Dunner Towers: Application made today

[Insider2007]

yeh I remember the building of the N11 QBC being held up for a while because the portuguese (?) embassy wouldn't let their land be used. And you can't CPO land belonging to another state. So they have the capacity to be a real problem.

And yeh taller buildings in the area pre-date rampant loony American paranoia. However, i firmly believe Sean Dunne is not daft enough to let this become an issue. I'd speculate confidently that this has already been sorted out. His people know the deal. I thought about this the day he bought the site, so I presume he did before hand. I have been in the US Embassy (also bear in mind the Israeli one is at the same junction as Jurys in Carrisbrook House) and it's nothing spectacular. It has been around a while and may even be obsolete as an office block as most offices of it's era are. I wouldn't be surprised if they took a new Embassy building somewhere else if they couldn't live next to a 37 storey building.

http://ireland.archiseek.com/buildings_ ... bassy.html

The US embassy is not, as often happens, a rented building, but a building owned and built by the US and they use its image a lot because it is internationally regarded as an architecturally significant building by the State Department (and by international architects). They have spent millions installing state of the art security.

They are unlikely to be able to find another suitable empty site anywhere in the diplomatic belt of the city. Plus any other site would run into major problems over the installation of security. (No community would want a security risk such as the US embassy build next to them, let alone the extreme security measures the State Department would require for a new building.) Nor is there any chance of turning the residence into the embassy again. Deerfield is a residence and could not hold an embassy any more. It was a nightmare when it acted as both the residence and the embassy. And there is zero chance of anyone from any state being allowed to build any building in the Phoenix Park. The park is effectively a build-free zone. Plans to build a new Oireachtas building and/or a taoiseach's residence, had to be dropped. In the end the state now has chosen a house in the grounds of the Farmleigh estate to be the new taoiseach's residence. The planning permission request went in ages ago and as far as I know the plans are well advanced.

Even if the embassy could be moved, the Department of State would not sell the old building. It would knock it down to because if it wasn't, it would be possible for people to learn about US security details from the building. So the embassy is unlikely to be moved.

[Insider2007]

Seán Dunne has clearly invested serious time and effort into developing this proposal. It’s incredibly imaginative and would really turn-around the whole Ballsbridge area.

I had no idea that Ballsbridge had fallen so far. Has it become a slum area? Perhaps FF should try to swing a tax break to assist Mr Dunne with this important piece of Urban Regeneration.

Like aIonso, I was originally concerned about the 37 story tower when I heard about it first, but after getting a look at the style and design I’m of the view now it’s actually quite fitting for the scheme.

Quality developments like this are clearly the only way forward, it really deserves serious consideration.

I totally agree! It's a wonderful design and should be granted permission IN THE DOCKLANDS.

That is where it should be built.

[Gondolier]

Never mind the docklands. Someone has to fill the waste ground between Pembroke Road and Shelbourne Road. So the question is whether this space will be filled with an APB-approved variation of the Mountbrook design, with a derivative of the City Council's recent blueprint or with some other plan.

My fear is that we will end up with all the apartments and shopping malls, but none of the cinemas, art galleries or jazz clubs.

Look at how the cultural concepts for Smithfield were squeezed out when the builders finally went to work.

[Insider2007]

Never mind the docklands. Someone has to fill the waste ground between Pembroke Road and Shelbourne Road. So the question is whether this space will be filled with an APB-approved variation of the Mountbrook design, with a derivative of the City Council's recent blueprint or with some other plan.

My fear is that we will end up with all the apartments and shopping malls, but none of the cinemas, art galleries or jazz clubs.

Look at how the cultural concepts for Smithfield were squeezed out when the builders finally went to work.

That is what usually happens, which is why that ridiculous video is such a joke. It is full of the usual property developer cliches.

Dramatic new streetscape . . . developing a sense of community . . . dramatic vistas . . . new arts centre . . . creating a new quarter . . . top international design . . . creating a new and vibrant city . . . spectacular look to the area . . . new [tick the box: art gallery, theatre, performance space, museum, etc].

The truth is that most of it is just PR spin dreamt up by a PR guy earning €1200 an hour to write something that sounds convincing. But in reality, as with most developments, it is all spin, damn all reality. Remember the museum promised for the IFSC? That was hyped up at the time. Anywhere ever been in that museum? Or know what happened to it?
Remember the dramatic promises for Smithfield? I lived there at the time and we were promised the sun, moon and stars. What did we get? Legoland apartments, a court house for kids, tourist shops that have now closed down because no-one visited them, an empty hotel, a dramatic new view from a converted chimney (since closed apparently). The museum never happened. The art gallery or whatever never happened. From a major cultural centre it became a new home for the National Waxworks. Even that never happened. Today Smithfield is a failure, an open space with no-one around, which tourists have stopped going to see because there is nothing to see.

Property developers always promise something dramatic. And almost always completely fail to deliver. Even the new walkway near the quays linking to Jervis Street promised a new urban centre that became a place to walk through quickly and ignore the grafitti. The new urban centre at St Mary's Park (formally cemetery) delivered nothing more than a TV3 rock show hosted on top of graves and that folded after a short time. The Blanchardstown centre was supposed to promise dramatic experience. It is an experience all right, but not one you want to repeat if you can. The bordwalks along the river that provided a dramatic new impact, ended up being used by drunks.

So anyone who thinks the latest set of promises by a property developer are anything other than a sham are naive in the extreme. It is simply a lot of PR spin to ensure he gets planning permission to enable him to make a lot of money. Quality of life, and new theatres, my arsee.

[Apparatchik]

The truth is that most of it is just PR spin dreamt up by a PR guy earning €1200 an hour to write something that sounds convincing.

Is that what you Fine Gael spindoctors get paid?

[Insider2007]

The truth is that most of it is just PR spin dreamt up by a PR guy earning €1200 an hour to write something that sounds convincing.

Is that what you Fine Gael spindoctors get paid?

It is the rate in the industry for senior people in PR firms.

[Apparatchik]

The truth is that most of it is just PR spin dreamt up by a PR guy earning €1200 an hour to write something that sounds convincing.

Is that what you Fine Gael spindoctors get paid?

It is the rate in the industry for senior people in PR firms.

Doesn't sound like you think they're worth it.