Castleforbes Square, docklands

geecee

I noticed Sierra communications digging up the quay this morning to put down fibre...
Spoke to one of the guys who said that they were repairing the fibre ducting on behalf of DCC
Could this be the Duct work that we have been waiting for?

Meanwhile I'm pretty happy with the service i'm receiving from clearwire.
The Voip is great and so is the internet speeds.

If only we could get sky conway to give us Sky-one and DCC to Tarmac over the Cobbles on Castleforbes road and stop the trucks doing 80MPH at 3 am i'd be fairly satisfied!

By the way has anyone been billed by sky conway yet?
I paid the €60 installation fee, but havn't been charged any service fee yet...

reallybad

geecee wrote:

I noticed Sierra communications digging up the quay this morning to put down fibre...
Spoke to one of the guys who said that they were repairing the fibre ducting on behalf of DCC
Could this be the Duct work that we have been waiting for?

Meanwhile I'm pretty happy with the service i'm receiving from clearwire.
The Voip is great and so is the internet speeds.

If only we could get sky conway to give us Sky-one and DCC to Tarmac over the Cobbles on Castleforbes road and stop the trucks doing 80MPH at 3 am i'd be fairly satisfied!

By the way has anyone been billed by sky conway yet?
I paid the €60 installation fee, but havn't been charged any service fee yet...

yeah i was charged alright :-( Guess you are lucky, keep quite on that one i guess!!

Got clearwire myself today delivered to the office so looking forward to trying it out tonight.

JackSpock, where did you hear that about the shop? Anyone talking to Danninger on this one?

Victor

I was at the Luas Line C1 public inquiry today. Apparently there is a bunch of collapsed ducts and drains in the area.

Inquiry continues tomorrow until Thursday-Friday
http://www.railwayinquiries.ie/Public_Hearings/Public_Hearings/Navigation.html

JACKSPOCK

My understanding , based on a conversation with Johnny Cullen of Danninger in early May is that a shop is due to open at Castleforbes Sq. by early July under the SPAR francise.

He also informed that the reason that construction work had stopped on the site acroos the road from Block C was that Liam Carroll ( owner of Danninger) had managed to agree a deal with the owner of TAB tyres who were occupying a small section of the site. The deal involved purchasing their plot of land , offering them temporary accommodation in Castelforbes Bussines park ( which Danninger alos own and is due for ultimate redevelopment) and wait for this offering them an apartment in Block E.

Danninger are also in negotiations with the owners of the A1 waste depot on Sherrif St. They are clearly trying to buy of all avaialable parcels of land in the area. You can see why given the plans for the Point Village ,which by the way can be viewed by visiting wwwpointvillage.ie.


On anothe note I have been hasseling Dublin City Council / Abandoned vehicles section for the last few weeks to get the abandoned trailers removed from Castleforbes road.
Got good news yesterday from a council official Martin Daly ( PH. No. 2225349) that the council have visited the area called into all the local traders/ business's with a view to findind out who owns the trailers, they have also done a leaflet drop in the area. On the basis that no one comes forward in the next couple of weeks to admit they own the vehicles , then the council will tow away the trailers. So we should see the trailers removed by end of June latest.

Cheers Jackspock

reallybad

Jack thats just great news on everything pretty much!


i reckon SPAR should be in soon because all the activity thats going on there at the moment looks like snagging, eg re-laying floor, cleaning windows etc....



I was onto the coucil earlier this morning myself giving out about the rubbish. this is the second time i called them. I complained to them before about the illegal dumping about 4 weeks ago and the came out in afew hours and cleaned it up however the left a lot of loose debris about the place. And ye all may have noticed the filth of the place when it gets anyway blustry. There are still matresses and other such rubbish around the place under trailers so i demanded that they clean the entire street properly. I will inspect this evening and continue to call them until the place gets cleaned up. Its just not good enough at this stage

I also was attempting to contact people in relation to the parking of the truck trailers but the asshole i was on the phone to in the counil this morning was less than helpful. I would hpe to call them again today on this. I noticed last night also at 11pm on my way home that there were about 6 articulated trucks parked on the street even though there is a 3tonne limit on the street and they are parked illegally.
Apart from approaching these guys at night(which i have no intention of doing) is there anything we can do? they seem to ignore the signs the council have there?


Also have you guys noticed that the council have started digging down towards CF this morning(was in rush so didnt stop to ask what for)

reallybad

Victor wrote:

I was at the Luas Line C1 public inquiry today. Apparently there is a bunch of collapsed ducts and drains in the area.

Inquiry continues tomorrow until Thursday-Friday
http://www.railwayinquiries.ie/Public_Hearings/Public_Hearings/Navigation.html

Hi Victor,

was there any outcome with this?

JACKSPOCK

Hi Reallybad and anyone else out there.

Best advice on preventing trucks parking at night is to get on to all the public representatives in the area.

Angle to take is that the area is in transistion from from a industrial / warehouse area into a residential area ( ie. voters). Cnat remember the last time I saw a truck at a polling booth.

The parking of large unlit trucks / trailers apart from the negative visual impact is a potential safety and security risk for pedestrians walking on Castleforbes road ( muggers and other low life could easily hide behind the parked truck).

Lets all get on to our public reps and push them into getting the city council and the gardai to prevent truck parking in the area.

On an other note - the bus service in the area is very poor. Given that the LUAS will not be operational till very late 2008 at the earliest we need to get on to Dublin Bus and the public reps for the area and demand a more frequent service on the 53 route - with stops at Castleforbes road on iits way in / out of the city.

It our home now if we dont push for change no one will.

Finally if any of you are interested in finding out what is going to be built on the Liffey Trust site - then you can view a model of the building on www.sca.ie/pages/projects/lt2.htm

Cheers Jack

reallybad

JACKSPOCK wrote:

Hi Reallybad and anyone else out there.

Best advice on preventing trucks parking at night is to get on to all the public representatives in the area.

Angle to take is that the area is in transistion from from a industrial / warehouse area into a residential area ( ie. voters). Cnat remember the last time I saw a truck at a polling booth.

The parking of large unlit trucks / trailers apart from the negative visual impact is a potential safety and security risk for pedestrians walking on Castleforbes road ( muggers and other low life could easily hide behind the parked truck).

Lets all get on to our public reps and push them into getting the city council and the gardai to prevent truck parking in the area.

On an other note - the bus service in the area is very poor. Given that the LUAS will not be operational till very late 2008 at the earliest we need to get on to Dublin Bus and the public reps for the area and demand a more frequent service on the 53 route - with stops at Castleforbes road on iits way in / out of the city.

It our home now if we dont push for change no one will.

Finally if any of you are interested in finding out what is going to be built on the Liffey Trust site - then you can view a model of the building on www.sca.ie/pages/projects/lt2.htm

Cheers Jack

I actually contacted Dublin bus already on this matter. They have told me that due to traffic congestion that they cant revise the bus service in the area. However when the port tunnel opens they plan to open the the route for debate. If you look at the point village site you will see mention of bus corridors

D.S.

Hi,

Sorry to move slightly off the topic but I am about to sign contracts on Friday for an apartment in Block E of Castleforbes. Is there anything I should watch out for regarding this development such as during the snag list etc? What is the property managment company like?

Thanks a mill..

reallybad

D.S. wrote:

Hi,

Sorry to move slightly off the topic but I am about to sign contracts on Friday for an apartment in Block E of Castleforbes. Is there anything I should watch out for regarding this development such as during the snag list etc? What is the property managment company like?

Thanks a mill..

Hi DS and welcome!
No i personally found that the snags were done VERY efficiently and to a high standard. Just make sure that youre windows are cleaned and are scratch free. The people who put up the balcony damaged ours and the glass had to be replaced. The worst part of my apartment was the paint work, it was of a very low standard, most notibly the mess the painters left behind them so i asked for it to be re-painted and i was very happy with the result.

All in all i have not had a problem.

So far the management company have been average. Hard to contact them but when i finally did they ensure me that there is going to be a person on grounds fulltime for people to contact which i will hope will make a big difference. I would hope to see a dramatic improvement in Block D cleanliness in the common areas when this happens. The entrance is at a much lower standard than the blocks with show apartments

D.S.

reallybad wrote:

Hi DS and welcome!
No i personally found that the snags were done VERY efficiently and to a high standard. Just make sure that youre windows are cleaned and are scratch free. The people who put up the balcony damaged ours and the glass had to be replaced. The worst part of my apartment was the paint work, it was of a very low standard, most notibly the mess the painters left behind them so i asked for it to be re-painted and i was very happy with the result.

All in all i have not had a problem.

So far the management company have been average. Hard to contact them but when i finally did they ensure me that there is going to be a person on grounds fulltime for people to contact which i will hope will make a big difference. I would hope to see a dramatic improvement in Block D cleanliness in the common areas when this happens. The entrance is at a much lower standard than the blocks with show apartments

Cheers for that....

geecee

Hi DS
Make sure the waste outlet pipe from your toilet is going down (and not up)
Sounds like a joke... but i had to get mine changed

Also check imersion is working, timer expecially

I have had to have my immersion, bathroom striplight and bathroom heater replaced so far.

My biggest regret when i snagged is that i never noticed all teh "hammerite" specs on my windows...Possibly from when the balconies were primed/painted... they only became apparent after I physically cleaned the windows insdide and out

The only thing is the builders are great and Johnny and Martin are very helpful and genuinely care about making the customer satisfied.

With regard to castleforbes road, I can't understand when they are bothering to re-cobble the road... it may look quaint... but Tarmac is far better (especially if you are on a bike, or for noise absorbtion)

I have yet to hear back from any of the DCC councillors with regard to teh DCC/Eircom ducting issue.

The competition authority have rang me to get more details and they are looking into the whole sky-conway momopoly issue.

Finally there is a planning permission notice gone up on tyhe retail space under the block E "tower".... looking for PP to change from restaurant spcace to retail unit... so we may have to wait a while before we get our spar!

Spar is a complete rip off... but at least it'll be near by... so we won't have to go all the way to the IFSC or Ringsend(without doubt the most expensive in Ireland... €1.20 for a litre of milk) to get ripped off!

Victor

reallybad wrote:

Hi Victor, was there any outcome with this?

Its still ongoing. It will mostly likely happen but Bank or Ireland and Citibroup are really nervous about disruption. Expected work programme is 20 months, but won't start for a few months yet.

More information here: http://www.rpa.ie/luas/railway_orders/line_c1

geecee wrote:

My biggest regret when i snagged is that i never noticed all teh "hammerite" specs on my windows...Possibly from when the balconies were primed/painted... they only became apparent after I physically cleaned the windows insdide and out

Use a flat razor blade. The sharper teh better.

Sponge Bob

geecee wrote:

Could this be the Duct work that we have been waiting for?

I have been told by the wise ones that DCC will not licence ANY duct work in ANY street where the Luas will go .

The Luas contractors will instead design an integrated plan to ensure that all services are relocated to where they can be accessed once the Luas track is in. DCC do not want to be sued for messing this up and causing delays so they have called a dead stop to the issuing of dig permits on those streets.

Thats ESB / Water / Eircom /NTL / Gas relocation in one single plan.

In the meantime NO DIGGING BY EIRCOM THEMSELVES for 2 or 3 years .

You will have to find out who gets the Luas Build Contract and make sure the telco stuff is prioritised somehow.

HTH

R Cogs

Moving in to Block E in a few weeks. Looking forward to it with all the good info / vibe here thus far.

Regarding the snag. Should I get a 'professional' in to do it. Did anyone use one they were particularly happy with whom they could recommend ?

reallybad

R Cogs wrote:

Moving in to Block E in a few weeks. Looking forward to it with all the good info / vibe here thus far.

Regarding the snag. Should I get a 'professional' in to do it. Did anyone use one they were particularly happy with whom they could recommend ?

Geting a professional is purely up to yourself on this one. I myself in my student days worked for 6 years on sites with builders electricians and plumbers so i would reckon i would have a good enough eye on what could be wrong. If you have no experience at all in the filed then maybe ask someone you know or get a professional in. In general from my experience Danninger have them to a pretty good standard.

If you do decide to do it yourself then my advice would be to make sure that you get a few others to do it with you. Like i did it and also my dad and my brother did their own separate snags then we were able to bring the 3 together in case we missed anything.

reallybad

Guys i had to ring the council again this morning, ye may(or may not have noticed) the rubbish which somebody dumped under the truck trailer(household waste in blue refuse sacks).

this is very worrying that they are easily dumping here with no concern for the people of the area.

geecee

My Clearwire connection is gone to sh1t over the last few days... I guess all the new people in Castleforbes are robbing my Bandwidth!

I was on to Eircom again this morning and there is still no update as to when the phone lines will be installed...

I have being trying to ring Maria Jonsson the Escalations Manager to see if she could shed any more light on the situation...but only getting voicemail this morning...

RB, Have you heard anything new from NTL

JACKSPOCK

Just to let you know I was onto the City Council Cleansing Dept. this morning to complain about the rubbish being left on Castleforbes road.

Got a firm committment that it would be cleaned up today.

Also requested that the Cleaning of Castleforbes road be put onto a regular weekly schedule ( apparently it is not as present). The official I spoke to said he would put this request as a formal proposal to his supervisor. He has just phoned me back to confirm that a refuge cleaning vehicle will include Castleforbes road on weekly schedule from this week onwards.

Regards Jack S.

ryan27

hey,

does anybody know if there are roof gardens on block D & E? I'm a resident of Block D and like other city centre apt blocks it would be interesting to see if we have access to them. Plus if there is any power points attached up there or BBQ equipment.

Could be fun to have a BBQ this summer to welcome all residents and share in our phone, broadband, city council stories... information is power.. and a couple of bottles of vino would sure help

JACKSPOCK

Great idea about a residents BBQ.

Not all blocks have a roof garden. Block E does have one. I was told when purchasing my appartment that all residents of Castleforbes square have full use of all common areas such as courtyards / roof gardens etc.

Why not invite all residents from Blocks C, D and E. to a BBQ

D.S.

Contracts signed on my place in Block E.., will be a few weeks before everything else is closed. Broadband wise, is Clearwire still the only option after SkyConway?? What are general broadband speeds like in Castleforbes?

reallybad

geecee wrote:

My Clearwire connection is gone to sh1t over the last few days... I guess all the new people in Castleforbes are robbing my Bandwidth!

I was on to Eircom again this morning and there is still no update as to when the phone lines will be installed...

I have being trying to ring Maria Jonsson the Escalations Manager to see if she could shed any more light on the situation...but only getting voicemail this morning...

RB, Have you heard anything new from NTL

NTL told me it could be at least weeks but most probably months before they get anything from Danninger so i would not hold my breath

There is a roof garden on block D, (dublin port end of the block).

unfortunatley DS that yes clearwire is the only option for the meantime :-(

jdc78

The middle part of Block E does not have a roof top garden nor access to other rooftop gardens because we have not been given access to the doors. Seen a few people up there and looks like they've been having a good time.

delog

Hi guys,
I'm hoping to close on an apartment in Block C and maybe move in end of the month. Just wondering if anyone has an extra parking space to rent seeing as it seems to be a premium commodity at the moment? Would anyone also know if the developers have laxed the ruling on one beds having parking? Thanks.

geecee

CAr park is mostly empty from what i can see!
No more than 4-5 cars parked under Block D on any night....

Incidentally i motice that Spar 0 Coming Soon signs have gone up Friday Afternoon... Wonder where they will get the phone lines to run their credit Card and ATM machines?

Also i noticed that Brooks timber yard is closing down tomorrow... Anyone an idea whats scheduled to go in there?

Goosey

The pub around the corner on the quays is closing in 2 weeks for good.
Everything is changing quite fast.

JACKSPOCK

The situation with the Brooks Thomas is as follows.

In 2004 Danniger did a deal to purchase the Brooks Thomas sites in the north docklands. There are 3 adjacent but separate sites. A condition of the deal was that Danniger would allow Brooks an 18 month period to vacate the sites. The first of the sites is being vacted this month. Brooks are relocating their operation to Balbriggan. Presume to rest of the operation will follow over the next few months.

I have been on the DDDA to enquire about planning permission applications / grants for these sites. The situation is that Danninger have yet to lodge a planning application. Because the land in the general dockland area is considered to be contaminated the delveloper will have to excavate the surface soil on the 3 Brooks sites down to a depth of approx 2 mts. This soil will have to be trucked out of the area. This work needs to be done before any building work commences.
Based on the above it could be another 1 - 2 years before any development starts.This is the last large plot of land between Spencer Dock and Castleforbes Sq / Point Village so Danninger may want to keep their options open as to what type of development they decide to go with. Hotel / offices may be be more attrative than appartments.

On a related topic. I also discovered from the DDDA that planning permission has been granted for 200 appartments for the office of public works site off Castleforbes Road ( rear of Tile Style).

Cheers JS

geecee

Got a flyer in from Sly conway this morning....

Sky Conway-Internet with Attitude:
Speed: 1MB/1MB
Contention 48:1
€35.99 Per monthg + €75 install
No download Limits and unlimited usage
More bandwidth only a phone call

Seems like a rip-off to me and another complete screw over on the Monopolised tennants/owners of This disgraceful excuse of a development by Danninger...

I think another call to the competition authority is called for!

geecee

I spoke with Maria from Eircom Escalations this morning:

Contractors are now in place to supply the Eircom ducting to Castleforbes.

The contractors hope to have a licence to Dig before the weekend and they are then waiting on cable, which they expect next week.

It will then take them 10 days to dig and install ducting and a further 2 weeks before Eircom have the lines live.

So a hopeful estimate is that we could have phone lines with 4 weeks...
And I guess another 3-4 weeks before DSL can be installed

Then it'll be Bye-bye to clearwire time!

RB,
Have you had any updates from NTL?