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FROM THE FIRST office towers of the 1960s to the gleaming glass of the Silicon Docks, Dublin’s cityscape has undergone a transformation over the past five decades.
And while commercial developments have reflected the architectural styles of their periods, the shape of the city has also mirrored a sequence of booms and busts.
In a new video, property agents Savills Ireland plotted the city’s office developments over the past 50 years – before looking ahead to the buildings in the pipeline over the next five years.
This was the decade when major office projects kicked off in the city centre with the first large-scale redevelopments dotting the landscape.
According to Savills research director Dr John McCartney, the initial wave was focussed on the central area because the sheer number of available sites meant it made sense for developers to keep offices around one commercial hub.
These developments included Dublin’s first high-rise, Liberty Hall, finished in 1965, which still stands as the city’s third-tallest storied building.
The same process of city development continued into the 1970s, although the offices also began to sprawl along the coast towards Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire.
It was also the era of controversial developments like the ESB headquarters on Fitzwilliam Street Lower, which involved the tearing down of a row of Georgian houses – then the longest standing in the world – to make way for the construction.
This was the decade when a “moribund economy” and low office values meant very little development took place, McCartney said.
While the period started with the completion of the Central Bank’s brutalist headquarters in Dame St, by the mid-80s there was about 300 acres of city space that was vacant or lying derelict.
The 1990s brought a “revolution” with the introduction of better transport and the splintering of Dublin into four local authorities, McCartney said.
Readily available greenfield sites in the suburbs meant there was a surge in suburban office construction.
The process of city and suburban development continued through the Celtic Tiger period, when US tech giants like Google started setting up in the city and the Silicon Docks took shape.
Non-residential construction activity peaked in early 2006, but by 2012 it had more than halved after the property bubble burst.
However latent demand for office space in the capital has meant a surge of project proposals over the past year as the economy has recovered.
McCartney said for the first time there would be wholesale replacement of old office buildings with new ones and a focus on the traditional CBD region.
The next stage of development will include the replacement of unloved relics from previous eras, like Hawkins House, on Poolbeg St, and the former Bord Fáilte headquarters, on Lower Baggot St, both from the 1960s and slated for demolition.
Much of the new building will also come in the docklands, where there is still unused space and fast-track planning laws are in place.
Among the proposals already put forward are plans for Dublin’s tallest office complex, the 73m Exo building.
By 2021, Savills predicts about 1.26 million sq m of new office space will be built, which will mean a 27% increase on current supply allowing for the demolition of existing buildings.
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The docklands was wasted on those small office blocks. A Luas and a train right in the middle of it and they put a load of 5 storey buildings there.
I always think it’s astonishing the way Dublin city planners argue that tall buildings in the docklands will ruin the character of the city, and yet they’re happy to grant permission to small ugly buildings right in the historic core of the city and pretend they don’t do any damage to the character of the city. An Taisce, Dublin City council and an Bord Pleanála are all one massive joke.
Look at the state of the building beside City Hall. This piece of crap is what greets tourists going to Dublin castle, madness.
I agree that’s a classic example. I moved to Dublin from a rural area about 5 years ago and I’ve enjoyed living here, but it’s as if the crowd in charge of planning want people to hate the place, for decades they’ve gone out of their way to make the city uglier, more impractical to live in, and extortionately expensive.
Pete St John predicted this nearly 40 yrs ago in his song The Rear Oul Times
Rared on songs and stories
Dublin City Council is a ghastly monstrosity that just ripped the heart and soul out of a beautiful part of our city. Those responsible should hang their heads in shame. Progress me ar$e!
Fiachra, buildings in the historic centre attract a bigger brown envelope maybe?
And after 50 years, still not one building built that’s cracked 300ft let alone 1000ft
To be fair, a lot of people have tried to build taller buildings. But over and over the same people object on the grounds that to have one tall building would “dominate the skyline” – a line of thinking that perpetuates itself endlessly
The skyline has not changed. The docklands had a great chances to build skyscrapers but the planners were too scared.
Welcome to Dublin a classic example of how brown envelopes have the city skyline.
Have changed…
And the phobia of high rise iconic buildings remains. The new Dublin in the docklands should have consisted of gleaming landmark skyscrapers to give the city something to look at, even draw tourists like many cities around the world. But still it’s remained pretty flat and boring.
Dublin with all its faults, still nest city ever, love it,
Dublin docklands is a soulesss mess made up of gee gaws and gob ons where small office buildings with self indulgent egotistcal architects seem to have acted at random and without reference to each other’s creations. The fact these buildings are owned almost exclusively by lawyers and consultants is probably the root cause of this calamity.
Having looked out over the city from the top of the Guinness storehouse I have to say Dublin is one ugly looking city.
Dublin is sadly full of ugly “brutalist” buildings like the central bank, Dublin corpo buildings, Hawkins house, Fitzwilton house, Agriculture house Kildare st, old Motor tax office, Phibsboro shopping centre, Bolands mills…
Along with all the new glass boxes going up..
Must be a lot of Culchie’s in the planning board and government ministers from Mayo etc and the likes who allowed Dublin to be destroyed like this!
Bolands mill is not Brutalist architecture ( 1980′s)!
It was built over centuries (1840-1960′s) and was claimed by DeValera for the Irish Republic in the 1916 rising. It is a fascinating series of buildings, even the 2 silos to which I assume that you are referring to as brutalist?
Yes, the massive silo building is a Brutalist design…
The new Exo building makes my heart sink. A lump of glass, nothing more. A two year old with crayons could up more character. Let’s have a national children’s “design a building competition” the results surely would be far more imaginative than the disasters so far…. Let the best kid win.
I wonder if we could get the lad that did the Pillar to redeem himself by getting rid of a few of these disgusting buildings?
This city has the planning mentality of a European town, not a bit of high rise or decent joined up planning by the different agencies. Central Park down near Leopardstown is one of the only decent office/residential complexes in the city.
Patrick Dunnes Hospital in the old photo takes me back a bit
And one man who had hopes of a development along bachelor’s Quay area, at a time when the country was on it’s knees and they bullied threatened extorted him. RIP Tom Gilmartin
It’s because all the jobs are filled by the least qualified people (i,e the political appointees) ,theres a whole hierarchy of people that continue to get the best jobs , backhanders and brown envelopes were always the run of business. This country would the best country in the world if we actually had people of ability,creativity and ethics run this country.
Unfortunately a good proportion of the Irish people with the most ability, creativity and ethics end up leaving this country – as you said, most of them are forced out through a lack of opportunity.
With sea levels rising, why is no one getting prepared for this, in under 90 years Dublin could be under the waves?
That’s what makes Dublin unique, and tourists love it that it’s not full of skyscrapers like every other city but it would have saved alot of urban sprawl if we built up instead of down.
The 1970s was the real start of the brown envelope incentive to planning authorities…ahem
The Troika will ransack Ireland’s assets like they did with Rome once and that they might again???
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