BALLYMUN COULD be the location of a new Trinity College “student village” if Dublin City Council’s regeneration company is successful in a bid to build accommodation for the university.
Trinity College is seeking tenders for a 1,000-bed accommodation campus within a 2.5km or 30-minute rush-hour commute of the university’s main buildings in Dublin city centre.
Ballymun Regeneration Ltd (BRL), the company set up by the city council to manage the redevelopment of the city’s largest social housing flat complex, is seeking to form a consortium to bid to build the campus.
BRL managing director Ciarán Murray said the company had a number of sites on the Ballymun Road and in the Ballymun Business Park near the M50, which would be suitable for student housing.
“Ballymun offers a huge opportunity for the consolidation of all Trinity’s future needs in terms of the creation of a student village, not only providing accommodation but integrated sports, leisure and cultural facilities,” Mr Murray said.
While Trinity is initially seeking accommodation for 1,000 students, Ballymun had the capacity to house a much larger student village with accommodation for several thousand undergraduates and postgraduate students, he said.
Ballymun is more than 7km from Dublin’s city centre, but Mr Murray said dedicated bus lanes make it a 10-15 minute journey from Trinity and the planned metro station would be just five stops away from the university.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Blackrock locals risk jail in bus lane protest
RESIDENTS OF Blackrock, Co Dublin, said they will risk jail this morning in a bid to highlight their protest against the development of two bus lanes in their area.
The residents, many of whom campaigned unsuccessfully against the proposed Monkstown Ring Road, say they are protesting against plans for bus lanes on a 200m stretch of the route close to Brookfield Park and Rowanbyrn housing estates.
Graham Byrne, who took part in a protest at the site yesterday, said locals had previously sat in the buckets of digging machines.
They did so in a successful attempt to prevent work going ahead when vehicular access to their homes was threatened in recent weeks.
Mr Byrne said 12 locals had blocked the path of construction vehicles yesterday and would do so again today.
Mr Byrne said gardaí had warned protesters that if construction company Siac secured a court injunction against them, they could face jail.
However, Mr Byrne was adamant that locals “have not got a fair hearing” for their opposition to the development of the bus lanes.
He told The Irish Times that the proposed bus lanes would turn the relief road into “a four-lane highway” for 200m of the route at the point where it intersects with the access road to the Rowanbyrn and Brookfield estates.
He said the road reservation was not long enough for bus lanes along its entire length, which, in any event, he said, would interfere with the 46 route.
A spokesman from the council’s transport department confirmed that a protest had taken place in the morning.
However, he said the bus lanes along Rowanbyrn and Brookville Park were included in the original scheme, as approved by An Bord Pleanála.
The spokesman added: “Senior officers of the council met residents on a number of occasions in an effort to discuss their concerns. Notwithstanding these discussions, the site has been occupied by a number of people and the council now has genuine concerns about progressing the contract.”
The Monkstown Ring Road is designed to carry traffic from the Stillorgan Park area, across Newtownpark Avenue and across Deansgrange Road to Monkstown.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The residents, many of whom campaigned unsuccessfully against the proposed Monkstown Ring Road, say they are protesting against plans for bus lanes on a 200m stretch of the route close to Brookfield Park and Rowanbyrn housing estates.
Graham Byrne, who took part in a protest at the site yesterday, said locals had previously sat in the buckets of digging machines.
They did so in a successful attempt to prevent work going ahead when vehicular access to their homes was threatened in recent weeks.
Mr Byrne said 12 locals had blocked the path of construction vehicles yesterday and would do so again today.
Mr Byrne said gardaí had warned protesters that if construction company Siac secured a court injunction against them, they could face jail.
However, Mr Byrne was adamant that locals “have not got a fair hearing” for their opposition to the development of the bus lanes.
He told The Irish Times that the proposed bus lanes would turn the relief road into “a four-lane highway” for 200m of the route at the point where it intersects with the access road to the Rowanbyrn and Brookfield estates.
He said the road reservation was not long enough for bus lanes along its entire length, which, in any event, he said, would interfere with the 46 route.
A spokesman from the council’s transport department confirmed that a protest had taken place in the morning.
However, he said the bus lanes along Rowanbyrn and Brookville Park were included in the original scheme, as approved by An Bord Pleanála.
The spokesman added: “Senior officers of the council met residents on a number of occasions in an effort to discuss their concerns. Notwithstanding these discussions, the site has been occupied by a number of people and the council now has genuine concerns about progressing the contract.”
The Monkstown Ring Road is designed to carry traffic from the Stillorgan Park area, across Newtownpark Avenue and across Deansgrange Road to Monkstown.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Design for Docklands space unveiled
The winning concept for a new public events space in the Dublin docklands was unveiled today.
The site, known as the Parlour, will form part of the Point Village development near the 02 hosting free outdoor events, including music, markets and céilís.
Winning designers LiD Architecture developed a concept of using shipping containers as a cheap but creative basis for the site while also linking it with the neighbouring port.
LiD, which has offices in Donegal and Belfast, was chosen ahead of 46 other entries to a competition run by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. The competition was open to architects, urban designers, landscape architects and other disciplines, with the objective to design a new public civic space for Dublin.
The RIAI said the winning design displayed high levels of flexibility, adaptability and toughness. A final design is being prepared for a planning application.
A giant ferris wheel similar to the London Eye is also being planned for the site.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The site, known as the Parlour, will form part of the Point Village development near the 02 hosting free outdoor events, including music, markets and céilís.
Winning designers LiD Architecture developed a concept of using shipping containers as a cheap but creative basis for the site while also linking it with the neighbouring port.
LiD, which has offices in Donegal and Belfast, was chosen ahead of 46 other entries to a competition run by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. The competition was open to architects, urban designers, landscape architects and other disciplines, with the objective to design a new public civic space for Dublin.
The RIAI said the winning design displayed high levels of flexibility, adaptability and toughness. A final design is being prepared for a planning application.
A giant ferris wheel similar to the London Eye is also being planned for the site.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Leinster House goes green as car park is dug up
WORK HAS begun on the restoration of Leinster Lawn after 10 years’ use as a Dáil car park. The lawn was dug up and the area covered in tarmac to provide extra parking during the building of offices in Leinster House.
The extra 68 car parking spaces were used by Dáil officials, party political staff and journalists. TDs and Senators have their own reserved parking area.
An undertaking was given when the lawn, on the Merrion Square side of the 18th-century Leinster House building, was dug up in 1999 that it would be restored to its original condition. Work has finally begun on the project which will cost €230,000.
Fine Gael Dublin South TD Alan Shatter has condemned the project as “lunacy” at a time of unprecedented economic crisis.
Chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Tom Hayes from Tipperary South, who is a member of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, said they had no option but to restore the lawn.
“We have to abide by the rules and regulations. The Houses of the Oireachtas couldn’t be seen to break the planning regulations when ordinary people have to do it,” he said.
A spokesman for the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, also backed the plan to restore the lawn. Mr Gormley believed the people of Dublin would prefer the lawn to “an ugly car park”, said a spokesman. The Office of Public Works plans to hire 29 extra car park spaces in other city centre locations to compensate for the loss of the lawn.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The extra 68 car parking spaces were used by Dáil officials, party political staff and journalists. TDs and Senators have their own reserved parking area.
An undertaking was given when the lawn, on the Merrion Square side of the 18th-century Leinster House building, was dug up in 1999 that it would be restored to its original condition. Work has finally begun on the project which will cost €230,000.
Fine Gael Dublin South TD Alan Shatter has condemned the project as “lunacy” at a time of unprecedented economic crisis.
Chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Tom Hayes from Tipperary South, who is a member of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, said they had no option but to restore the lawn.
“We have to abide by the rules and regulations. The Houses of the Oireachtas couldn’t be seen to break the planning regulations when ordinary people have to do it,” he said.
A spokesman for the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, also backed the plan to restore the lawn. Mr Gormley believed the people of Dublin would prefer the lawn to “an ugly car park”, said a spokesman. The Office of Public Works plans to hire 29 extra car park spaces in other city centre locations to compensate for the loss of the lawn.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Objection to Cork lifeboat station plan
AN ENVIRONMENTAL group has lodged an extensive objection against plans for a new RNLI lifeboat station at Castletownbere, Co Cork. The station is proposed on recently reclaimed land beside the Bere Island ferry jetty.
The Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) submission to the planning authority emphasises that it has no objection to the project itself but says the location ignores “the most congested traffic pattern on the Bearhaven peninsula”.
The submission refers to the “ill-ordered and unmonitored parking, turning, and transit area which extends from the SuperValu corner across the parking area to the quay edge”.
FIE claims that “uncontrolled traffic jams are frequent and prolonged as articulated lorries servicing the fishing industry on the contiguous Mainland Quay vie with traffic, pedestrians shopping trolleys, wheelchairs accessing disable parking, local mini-bus services and those waiting for, or at, the telephone boxes.”
The group submission says it is inexplicable that a development relating to emergency services could “even be considered at this location”, citing both the county development plan and the Bantry Area Local Plan, attaching an aerial view of the traffic pattern.
The group draws attention to the Government’s longstanding primary goal of relocating all port-based activities on the adjacent Dinish Island, an infill island developed by the State for the marine sector with excellent access for emergency vehicles, including helicopters, close proximity to the hospital and no traffic congestion.
The establishment of a purpose- built facility remains a priority for the lifeboat crew at Castletownbere as they have been operating out of temporary accommodation for over a decade. It is understood the crew only became aware of the objection in recent days.
The RNLI applied to Cork County Council last month for planning permission for a new standalone lifeboat station. A decision is expected on the project by the end of this month.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) submission to the planning authority emphasises that it has no objection to the project itself but says the location ignores “the most congested traffic pattern on the Bearhaven peninsula”.
The submission refers to the “ill-ordered and unmonitored parking, turning, and transit area which extends from the SuperValu corner across the parking area to the quay edge”.
FIE claims that “uncontrolled traffic jams are frequent and prolonged as articulated lorries servicing the fishing industry on the contiguous Mainland Quay vie with traffic, pedestrians shopping trolleys, wheelchairs accessing disable parking, local mini-bus services and those waiting for, or at, the telephone boxes.”
The group submission says it is inexplicable that a development relating to emergency services could “even be considered at this location”, citing both the county development plan and the Bantry Area Local Plan, attaching an aerial view of the traffic pattern.
The group draws attention to the Government’s longstanding primary goal of relocating all port-based activities on the adjacent Dinish Island, an infill island developed by the State for the marine sector with excellent access for emergency vehicles, including helicopters, close proximity to the hospital and no traffic congestion.
The establishment of a purpose- built facility remains a priority for the lifeboat crew at Castletownbere as they have been operating out of temporary accommodation for over a decade. It is understood the crew only became aware of the objection in recent days.
The RNLI applied to Cork County Council last month for planning permission for a new standalone lifeboat station. A decision is expected on the project by the end of this month.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 3 August 2009
Don't mind the gap, say bridge builders
It looks, to the casual observer, like a bridge too high - now elegantly draped across the Liffey, the Samuel Beckett Bridge appears to tower over the quayside roadway on the southside of the river.
The vertiginous drop of more than a metre from bridge to tarmac on Sir John Rogerson's Quay has some of the few remaining high-flyers in the IFSC wondering if their low-slung sports saloons will survive the trip from docklands to Dalkey.
However, the loftiness of the new bridge, due to be opened next year, is part of a cunning plan and not a monumental blunder, Dublin City Council insists. "The constructed level of the bridge's south abutment is in accordance with its design levels, which specifically allows for sufficient headroom under the bridge to accommodate marine craft on the river" - project manager John Flanagan explained.
He added that the current construction works will introduce a carefully designed gradual incline between the bridge deck level and existing ground levels. That may sound suspiciously like a ramp, but the council are convinced that drivers will not notice the drop when they leave the bridge.
The 120m bridge, which is 48m high, will link Guild Street on the northside with Sir John Rogerson's Quay on the southside - west of Cardiff Lane/Macken Street.
Dr Santiago Calatrava Valls, considered one of the world's great architects, designed the Beckett Bridge. The bridge will have four traffic lanes, cycle tracks and footpaths and can facilitate bus and light rail in the future.
The Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The vertiginous drop of more than a metre from bridge to tarmac on Sir John Rogerson's Quay has some of the few remaining high-flyers in the IFSC wondering if their low-slung sports saloons will survive the trip from docklands to Dalkey.
However, the loftiness of the new bridge, due to be opened next year, is part of a cunning plan and not a monumental blunder, Dublin City Council insists. "The constructed level of the bridge's south abutment is in accordance with its design levels, which specifically allows for sufficient headroom under the bridge to accommodate marine craft on the river" - project manager John Flanagan explained.
He added that the current construction works will introduce a carefully designed gradual incline between the bridge deck level and existing ground levels. That may sound suspiciously like a ramp, but the council are convinced that drivers will not notice the drop when they leave the bridge.
The 120m bridge, which is 48m high, will link Guild Street on the northside with Sir John Rogerson's Quay on the southside - west of Cardiff Lane/Macken Street.
Dr Santiago Calatrava Valls, considered one of the world's great architects, designed the Beckett Bridge. The bridge will have four traffic lanes, cycle tracks and footpaths and can facilitate bus and light rail in the future.
The Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
€870m spent but our water quality shows 'little improvement'
A massive €870m of taxpayers' cash, spent on upgrading water treatment plants over five years, has resulted in 'little significant improvement' in our water quality.
Despite the cash injection between 2002 and 2007, only minimum safety standards are being met in most public water supplies - and the quality of supplies to a small section of the population has actually deteriorated.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) also states that there are ongoing problems with drinking water supplies being contaminated with E coli, cryptosporidium and other potentially dangerous bugs.
The report on expenditure in water infrastructure by the Department of the Environment found that 339 public supplies - accounting for 36pc of all supplies - need 'immediate action' to help improve drinking water quality.
EPA monitoring has found that E coli is present in 5pc of all public supplies and the C&AG says continued investment in treatment plants would lead to improvements. In addition, he says that more prosecutions are needed.
Ireland compares poorly with many of our EU neighbours in terms of safety of our drinking water. Ireland has the highest rate of cryptosporidium contamination among 16 EU nations, while levels of E coli contamination are nearly 30 times higher than found in supplies in England and Wales.
Around 1.1 million people are drinking water which may not have been properly treated.
The Department of the Environment said it recognised that further improvements were necessary, but that half a billion euro would be spent this year on new infrastructure.
"Most of the areas identified as requiring investment, are earmarked for funding or work is underway or due to commence shortly" - a spokesman said.
The Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Despite the cash injection between 2002 and 2007, only minimum safety standards are being met in most public water supplies - and the quality of supplies to a small section of the population has actually deteriorated.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) also states that there are ongoing problems with drinking water supplies being contaminated with E coli, cryptosporidium and other potentially dangerous bugs.
The report on expenditure in water infrastructure by the Department of the Environment found that 339 public supplies - accounting for 36pc of all supplies - need 'immediate action' to help improve drinking water quality.
EPA monitoring has found that E coli is present in 5pc of all public supplies and the C&AG says continued investment in treatment plants would lead to improvements. In addition, he says that more prosecutions are needed.
Ireland compares poorly with many of our EU neighbours in terms of safety of our drinking water. Ireland has the highest rate of cryptosporidium contamination among 16 EU nations, while levels of E coli contamination are nearly 30 times higher than found in supplies in England and Wales.
Around 1.1 million people are drinking water which may not have been properly treated.
The Department of the Environment said it recognised that further improvements were necessary, but that half a billion euro would be spent this year on new infrastructure.
"Most of the areas identified as requiring investment, are earmarked for funding or work is underway or due to commence shortly" - a spokesman said.
The Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
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