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DUBLIN’S BLACKPITTS AREA has suffered from neglect over the past decades, with some of the city’s most interesting buildings allowed to lie derelict.
The recession put paid to mooted developments (a microbrewery, for example), leaving plenty of empty and unused sites. But now two of the buildings, No 10 Mill Street, and its neighbour, the Methodist Mission Hall, have been transformed as part of a €41m student accommodation development. While the buildings won’t be lived in by students, they are set to become office space as part of the development.
The 2.5-acre site is being developed by Dublin-based Creedon Group and Dubai-based Global Student Accommodation (GSA) and it’s planned that the 400 students beds will be in use for the upcoming student year.
GSA has been building similar properties in other student hubs like London and Tokyo, under its Uninest and Urbanest brands.
Sole survivor
Anyone walking past 10 Mill Street in recent years will have noticed a grand but dilapidated building at this very site, with boarded-up windows and doors.
But that appearance belied its role in Dublin’s built heritage: in a Dublin City report on the conservation of St Luke’s Church, the building is described as “perhaps the sole survivor in the area of the gable-fronted house type”.
If you’re familiar with what a gable-fronted, or Dutch Billy, building looks like, you’ll notice that it doesn’t look like that at all now.
That’s because in 1891, the roof and gables at 10 Mill St were removed and replaced during a Gothic Revival-style makeover. This took place when the house was incorporated into the Methodist Mission.
The Dutch Billy style was popular from the end of the 17th century into the early 18th century. The same report says that gable-fronted houses “often two or three-storeys high, were once a common feature throughout the area of the Coombe, although almost none have survived”.
The area was a mix of residential and industrial buildings, and other interesting buildings in the area include the aforementioned St Luke’s Church, which was the headquarters of the Weavers’ guild.
The textile industry was particularly important to the area, and saw Huguenots coming and bringing new skills with them.
The marriage and baptismal registers of St Luke’s church give us lists of the names and occupations of some of the residents in the area. Recorded in the early years are a large number of weavers, tanners, skinners, brewers, butchers alongside a smaller number of joyners, a shearmen, ropemakers, apothecaries, and many others simply listed as clothiers. Many of these belonged to a merchant class or were skilled craftsmen owning their own homes.
“It could fall into the street”
When the Creedon Group began work on the 10 Mill St site, the building “was totally derelict”, they told TheJournal.ie.
“The internal of it was totally destroyed by vandalism and fire, and just a flat felt roof was put on it a few years ago,” said a member of the company. The group acquired it towards the end of 2013, and set about getting specific planning permission so that they could immediately do some remedial work.
“There was every sign it could fall into the street.”
A new roof and new internal supports were put in place, and then further planning permission was applied for so that the site could be refurbished, along with the adjoining Methodist Mission Hall.
While an entirely new development was built to house the student accommodation, the Mission Hall and 10 Mill St have been earmarked for office space.
No 10 Mill St was known for having a stunning ornate staircase inside – but sadly, this couldn’t be saved.
As a listed building, a conservation expert must always be on hand to oversee what’s going on. But there are also the needs of the fire safety and disability access to consider.
In cooperation with the conservation officer in Dublin City Council, the developers saved what they could of the interior. Due to vandalism and fire inside, there wasn’t a huge amount that could be saved, but they did save and refurbish any original material that they could.
To the right of the site is an archway which has been rebuilt and reconstructed “and brought to its former glory”. There is also a new road being built in the area.
The development has helped to uncover some of the history of the Blackpitts area – like the tanning pits which were found at the back of the site. The area’s tannery history is also present in the names of some of the streets there – one, Skinner’s Row, no longer exists.
A full archaeological report has also been published, showing what was found during the dig at the site.
Signs of the old mill and part of the old mill stone – which gave the street its name – were found, and these artifacts will be among those put on permanent display at the site, or used in the landscaping.
It’s expected that the work on 10 Mill St will be finished in the first week of May, on the Mission Hall at the end of June, and on the student accommodation around the same time. When open, it will have the name Uninest Student Accommodation.
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this whole “my bill is bigger than your bill” malarkey is pathetic.
I read as far as the first line of the Green Party bill (after the definitions).
It says “No person shall sell or manufacture products containing micro-beads or add micro-beads to cosmetics, soaps or similar products.”
the rest is just clarification on this ban and how to monitor it.
what more do we need?
@stopit: “Billy waving” i think is what they call it ….
Don’t know why this is taking so long and FF attitude is appalling. Must be because the lizards use the microbeads to get rid of loose scales.
The only reason these exist is because of marketing… plenty of natural exfoliants, silicon, quartz, cellulose that are just as effective. But they just don’t look as attractive as bright blue or orange in the animated representation of the product in use during ads and give it that something extra to make it seem different.
True, and there’s absolutely no doubt that when these were dreamed up by some marketing genius, they were fully aware of the completely pointless environmental destruction they would cause. And they did it anyway. Ban them immediately. Then introduce “more robust” legislation later.
I wouldn’t give marketing execs that much credit, microbeads are far cheaper to produce than exploiting natural exfoliants; environmental impact is often overlooked when taking an existing material in a new application. BTW, unless you’re work in Intel or something I think you mean Silica ;)
Typical FF new politics my arse
FF – “Oh gosh no, we can’t make a decision for ourselves! Lets wait and see what Europe tells us to do”
@William Roche: You mean Merkel lol.
What a bunch of lies FF are telling the greens bill is as comprehensive as it’s possible to be more so than most countries that have enacted bans. The only sense it is restrictive is restricting the further pollution of our Environment pity FF don’t seem to value that.
Surely this should be a worldwide thing if not an EU thing to get this excess plastic out of the environment?
What sort of conscience do these manufacturers have to make this stuff in the first place
***Profit***
Those coffee pods are also an environmental time bomb that nobody talks about!
@Philip Kenna: Who cares about the environmental impact? George Clooney’s gawjus…
The ban should be at European level , you can exfoliate just as well with shower gel and salt or oil and salt mixed together .
Here’s an idea d1kheads in the oireachtas. Why not sit down together and draft legislation that will work instead of the usual one upmanship..
Manufacturers don’t need time to adapt, just stop putting that shit in their products.
Boycott them all until they remove the beads
Shame on Ireland
When will they discuss puppy farming and animal abuse???
I am more worried that something that goes down thee same hole as my faeces and urine ends up in rivers and seas.
Great to see our political parties tackling the urgent, important issues.
@Daisy Chainsaw:
I sense sarcasm, maybe if you took time to understand the issue and the incremental effects these beads can have over time you’d see it as an important issue worthy of government time. You might also see that what’s being reported is a snapshot of why ordinary citizens are disgusted with politics.
@Daisy Chainsaw:
Couldn’t agree more!!!
This is an important issue
@Daisy Chainsaw: It is killing the wildlife that other wildlife feeds on, it is polluting our environment and killing wildlife.
A bulking agent to make a profit on goods, god knows what they are made from but they end up in the rivers and sea as well then in the wildlife.
The type of plastic used in them might effect the hormones in wildlife and in people as I do not think they care what the plastic might be made from. Can you imagine if it was recycled farm plastic waste lol.
I think salt would be better for you than these plastic beads?
Why would they do that?
Darn we’ll be sweating beads of plastic sweat.
I am SO angry about that political fudging. Microbeads are getting into the food chain via seafood/fish. They were recently found in Plankton. No debate, they are a known toxin. Big pharma HAVE to stop their production NOW – end of.
Would some one please tell the Greens to politely F off. They did nothing in power they will do less put of it
have your say