Sunday 24 August 2008

Crosbie set to press ahead with Dublin skyscraper

Businessman Harry Crosbie has reaffirmed plans to complete his 120-metre skyscraper in Dublin, despite the collapse in the property market, writes Gavin Daly.

A spokesman for Crosbie said that the Watchtower development was going ahead as planned, despite speculation in the construction sector that work on the project had stalled.

‘‘There hasn’t been any change [to the project],” said the spokesman for Crosbie, who said that the building was due to be completed in the second quarter of 2010.

If the project is completed as planned, it will the first residential skyscraper in the country. In the past week, users of the architects’ website Archiseek.com speculated that work on the Watchtower had stopped at ground level because of economic uncertainty.

The 39-storey Watchtower is part of Crosbie’s €850 million Point Village development on Dublin’s north quays. The development, on 12 acres, would include a shopping centre, offices, hotel and cinema, as well as the redeveloped Point Theatre music venue, renamed the O2.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) had intended that the Watchtower would form half of a ‘‘maritime gateway’’ to Dublin, standing across the Liffey from the planned U2 Tower. However, the U2-backed project has stalled, and the DDDA is still in discussions with the consortium behind it.

Sunday Business Post

www.buckplanning.ie

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