space, let alone an art space. Then a 2014 project by local artist Dorothy Smith called Put Yourself in The Picture asked people to visualise what areas they would like to see transformed in Phibsborough.
Out of that came Remagining Phibsborough, which has now held a design review in association with the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI).
That project has reached its final stage – phase three – with the completed designs from seven experts (architects, urban designers, planners and transport experts) being shown at a public meeting. The local Byrne family are one of the private sponsors of the initiative.
The review focuses mainly on Phibsborough Shopping Centre and its public realm, and Dalymount Park and its public realm: Doyles Corner, Connacht Street Junction and up to the dangerous footpath on Cross Guns Bridge.
Proposals that came out of the process include:
Other proposals look at better use of green spaces, lanes and vacant spaces; and amenities for children and older people.
A process of discovery
Part of the review involved design analytics, where the locals “found out things we didn’t know before”, said Fitzpatrick.
“We found out Phibsborough had the lowest car ownership in the country, yet we are besieged by traffic in a daily basis,” she said. “Traffic is the thing that stops you feeling safe in your own village. We started the campaign because you can’t cross the road in Phibsborough.”
Part of the review also asked people what they would like to be able to buy in Phibsborough – there’s no butcher’s there, said Fitzpatrick, and you’ve to go into Dublin city if you want to buy a book or a pair of tights.
But there were things that came out of [the suggestions] and the overwhelming one was just to be able to feel safe.
People aren’t looking for Olympic swimming pools – they’re looking for a place where they can sit and talk to a friend. The opening of a small number of new businesses – a coffee shop, a gastropub – has helped to give a new boost to the area.
All of that information is being fed back to the new owners of Phibsborough shopping centre, which like Dalymount Park (owned by Dublin City Council) is scheduled to be improved.
Ralph Bingham, who is part of the design review, is with MOLA Architecture and lives in Phibsborough.
“Hopefully they will put some badly needed investment in the shopping centre,” said Bingham. “Part of the problem is the shopping centre was built in the 60s and there’s been very little investment since then, it’s been a steady spiral of decline.”
He loves Phibsborough. “There’s great community spirit, really good residential housing stock, some very good streets, very good communities, but it’s really let down by the public realm. It’s been sacrificed. The village itself has been sacrificed by the fact two major roads intersect there.”
Pedestrians in particular find Doyle’s corner bad. “It splits the community in four because people find it difficult to cross,” said Bingham. “If you look at the crossroads the two major buildings on the crossroads are derelict. They are fine architectural buildings but nobody seems to be able to make it commercially viable because there is not free-flowing pedestrian movement at the junction.”
Noise pollution, air pollution and the dangerous nature of traffic in the area make it a very difficult and hostile environment for the public realm. I think businesses find it hard to survive in the area. And most of the people in my area they shop in Cabra or shop in Fingal.
The next steps for Reimagining Phibsborough involve lobbying councillors on the issue, and continuing to meet with Dublin City Council and other vested interests.
There is now a local environment improvement plan (LEIP) for the area, which is in draft format. “We are hoping that some of the ideas that have been generated in the design review process can be incorporated into the LEIP,” said Bingham.
“There is a fairly strong movement there and it’s not going to go away, so it’s hopefully something that will be taken seriously.”
In addition, two academics involved with the design review have agreed to set up a two-year programme with UCD architecture students. This will involve a detailed analysis of the Phibsborough area, with the students then working on projects to tackle issues.
“We are quite excited about that because that will mean that things can be active for the next two years,” said Bingham.
Fitzpatrick is similarly hopeful that the groups’s ideas will be taken on board by the council and developers of the shopping centre.
She noted that with new businesses opening in the area, and momentum behind this design review, things are improving. “I can really sense that Phibsborough is on the up,” she said.
For more information on Phizzfest Reimagining Phibsborough, see the official website.
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How can more people living near a pub be bad for business?
@eoin carroll: my thoughts exactly
The Bernard Shaw is being forced to close much of its operations due to property developers in the area voicing concerns of noise complaints. Power to the pub I say!
@eoin carroll: they are getting ahead of the future residents who will then complain about the pub being too close.
@Damien Fegan: genuine question – were the objections from developers? I thought they were from nearby residents.
Do the developers fear the noise is bringing down their potential sale value?
@eoin carroll: if new apartments were allowed they would, as a result of tgeir proximity to the pub, make complaints about mouse and smell etc etc.
Bsld eagl is protecting themselves against this.
Obvious
@Aidan Conway: there is very little that is obvious about mouse and bsld eagle I’m afraid.
@eoin carroll: would you want to live in an apartment were you had to enter it by walking down a lane were the pubs rubbish bins are then have to open your window out onto this same lane could you imagine the smell and flies, then as the outdoor seating area is also just outside near apartment you’d have joy of everyone else smoking laughing drinking outside.. Who the hell thought this was a good idea, this must have been a brown envelope job
Yet again we have developers leading us on the road to ruin
@sVRCsaSg: What nearby residents?
The GBS is clearly ‘in the way’ of what developers want to do with that block & it will be a death of a hundred red tape cuts until its gone.
@eoin carroll: They explain it in the article
I know the area well as I lived there. There was a bicycle repair shop on the corner there a long time ago. I don’t see an issue with it. 2 storeys isn’t out of place at all considering there’s not a bungalow in sight lol. Usual 1-2 people objecting about f all as usual.
@Ciaran Farrelly: the picture portrays a development of more than 2 storeys
@Vocal Outrage: true but the article states it’s a two-storey development.
@Ciaran Farrelly: The old guy who owned the shop fixed my bicycle in 1979, building was left derelict after the shop closed, maybe since the mid-80s.
@Ciaran Farrelly: it says two stories but the image is of five stories. I very much doubt that nine apartments plus a retail unit would fit in such a small site if it was just two stories.
@David Jordan: Probably retired on the profit he got from fixing that bike.
@Ciaran Farrelly: used to be a decent pub there too. the Cross Guns, area looks awful now, no character. Great snooker club though, played there 50 yrs ago
There is enough Apartments and Houses, we don’t need to build more, In 2018 There was 200,000 empty homes in Ireland – and 8,500 homeless, fix the problem before building more……
@SEO DUBLIN: but are these homes within commuting distance from the major employment hubs of the country?
@SEO DUBLIN: Yeah and most of those homes are not in Dublin City where all the employment is, so they might as well be on Mars for all they’re worth.
I love this ‘what about the homeless?!’ shite that people like you wheel out as a stick to beat down anything they don’t agree with. As if you’ve ever done anything to combat homeless in your life.
Local residents objected to a 2 story building saying it is too high… Next to a 2 story building
@Karl Charlie: objection of a 5 story next to a 2 story building with shared access to a lane used for deliveries, bins and potential entrance to the finished complex
@Karl Lee: where did you read 5 story? Because it clearly says planning permission was granted in march to build a TWO STORY building, with access to a lane NOT owned by the pub or snooker Hall, therefore the pub has no right to use this laneway for bins and it rightly should be used as access to the proposed building, its just more of this not in my back yard bull%#&£
@Karl Charlie: the image shows five stories not two so reckon it might have been a typo. It’s a small site, nine apartments plus a retail until wouldn’t fit in two stories
@Karl Charlie: WAS granted for a two story, now they want a five story as you can see by the drawing
agreed! it’s nonsense to be honest, how much new buildings you can squeeze in Dublin? I drive very often there and was wondering how the hell someone is planning to build something? leave City centre and it’s beauty as it is! there is plenty of land around.
look at this issue from wider perspective, for example the same issue with Clontarf and 65000 new homes….we all know how bad traffic on our streets is every day, now imagine how heavy impact 65000 new homes would have in Clontarf area? where are authorities to stop this kind of idiotic plans? build more but not in Dublin! I am ok with new office builds but not residential.
@Born to be wild!: there are a few undeveloped areas but when these apartments are built they often knock down a one or two story building. So they’re not squeezing another building in just putting a taller one in where a smaller one previously existed.
It’s all very well and good to try freeze Dublin the way it is but people don’t have anywhere to live. People are squeezing into small rooms and apartments together at the expense of building. They’re also squeezing onto crammed public transport or onto congested roads as they commute from increasingly ridiculous distances because people want Dublin to remain full of quaint bungalows and semi-d housing.
This country needs more new buildings.
@Born to be wild!: so you want to build more offices in Dublin…. But not residential? And at the same time you want more people to live further outside Dublin while not congesting the roads?
The formula doesn’t add up.
@sVRCsaSg: true this country need way more new houses/apartments but I think we need to find balance where and how to build. We can’t make our streets wider for example, in my area there is a brand new apt development for probably 5000 new residents but our local road/roundabouts will stay the same. My point is that every morning or afternoon drive is a nightmare! and there is no new schools or hospitals….there is simply no infrastructure to provide necessary services, in results people would have to drive longer distances with their kids to reach school or shop, not to mention about hospital if you’re in emergency situation .
There is no infrastructure to build more in this City
Few days ago thejournal wrote about sewage leaking into Liffey
https://www.thejournal.ie/liffey-swim-water-samples-4751378-Aug2019/
or Dublin Bay:
https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-water-ringsend-wastewater-treatment-spillage-4706410-Jul2019/
and that city area is simply over populated. I am not sure 65 000 new houses in Clontarf would help with this issue? very shortly Dublin Bay will be one big sewage .
@Born to be wild!: Maybe Dubs shouldn’t have opposed decentralisation so vehemently when FF were implementing it before it got into the state its in. Bit late to try and change the course now.
@Born to be wild!: yes but you want offices built in Dublin so you want the jobs to remain in Dublin but people to live further away. Unless you’re for compulsory land purchases so we can widen roads and provide bus corridors and train lines I don’t see how your suggestions are going to solve the issues.
There was an article here the other day about the bus corridors and people were complaining at the loss of old trees. As a country we need to accept this problem and realise that there’s no perfect solution. Yet all we seem to be doing is saying no to everything.
@Born to be wild!:
isnt cross guns the site of a proposed major metro heavy rail and dart interchange station?
@Born to be wild!: I work in the IFSC and travel about 90 minutes to get there. Occasionally i get a taxi and get stuck on Macken street where i see a single storey garage, single storey gym and a couple of two ups two downs. Now for some joined up thinking. Build an 8 storey block, rent it, but only to people working in the ifsc. Its not all bankers who work there, its regular people like me too. You could house 500 people in that spot all who could walk to work. 500 less on the luas. Less bikes, less cars. But we don’t do joined up thinking in this country.
@denartha: and if the worker changed jobs should they then be evicted?
@Born to be wild!: Yeah and let’s have two hour commutes within the city, and obscene house prices too. Hurrah for the contented class – masters of spatial planning.
You’re some dope.
@Born to be wild!: so you are ok with business setting up but the people working in these businesses can feck off down the country to live thus creating more traffic problems. Nice one !!!
A win win for the pub and getting rid of a lane that was used as a rubbish dump, What is wrong with some people? Dont they know a good thing when they see it? Seems not.
@Clint Sofie: read the article, the pub lodged its appeal as it knew once the apartments were build the pub would be subject to noise complaints and impact of license applications. Therefore the development would hamper the pubs business
@Clint Sofie: I think the lane is being used by the pub to store rubbish until collection.
@Vocal Outrage: Lookit Mr outrage, why dont ya go somewhere else and play yer game of draughts and let the people without a home get somewhere to live
@Clint Sofie: even if that place to live is substandard? It’s not only because of the pub the development was rejected; there’s nothing to prove that cars could even enter the carpark without causing a hazard and a bedroom facing the entrance to the snooker hall just a couple of meters away is hardly ideal either. Are you familiar with the site? It seems to me the developer is trying to cram too much into such a small area.
That lane is a nightmare as it is for cars getting out on to the Phibsborough road imagine more traffic.
There is nothing wrong with building homes, but why are they trying to shoehorn in the biggest, out of place buildings they can and then be surprised that people give out about them, FYI, that apartment block was supposed to have underground parking that close to the canal? Can anyone honestly tell me why they couldn’t simply have designed apartments that actually fitted in with the area they are been built in?
@Trevor Donoghue: because they’re trying to maximize profits.
The two apartment blocks either side of it have underground parking next to the canal. I should know, I lived there.
Phibsboro is an ideal location for high density buildings. For some reason it has a lot of derelict buildings.
I haven’t been up that side in a while , maybe it still there. It mad all the changes and the lats / trellis where still there on till recently.
https://brandnewretro.ie/2012/10/09/hands-off-dublin-1976-deirdre-kelly-with-pat-langan/
@Life is short enjoy it: great photos, thanks for sharing
It should be built without car parking spaces. It’s only five minutes walk from the Cabra Luas stop, and it’s 100 meters from where the new Metro and rail interchange is going to be. That would sort out most of the problems relating to the laneway at the rear of the proposed development. A problem is, I think, that the council insists on car parking spaces being built for every apartment.
Noise insulation would deal with the noise complaints.
Seems a reversal of the natural objection order alright!
Forgot the brown envelopes lads
The Bald Vulture
It was excessive in height. At 2 storeys?!?!?!?!
We employ judges to judge. Why do all our judges pander to the victim. You slipped in Tesco, here’s 30k. Two storeys blocks your view of the ocean, planning denied. Meanwhile the rest of us who work deal with lack of suitable accommodation, spiralling out of control rents and increased insurance.
How on earth can a pub owner who’s sole business is to top up piss heads with more booze take priority to something that could help get even one family a chance to get off the street ??
Just address the issues raised in the rejection and reapply?
And this masquerades as news…
An Bord Pleanala seem to be entirely unaccepuntabke to the public, how is their operation consistent with a democratic society? The democratically elected county councillors should have the final word on whether a development goes ahead, not a group of unelected bureaucrats.
@Patrick FitzGerald: that should of course have said “unaccountable”, and is exactly why I almost never comment on articles from my phone
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