THE LONG-AWAITED regeneration of the troubled O’Devaney Gardens flat complex in Dublin has been granted permission by An Bord Pleanála.
The 1950s council complex was one of five social housing schemes in the city which were to have been developed under a public private partnership between developer Bernard McNamara and Dublin City Council.
Following several delays, the deal with Mr McNamara collapsed in May 2008. Attempts that summer to rescue the schemes were unsuccessful, and the council formally terminated its relationship with the developer in August 2008.
Later that year the council announced it would rebuild the social housing in the three largest estates – St Michael’s, O’Devaney Gardens and Dominick Street.
Built in 1954, O’Devaney Gardens originally consisted of 278 flats in 13 four-storey blocks, of which all but five blocks have been demolished. An Bord Pleanála has granted permission for 120 homes, 60 of which will be used to house council tenants, with the remainder being offered as private or affordable housing.
A later stage of development is ultimately planned to bring the number of residential units to just under 400, but this is still fewer than half the number proposed in the McNamara scheme. The proposals agreed with the council in 2006 for 820 units, mostly private apartments, would at the time have made it the second largest regeneration scheme in the city after Ballymun.
Unlike the McNamara proposals, two-thirds of the accommodation will be houses or duplex units, with just 43 apartments. The board has also approved plans for a new tree-lined “boulevard” one-third of a kilometre long, and a 4,680sq metre park.
The entire estate will be rebuilt in three phases over 10 years, with two further applications due to be made by the council to An Bord Pleanála. The council has estimated the cost to the State at €32 million.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment yesterday said it had agreed “outline” plans with the council for the regeneration, but it was awaiting detailed funding proposals.
Regeneration board member and Labour councillor Emer Costello said the board would be meeting next month to discuss the application for the first phase of funding and the tender for a principal contractor.
The board hoped a contractor would be in place early next year and that the first units would be ready to be occupied by council tenants by 2014.
“We want to move on this as quickly as possible, the residents have waited long enough in terrible circumstances,” Ms Costello said. The new scheme was “vastly superior” to the McNamara plan as it had a 30-35 per cent lower density of units and would be about 50 per cent lower in height, she said.
The estate, which has been dogged by criminal and anti-social behaviour over several decades, was the scene of riots in the summer of 2008, which included arson attacks on homes and vehicles. Violent incidents reached their peak that August when fighting after a wedding led to the attendance of several dozen gardaí at the complex. In recommending a grant of permission, An Bord Pleanála inspector Stephen Kay noted the council’s master plan for the site sought to “design out” the potential for anti-social behaviour.
“The combination of a greatly improved physical environment, design features to significantly reduce the potential for anti-social activity and unsupervised areas, and the creation of a mixed residential environment with a mixture of private and social housing would, in my opinion, lead to a reduction in the likelihood of criminal activity and anti-social behaviour,” he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label dublin social housing planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dublin social housing planning. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Friday, 5 August 2011
Social housing plan for Spencer Dock rejected
PLANS TO build 112 social housing apartments at Spencer Dock on the north side of the river Liffey have been rejected by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA).
The apartments were to have been built by the Spencer Dock Development Company to fulfil its social housing obligation as part of a development of almost 1,000 apartments which was granted permission more than eight years ago.
While large numbers of the private apartments were built, the social housing element, which should have comprised 20 per cent of the overall development granted in January 2003, never went ahead.
Following campaigns by local community groups, the development company, a consortium led by Treasury Holdings, reached agreement with Dublin City Council to provide 112 social apartments as part of a development of 191 apartments at a site at the junction of New Wapping Street and Sheriff Street, close to the National Convention Centre.
In a submission on the application to the docklands authority, Gerry Fay, chairman of the North Wall Community Association that had campaigned for construction of social housing in the area, said the development was of “absolute importance” to the future of the community.
“The sum total of social housing developed in this community in the last 13 years is 37 apartments at Clarion Quay,” he said.
However, the docklands authority has determined that the proposed development cannot go ahead. In its rejection letter issued to the development company recently, the authority said the proposed development made “inadequate provision” for family-sized units, that insufficient private and semi-private amenity space had been proposed and there was no provision for childcare facilities.
A spokeswoman for Treasury Holdings said the company was disappointed by the decision as it had altered early planning consent to comply with the city council’s requirements for the apartments.
“The application was to amend an original planning permission which was for apartments for social housing. The purpose of the amendment was to comply with Dublin City Council requirements for the apartments.
“We understand that many in the local community and local city councillors and TDs are equally disappointed that the DDDA has taken this decision,” the Treasury spokeswoman said. “We intend to sit down with Dublin City Council to explore the options open to us in the light of the DDDA refusal.”
A spokeswoman for the authority said the developers had the option to go ahead with the social housing elements previously granted as part of the overall scheme.
They could alternatively make an amended application to the authority or else seek separate planning permission from Dublin City Council for social housing.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The apartments were to have been built by the Spencer Dock Development Company to fulfil its social housing obligation as part of a development of almost 1,000 apartments which was granted permission more than eight years ago.
While large numbers of the private apartments were built, the social housing element, which should have comprised 20 per cent of the overall development granted in January 2003, never went ahead.
Following campaigns by local community groups, the development company, a consortium led by Treasury Holdings, reached agreement with Dublin City Council to provide 112 social apartments as part of a development of 191 apartments at a site at the junction of New Wapping Street and Sheriff Street, close to the National Convention Centre.
In a submission on the application to the docklands authority, Gerry Fay, chairman of the North Wall Community Association that had campaigned for construction of social housing in the area, said the development was of “absolute importance” to the future of the community.
“The sum total of social housing developed in this community in the last 13 years is 37 apartments at Clarion Quay,” he said.
However, the docklands authority has determined that the proposed development cannot go ahead. In its rejection letter issued to the development company recently, the authority said the proposed development made “inadequate provision” for family-sized units, that insufficient private and semi-private amenity space had been proposed and there was no provision for childcare facilities.
A spokeswoman for Treasury Holdings said the company was disappointed by the decision as it had altered early planning consent to comply with the city council’s requirements for the apartments.
“The application was to amend an original planning permission which was for apartments for social housing. The purpose of the amendment was to comply with Dublin City Council requirements for the apartments.
“We understand that many in the local community and local city councillors and TDs are equally disappointed that the DDDA has taken this decision,” the Treasury spokeswoman said. “We intend to sit down with Dublin City Council to explore the options open to us in the light of the DDDA refusal.”
A spokeswoman for the authority said the developers had the option to go ahead with the social housing elements previously granted as part of the overall scheme.
They could alternatively make an amended application to the authority or else seek separate planning permission from Dublin City Council for social housing.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Turning the corner in social housing design
YORK STREET flats were the last real slums in Dublin to survive into the 21st century, and probably provided a setting for films that needed an authentic "tenement" backdrop. But now they've been replaced by a superb social housing scheme that would put even the most "exclusive" private sector apartments to shame.
"The old flats were really appalling," says architect Seán Harrington, whose firm designed the replacement housing.
A Georgian terrace, rebuilt in 1949, the block contained 99 apartments, 45 of which faced northwards onto the street and the rest faced south, looking out over bleak concrete yards with washing lines.
Harrington is a committed architect who is passionate about housing. His "learning curve" in this area was a competition, sponsored by Dublin City Council, for an affordable housing scheme on Holles Street; a complex public-private partnership (PPP) project, it is only now nearing completion six long years later.
"When we came on the scene in York Street, the city council had already decided to demolish the flats," he recalls. "We said we wanted to meet the remaining residents to find out what their needs, wants and worries were, and to introduce them to the design process, instead of just getting what they would be given.
"We had some experience of this in Ballymun and also in the UK and, although it can be difficult, it can also be very rewarding. As architects, it's great to meet the people you're housing because it focuses you in a way and makes you do a good job. So we ended up having 10 meetings in Aungier Street community centre."
By then, less than 60 of the York Street flats were occupied and the city council had agreed to sell a third of the site to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, whose main teaching building is directly opposite.
The flats were also plagued by "quite serious crime, health and safety issues", according to Seán Harrington.
The brief was to provide 66 new homes on a relatively tight site, and the residents made it clear that they wanted a variety of apartments, duplex units and townhouses.
"Right at the beginning, they also said the things we wanted to hear about building 'eco-homes' with waste control and even a composter," he says.
Architecturally, the new building turns the corner at York Street and Mercer Street, heralding its presence with a flourish; previously, there was only a blank gable here. It is arranged around a Scandinavian-style courtyard, divided into useful compartments - including a sedum-roofed and timber-clad recycling centre.
Rainwater is harvested in large stainless steel drums, from which it can be drawn to water a variety of shrubs, vegetables and fruit trees. There's also a seating area, which conceals the basement carpark vents, a playspace for kids and a portico formed by a pair of salvaged Georgian doorcases, set back-to-back. The apartments, all dual-aspect, are arranged in a U-shaped block around the courtyard, with five cores of lifts and staircases serving just two apartments per floor.
To the rear, where the back yards used to be, there is a range of three-storey mews buildings - separated from each other to let the sun come through.
The footprint of the apartment and mews pavilions is quite shallow, at just 11 metres (compared to 13 or 14 metres for most private apartments). Spatially, they are very generous, with 85sq m (915sq ft) for two-bed apartments and nearly 110sq m (1,184sq ft) for three-bedroom duplexes - well ahead of minimum standards.
With the city council's backing, Seán Harrington Architects extended the environmental agenda to include very high levels of insulation (using sheep's wool, incidentally) as well as glazed shutters on balconies, so that they can become winter gardens, and solar thermal panels on the roof, to supplement gas boilers.
"We just thought that all of this was best practice, even though it was way in excess of Building Regulations at the time," Harrington says. "As a result, each home in the scheme will have a BER (Building Energy Rating) of A3 or B1, which is still higher than what's required by the latest Building Regulations."
As if that wasn't enough, all of the timber joists in the old flats were salvaged and re-used in the timber-frame construction of the new mews housing as well as "green" cement from Ecocem for the concrete casting.
Even MDF was shunned in favour of plywood and chipboard for the kitchen units and wardrobes.
There are no PVC drainpipes either; stainless steel was used instead. Lime mortar, rather than cement, was used to point the brickwork, which is "stacked" on the street elevations to show that it is merely a cladding material. And every balcony has been supplied with a built-in planter - another Scandinavian touch (project architect Jim Roche lived in Finland for a while).
On both street frontages, steel bands delineate the extent of each apartment while the projecting bay windows all have side windows in different colours to give a sense of individuality. "But street elevations in a sensitive location like this need to be polite and have certain uniformity," Harrington says.
Echoing the Georgian idiom, a railed dry moat on York Street "keeps people away from the windows", with short bridges leading to entrances.
Granite gate piers were carved to provide children's seats and the architects have even designed a 10-panel art work in baked enamel illustrating the area's history.
On Mercer Street, the balconies are diagonally arranged so that residents enjoying the afternoon sun will always just have the sky over their heads.
The balustrades are also solid, rather than glazed, to provide a greater degree of privacy - and also to conceal bikes and toys that would otherwise be visible. In the seven-storey corner tower, rendered in cobalt blue, the balconies are "stacked like drawers" to reinforce its verticality.
Solar panels are integrated into the design, as is a south-facing roof garden from which there are great views; pity about the incessant noise from the Mercer Hotel's air-handling units opposite.
Extract vents from the plant rooms read like Georgian chimneys - a device also used by Grafton Architects on their great new building for the Department of Finance on Merrion Row. It is also possible to see right through the apartment block on York Street to the garden, or rather "outdoor room", in the courtyard.
The completed scheme, with its lavishly furnished showflats (all with lots of storage space), contrasts with the grim blocks of flats on the west side of Mercer Street, built by Dublin Corporation in the 1970s - none of which addresses the street; they're almost crying out for demolition and replacement.
Built by McNamara for €16 million (including fees), the York Street housing may be the swansong of a particular form of procurement and seems unlikely to be replicated elsewhere.
The critical thing now is that it gets good estate management, most effectively involving its justifiably delighted residents.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
"The old flats were really appalling," says architect Seán Harrington, whose firm designed the replacement housing.
A Georgian terrace, rebuilt in 1949, the block contained 99 apartments, 45 of which faced northwards onto the street and the rest faced south, looking out over bleak concrete yards with washing lines.
Harrington is a committed architect who is passionate about housing. His "learning curve" in this area was a competition, sponsored by Dublin City Council, for an affordable housing scheme on Holles Street; a complex public-private partnership (PPP) project, it is only now nearing completion six long years later.
"When we came on the scene in York Street, the city council had already decided to demolish the flats," he recalls. "We said we wanted to meet the remaining residents to find out what their needs, wants and worries were, and to introduce them to the design process, instead of just getting what they would be given.
"We had some experience of this in Ballymun and also in the UK and, although it can be difficult, it can also be very rewarding. As architects, it's great to meet the people you're housing because it focuses you in a way and makes you do a good job. So we ended up having 10 meetings in Aungier Street community centre."
By then, less than 60 of the York Street flats were occupied and the city council had agreed to sell a third of the site to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, whose main teaching building is directly opposite.
The flats were also plagued by "quite serious crime, health and safety issues", according to Seán Harrington.
The brief was to provide 66 new homes on a relatively tight site, and the residents made it clear that they wanted a variety of apartments, duplex units and townhouses.
"Right at the beginning, they also said the things we wanted to hear about building 'eco-homes' with waste control and even a composter," he says.
Architecturally, the new building turns the corner at York Street and Mercer Street, heralding its presence with a flourish; previously, there was only a blank gable here. It is arranged around a Scandinavian-style courtyard, divided into useful compartments - including a sedum-roofed and timber-clad recycling centre.
Rainwater is harvested in large stainless steel drums, from which it can be drawn to water a variety of shrubs, vegetables and fruit trees. There's also a seating area, which conceals the basement carpark vents, a playspace for kids and a portico formed by a pair of salvaged Georgian doorcases, set back-to-back. The apartments, all dual-aspect, are arranged in a U-shaped block around the courtyard, with five cores of lifts and staircases serving just two apartments per floor.
To the rear, where the back yards used to be, there is a range of three-storey mews buildings - separated from each other to let the sun come through.
The footprint of the apartment and mews pavilions is quite shallow, at just 11 metres (compared to 13 or 14 metres for most private apartments). Spatially, they are very generous, with 85sq m (915sq ft) for two-bed apartments and nearly 110sq m (1,184sq ft) for three-bedroom duplexes - well ahead of minimum standards.
With the city council's backing, Seán Harrington Architects extended the environmental agenda to include very high levels of insulation (using sheep's wool, incidentally) as well as glazed shutters on balconies, so that they can become winter gardens, and solar thermal panels on the roof, to supplement gas boilers.
"We just thought that all of this was best practice, even though it was way in excess of Building Regulations at the time," Harrington says. "As a result, each home in the scheme will have a BER (Building Energy Rating) of A3 or B1, which is still higher than what's required by the latest Building Regulations."
As if that wasn't enough, all of the timber joists in the old flats were salvaged and re-used in the timber-frame construction of the new mews housing as well as "green" cement from Ecocem for the concrete casting.
Even MDF was shunned in favour of plywood and chipboard for the kitchen units and wardrobes.
There are no PVC drainpipes either; stainless steel was used instead. Lime mortar, rather than cement, was used to point the brickwork, which is "stacked" on the street elevations to show that it is merely a cladding material. And every balcony has been supplied with a built-in planter - another Scandinavian touch (project architect Jim Roche lived in Finland for a while).
On both street frontages, steel bands delineate the extent of each apartment while the projecting bay windows all have side windows in different colours to give a sense of individuality. "But street elevations in a sensitive location like this need to be polite and have certain uniformity," Harrington says.
Echoing the Georgian idiom, a railed dry moat on York Street "keeps people away from the windows", with short bridges leading to entrances.
Granite gate piers were carved to provide children's seats and the architects have even designed a 10-panel art work in baked enamel illustrating the area's history.
On Mercer Street, the balconies are diagonally arranged so that residents enjoying the afternoon sun will always just have the sky over their heads.
The balustrades are also solid, rather than glazed, to provide a greater degree of privacy - and also to conceal bikes and toys that would otherwise be visible. In the seven-storey corner tower, rendered in cobalt blue, the balconies are "stacked like drawers" to reinforce its verticality.
Solar panels are integrated into the design, as is a south-facing roof garden from which there are great views; pity about the incessant noise from the Mercer Hotel's air-handling units opposite.
Extract vents from the plant rooms read like Georgian chimneys - a device also used by Grafton Architects on their great new building for the Department of Finance on Merrion Row. It is also possible to see right through the apartment block on York Street to the garden, or rather "outdoor room", in the courtyard.
The completed scheme, with its lavishly furnished showflats (all with lots of storage space), contrasts with the grim blocks of flats on the west side of Mercer Street, built by Dublin Corporation in the 1970s - none of which addresses the street; they're almost crying out for demolition and replacement.
Built by McNamara for €16 million (including fees), the York Street housing may be the swansong of a particular form of procurement and seems unlikely to be replicated elsewhere.
The critical thing now is that it gets good estate management, most effectively involving its justifiably delighted residents.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)