Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has approved a €150 million plan by Nama for Boland’s Mill.
The landmark site will be rebranded Boland’s Quay and see three new buildings constructed, while others will be restored.
The three new buildings will comprise approximately 36,851 square meters (about 397,000 square foot) of office, residential, retail and cultural space over a two-level basement.
A new civic plaza on the waterfront to Grand Canal Dock will be developed and a number of protected Mill buildings will also be restored.
Demolition works are to commence immediately, and the project is expected to be completed in two years.
The planning application, which was submitted to DCC in December 2014, is the latest to be approved since the Dublin docklands were designated a strategic development zone (SDZ).
Mark Reynolds, a director at Savills who is acting as the receiver, said the decision to grant planning permission for “one of the city’s most iconic sites” is “great news for the Docklands and Dublin as a whole”.
“The planning approval will now facilitate the examination of options regarding the provision of badly needed commercial and residential accommodation to meet pent-up demand from local occupiers and foreign direct investment.”
The Nama Board may now consider proposals from the receiver for funding or otherwise facilitating the development of the site.
Nama Chief Executive Brendan McDonagh also welcomed the decision, saying it shows the organisation’s commitment to “increasing the value of secured assets in our portfolio and maximising the amount we can recover for taxpayers”.
Yay, more boxy uninspiring low rise for the docklands – when are we going to be a real city with some curvy high rise scrapers?!
Dublin skyline is awful…must be the worst of any capital city.
In fairness it looks a step in the right direction. At least taller than five stories unlike the rest of the sh!te we built in the boom
Because the powers that be here had little imagination and they think they live in their own private museum where everything “would be out of place” if anything modern or outside the envelope were proposed
FF had many medium sized developers rather than a few big developers to keep happy during the boom. Low-rise means urban sprawl and more buildings. Ergo, more backhanders.
The thing that bothers me most is DCC simply think tall is bad, over the last 30-40 years they’ve granted permission to build very ugly, unimaginative low rise buildings that damage the character of the city and waste space, it’s only when buildings creep above 5 stories they use the “out of place” argument.
Where does it say a skyline makes a city? Most beautiful European cities don’t have skyscrapers. Look at Rome, Vienna, Amsterdam etc. Why do we have to Americanise our cities.
Fisic all those cities you’ve mentioned have some high rise districts just not in the city centre, they preserve their city centres very well, that’s what most people here are advocating in relation to Dublin build high in the docklands and maintain the historic city centre.
However in Dublin they wreck the historic districts eg ESB headquarters Fitzwilliam Street and fail to build high rise in the suitable districts. High rise districts are just efficient land use that reduce property prices and reduced traffic congestion.
Fiachra79, fair point.
Sorry, fiachra29.
Fisics, those cities don’t have high rise in the centre because they’re all absolutely gorgeous places full of historic buildings of world importance. They’re all UNESCO world heritage sites. Dublin has a few nice Georgian squares and that’s about it. Like San Francisco, Rio and Vancouver, Dublin is blessed with a stunning bay, and the best thing you can do with a bay is build skyscrapers to create a gorgeous panorama. Every time there’s a story about Dublin in the media, the picture is of Liberty Hall, because it’s the only thing approaching a landmark in the city centre.
Ah in fairness Chris Dublin city centre is a nicer place than you’re making it out to be with quite a few landmarks, what about Christ Church, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Government Buildings, The Four Courts, The GPO, Custom House, College Green, Phoenix Park, Heuston Station etc it’s not quite Vienna but we do have quite a historic city all the same.
And liberty hall is an eye sore.. Looks dirty and old. A few nice high rise buildings coherent with each other wouldn’t go astray.
The IFSC and the south docks should be 30-40 storey towers with good transport links (including the airport). Coherent is key. If you look at somewhere like Toronto, they missed that and have 3 or 4 towers which are 50+ metres taller than the rest of the buildings in the city (excluding the CN Tower). Looks off.
100 storeys plus right across the city…
Whats inside liberty hall is also “dirty and old”…
Richard Toronto has many more than three 50 plus story buildings.
Had many a great time photographing the city from the rooftop of this great building. Glad to see they are doing something good with it.
Ay it was grand until they boarded it up to keep the junkies out, savage view from up top
I honestly cannot understand our planners at all, the first application had a much nicer design for the facade, that brought some colour to the development (http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2022531.1417514558!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg), and the DCC decided that they would not approve the application, with some valid amendments cited I must say but what was beyond comprehension was they required the facade to be more grey in colour.
As a result the design that was proposed in the revised application had a grey facade which is devoid of any life or colour and of course our planners pass this without question, it tells you a lot about their vision for our city, a wasted opportunity to have a truly stunning development.
I agree. the original was a much nicer structure with some great colours. pity.
So much nicer
The original plan was so much nicer …… can we not get it back? Planners seem to be boring accountant types not artists as a architect should be ….
Anyone who has experienced the planning process in Dublin knows many of the people in the planning department in the city have no education or qualifications in actual town planning or architecture. it’s unsurprising that and large scale developments are so poor. They pay private consultants huge fees to dream up area plans for the city, their planners don’t read them and they are under no obligation to follow them. All at your expense.
Not tall enough…….but getting there!
“All thanks to Nama.”
This is how I picture TheJournal.ie office when they write stuff that they know is going to provoke a lot of comments: https://38.media.tumblr.com/cde20fc2b5009bf8b18cfdcb8ae5188e/tumblr_noys8mkgT11s0my1wo1_250.gif
@ignoreland LOL! You are right on the mark there :):):)
I read that previous applications for taller buildings were rejected because…wait for it…the wind. They were concerned taller buildings would increase the “wind problem” in Grand Canal Dock. I kid you not. These are the people determining the future of this city.
Cal developers and architects in the likes of dubai, London, new York would fall off their chair laughing if someone’s said that. It’s ridiculous
Rumour is Google have already bought most of it. I guess this was the deciding factor.
You need one of Frank Gehry’s Spectacular buildings on the docklands , something out of the ordinary
Tragically, the monstrosity that is the convention centre was supposed to be like that. I guess the Libeskind theatre is the closest we have, but they’re going to have to create a commercial district down there to encourage people to actually visit the area.
We need to stop being so sentimental about our biscuit factories.
lol..indeed. Amazing that this concrete structure, the epitome of ugly, should be revered simply because its old. Crazy, crazy ,crazy.
Because they don’t look out of place at all….
who cares what the skyline looks like we live on the ground
If the building went back to making biscuits it might benefit us all a lot more. What do we need all this extra space for when the city is awash with new empty buildings?
Mary, the buildings will be let or sold before there finished. There is now empty modern building that could host several thousand employees working for an hightec company
Yeah, like we don’t have any empty “hightech” buildings around the place and the city is crawling with highly trained personnel just waiting for the doors to open.
The original plan was so much nicer …… do the Planners not like colour?
It will be built by foreigners for €8.65 per hour and no overtime rates, nobody gives a damn about the Irish construction workers.
why do we continue to build office blocks as a priority over residential buildings…the city doesn’t need more offices its needs more residential complexes…we have a housing crisis. so therefore any city centre planning should be a majority split of housing and commercial…or maybe those tax incentives for building office blocks still exist….
It’s a pity so much of the Grand Canal Dock and on the other side, the IFSC, feels so cold and barren and with little character. They should be natural ‘quarters’ but they don’t blend in with the rest of the city. Smithfield is another failure. It would by even worse if skyscrapers were built.
have your say