Limerick improvement projects

topcat72

kilburn wrote: »

Not fully correct but fact remains it still floods.

This is on the other ( southern ) side of the canal though, that ground is higher - the flooding went to the ( northern ) grove island side behind Ardscoil Mhuire . And as it was me that phoned the council alert line at 6.20 that night to tell them the canal had burst its banks i know exactly where it broke through - under the Pa Healy road bridge , and it started to wear away the canal bank ( rapidly) on the northern side . Waterways Ireland were responsible only in the sense that they were unavailable to open the lock gates, but the water was already far too high at that stage ( as indeed it had been for the previous two weeks) The canal bank was closed off for safety but I always go home that way so I witnessed it happening - as strictly speaking I should not have been on the walkway
My own boy with finger in the dyke moment....

The only flood fears id have for this development is if they fail to seal any basement well enough, but given its beside the canal, i cant see any builder not being aware of this.

kilburn

All true but it's the council who were responsible to open that gate that night.

They ignored residents warnings for 48 hrs that the bank was going to breach.

Fair play to you for ringing them pity they didn't respond quicker as it would have saved locals much hardship

ricimaki

Its great to have residential developments close to the city centre. Badly needed and long over due

source

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/506454/major-development-on-the-horizon-for-limerick-as-multi-million-euro-plans-are-submitted.html#.XhRGoxCiJ9U.twitter

Parkway Valley plans ready for planning, basically as previously described.

dominatinMC

source wrote: »

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/506454/major-development-on-the-horizon-for-limerick-as-multi-million-euro-plans-are-submitted.html#.XhRGoxCiJ9U.twitter

Parkway Valley plans ready for planning, basically as previously described.

A welcome development. Anything would be an improvement on the current eyesore, but the fact that a lot of it will be residential (rather than retail) is an added bonus

source

dominatinMC wrote: »

A welcome development. Anything would be an improvement on the current eyesore, but the fact that a lot of it will be residential (rather than retail) is an added bonus

Hopefully it'll be planned right from a traffic management point of view.

damowill

source wrote: »

Hopefully it'll be planned right from a traffic management point of view.

Its certainly welcome and would hate to see objections, but with this and the new school on clare street, with a possible exit/entrance from the Pa Healy road, traffic could be aggravated and impact those living in Corbally and the Northside.

That said, those choosing to live in this area will most likely be working in the City Centre, and therefore would have low vehicle usage...

dominatinMC

damowill wrote: »

Its certainly welcome and would hate to see objections, but with this and the new school on clare street, with a possible exit/entrance from the Pa Healy road, traffic could be aggravated and impact those living in Corbally and the Northside.

That said, those choosing to live in this area will most likely be working in the City Centre, and therefore would have low vehicle usage...

There is a decent-enough bus service on that route, so hopefully people living there will avail of that..

dave 27

dominatinMC wrote: »

There is a decent-enough bus service on that route, so hopefully people living there will avail of that..

Is that the UL bus route?

Mc Love

Hopefully people would start to cycle more to work/school and reduce the amount of traffic on the road.

kilburn

Flood defences application gone in for Kings Island welcome move finally.

Shame they did not have the cop on to include residents concerns on building walls on one side of the river at Athlunkard Boat Club and not the other.

tototoe

Is there any update on the revamp of O'Connel Street or the decision on the Opera site?
Also seems to be a new planning / site notice on the old ESB building, didnt get to read it though. Anyone know the status.

Cookiemunster

tototoe wrote: »

Is there any update on the revamp of O'Connel Street or the decision on the Opera site?
Also seems to be a new planning / site notice on the old ESB building, didnt get to read it though. Anyone know the status.

The decision on the Opera site is due this month according to the ABP site.

The tower at Bishops Quay (ESB site) is being reduced from 15 to 7 storeys, so a new application had to be submitted.

Not sure about O'Connell St., but work is supposed to start this year.

stefanovich

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The decision on the Opera site is due this month according to the ABP site.

The tower at Bishops Quay (ESB site) is being reduced from 15 to 7 storeys, so a new application had to be submitted.

Not sure about O'Connell St., but work is supposed to start this year.

Pfft. Too phallic?

Arrival

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The decision on the Opera site is due this month according to the ABP site.

The tower at Bishops Quay (ESB site) is being reduced from 15 to 7 storeys, so a new application had to be submitted.

Not sure about O'Connell St., but work is supposed to start this year.

Worst decision possible, they should be increasing the height/density of accommodation units available in that area as much as possible to get more people living in the centre. Such basic stuff yet they'll never learn

Cookiemunster

Arrival wrote: »

Worst decision possible, they should be increasing the height/density of accommodation units available in that area as much as possible to get more people living in the centre. Such basic stuff yet they'll never learn

They tower was supposed to be an office block. The smaller 7 storey building will also be an office block. No apartments have been lost from the development.


On the subject of accommodation, John Moran tweeted earlier about an announcement about the LDA plans around Colbert Station tomorrow at 3pm.
Hopefully we'll see some kind of master plan because I'm at a loss as to exactly where they intend to build.

https://twitter.com/moranjohna1/status/1215234730620264451

Arrival

Cookiemunster wrote: »

They tower was supposed to be an office block. The smaller 7 storey building will also be an office block. No apartments have been lost from the development.


On the subject of accommodation, John Moran tweeted earlier about an announcement about the LDA plans around Colbert Station tomorrow at 3pm.
Hopefully we'll see some kind of master plan because I'm at a loss as to exactly where they intend to build.

https://twitter.com/moranjohna1/status/1215234730620264451

Jesus, that makes it even worse. This city is just wasted potential everywhere you look. All along that river should've been high rise apartments, with some mixed office space if needed, with decent commercial units on the ground floors for more pubs, cafes, restaurants. With the boardwalk there and a nice population of people living there it would've made that area of the river lovely with good foot traffic and a bit of atmosphere, even better if the road was taken away so it's fully pedestrianised. Just don't understand how nobody's thinking along these lines for this city's development, Limerick should be the nicest city in the country. It's a massive issue too, developments like this which waste the potential of such valuable areas in the centre, because once they're there that's it, they'll be there for decades and that space can't be changed. Depressing

kilburn

Arrival wrote:

Jesus, that makes it even worse. This city is just wasted potential everywhere you look. All along that river should've been high rise apartments, with some mixed office space if needed, with decent commercial units on the ground floors for more pubs, cafes, restaurants. With the boardwalk there and a nice population of people living there it would've made that area of the river lovely with good foot traffic and a bit of atmosphere, even better if the road was taken away so it's fully pedestrianised. Just don't understand how nobody's thinking along these lines for this city's development, Limerick should be the nicest city in the country. It's a massive issue too, developments like this which waste the potential of such valuable areas in the centre, because once they're there that's it, they'll be there for decades and that space can't be changed. Depressing

Unfortunately business model comes first if you can't fill a 14 storey office block no point building it

Arrival

kilburn wrote: »

Unfortunately business model comes first if you can't fill a 14 storey office block no point building it

But that's the issue, if they can't fill office space then go for building residential blocks. Instead of eliminating those extra floors because they couldn't fill them they could've been apartments. There's basically nobody living in the actual city centre, there's a serious shortage of nice apartments to attract people into living in the centre and that's having a huge negative effect on the centre.

tototoe

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/limerick-steps-closer-to-2bn-redevelopment-today-974593.html

Mc Love

Walking past that absolute waste of space Eir lot - its a joke that, that space hasnt been developed either

Treepole

Arrival wrote: »

But that's the issue, if they can't fill office space then go for building residential blocks. Instead of eliminating those extra floors because they couldn't fill them they could've been apartments. There's basically nobody living in the actual city centre, there's a serious shortage of nice apartments to attract people into living in the centre and that's having a huge negative effect on the centre.

These people are in the business of trying to make money. If they thought (and their funders thought) they would make money with a 14 storey mix of office and accommodation then they would build it. I do agree there is a serious shortage of good quality accommodation in the city center. But again Limerick is small. You will only have so many young professionals who want to live in an apartment. You have a lot of suburbs with much larger standard semi d's less than a 10 minute drive from Bishops Quay.

keane2097

Treepole wrote: »

These people are in the business of trying to make money. If they thought (and their funders thought) they would make money with a 14 storey mix of office and accommodation then they would build it. I do agree there is a serious shortage of good quality accommodation in the city center. But again Limerick is small. You will only have so many young professionals who want to live in an apartment. You have a lot of suburbs with much larger standard semi d's less than a 10 minute drive from Bishops Quay.

I'm pretty sure they wanted to build a residential block and the council told them to build commercial instead.

mdmix

keane2097 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they wanted to build a residential block and the council told them to build commercial instead.

yes, see below post from this thread, apparently the developer met with the council and was encouraged away from residential and towards an office development. image is available in original post p98.

zulutango wrote: »

Here you go. I got this from the Architectural Statement in the planning file. You can sift through it yourself if you go on to the planning section of the Council's website. The reference number is 16800.

mdmix

Treepole wrote: »

These people are in the business of trying to make money. If they thought (and their funders thought) they would make money with a 14 storey mix of office and accommodation then they would build it. I do agree there is a serious shortage of good quality accommodation in the city center. But again Limerick is small. You will only have so many young professionals who want to live in an apartment. You have a lot of suburbs with much larger standard semi d's less than a 10 minute drive from Bishops Quay.

also, just because the developer couldn't source funding doesn't mean it would not be profitable. developers in every town and city on the island are out looking for money for projects and finance is still tight in Ireland. financiers may just see cork and dublin as more profitable. while responsibility rests with the developer, Limerick is now the only city in Ireland without a city development plan (current plan written in 2008/09 expired in 2016). there is a lot the council could do to try encourage private development, but without a single qualified urban developer employed by the council i dont think we will see any change.

dominatinMC

mdmix wrote: »

yes, see below post from this thread, apparently the developer met with the council and was encouraged away from residential and towards an office development. image is available in original post p98.

We're probably delving into speculation here, but any idea why that was the case? The council (through Limerick 2030) are already overseeing the Gardens project and the Opera Centre - both of which are largely commercial. One would have to question the rationale behind yet more office space

kilburn

dominatinMC wrote: »

We're probably delving into speculation here, but any idea why that was the case? The council (through Limerick 2030) are already overseeing the Gardens project and the Opera Centre - both of which are largely commercial. One would have to question the rationale behind yet more office space

Can only presume they did not want to impact on their plans with the LDA to build 2000 homes on the land bank

pigtown

dominatinMC wrote: »

We're probably delving into speculation here, but any idea why that was the case? The council (through Limerick 2030) are already overseeing the Gardens project and the Opera Centre - both of which are largely commercial. One would have to question the rationale behind yet more office space

The Architectural Design Statement of that application says that following consultation with the council AND taking account of current and projected market demand they decided to go with more office space. A council planner would find it very difficult to refuse permission for residential development here (not that I believe they would want to) without it being appealed to ABP who of course would permit it.

I know people love to think the worst of the council but blaming them in this instance is not correct

topper75

Call me a pessimist but the proposals for land around the station sound a little ghettoish - 10,000 people!

Got the feeling of 'here we go again'.

mdmix

dominatinMC wrote: »

We're probably delving into speculation here, but any idea why that was the case? The council (through Limerick 2030) are already overseeing the Gardens project and the Opera Centre - both of which are largely commercial. One would have to question the rationale behind yet more office space

the limerick 2030 economic spatial plan released in 2014 was based off of 2 large inner city projects, kings cross london and a seperate project in New york. Both projects that the 2030 plan were based around existing public transport and in largely dense cities which were heavily populated. the project manager of kings cross redevelopment came to limerick to present to limerick council and advised that what she had learned was that kings cross should have focused more on office and less on residential. limerick council has somehow latched onto this idea despite the fact that the needs of limerick are not the same as the needs of this area of london. limerick does not have functional housing or transport and these are holding us all back.

the 2030 economic and spatial plan was roundly criticized at the time as it did not use cities with similar economic and spatial as case studies. what we need is a city development plan which looks at the whole city and describes the type of development is best suited to each area, building height guidelines per area and population density and targets. the plan also needs to include outline transport strategy and other infrastructure requirements. without that developers are working in the dark and so are financiers.