The Aviva Stadium, viewed from Lansdowne Road DART Station. Note graffiti behind the crossing barriers Google Maps Google Maps

A PLANNING APPLICATION has been lodged with Dublin City Council for a giant street art mural at the Aviva Stadium with a view to discouraging graffiti artists from painting walls in the area.

The application has been lodged by New Stadium Designated Activity Company, the company charged with the management of the stadium.

No cost projection for the installation has been outlined as yet.

The development will consist of “the painting (of) a mural and other surface finishes by a professional street artist(s) to discourage unlawful graffiti and make a positive contribution to the streetscape and surrounding vicinity”, according to planning documents.

The proposed mural location, along the DART tracks running to the west of the stadium Google Maps Google Maps

The proposed mural itself will flank the railway lines running adjacent to the western side of the Aviva and along the tunnel running up to and past Lansdowne Road DART Station.

Deadline

No decision on the application has yet been made by Dublin City Council. The deadline for commenting on the proposal expired last week, with no objections having been noted.

At present Irish Rail spends between €25,000 and €30,000 each year removing graffiti from the area in question, while graffiti and vandalism have cost the stadium €15,000 since its redevelopment a decade ago.

The project document submitted regarding the mural meanwhile states that the main concern firing the project is “the incidences of trespass on the railway line area”.

What the mural 'bookends' at either end of the DART tunnel will look like, per planning documents Kennedy Woods Architects Kennedy Woods Architects

Permission for the mural is proposed to last for five years.

Planning consultants for the project Tom Phillips say the mural would comprise a ‘more visually attractive and appealing space, which would improve the visual amenity of the area’.

“However, its main purpose is to discourage and prevent future illicit ‘tagging’ of the space, which… has been an incessant problem from a visual impact, maintenance, cost, health and safety perspective for a number of years now,” the proposal states.

Who the street artists are who would be commissioned to paint the mural is not as yet known. The works themselves have been pencilled in for the October bank holiday weekend next month (27-29 October) as the line is planned to be shut at that time for engineering works.