Limerick improvement projects

zulutango

Jose Maria wrote: »

That's the problem Councillors like Frankie Daly(Who's a decent bloke) are elected on social issues and are then tasked with making decisions on how the city center should look, it's crazy, is there not a city architect/engineer signing off these things

The answer is that there is no qualified urban designer signing off on urban design / public realm interventions in the city. The decisions are being taken by unqualified personnel. An engineer is not qualified to do this. An architect is probably better qualified, although not necessarily the right person either. Because unqualified people at senior levels are making these decisions, they are getting them spectacularly wrong. It's why we have these crappy footpaths and thousands of stainless steel bollards and statues appearing out of nowhere.

It's as simple as this. If the Council want to greatly reduce the criticism they routinely face from the public, they need to start putting professionals in the right positions.

zulutango

It's being reported by Daniel Butler on twitter that the new timeline for O'Connell Street is at least 4 years. Jesus wept.

Silentcorner

zulutango wrote: »

The answer is that there is no qualified urban designer signing off on urban design / public realm interventions in the city. The decisions are being taken by unqualified personnel. An engineer is not qualified to do this. An architect is probably better qualified, although not necessarily the right person either. Because unqualified people at senior levels are making these decisions, they are getting them spectacularly wrong. It's why we have these crappy footpaths and thousands of stainless steel bollards and statues appearing out of nowhere.

It's as simple as this. If the Council want to greatly reduce the criticism they routinely face from the public, they need to start putting professionals in the right positions.

That is an insult to all of us...but sadly typical.

I remember a taking in a talk one time, about the three bridges that cross the Shannon, when you consider Thomond Bridge and Sarsfield Bridge were built before independence, if I'm not mistaken, local business people provided the funds for Sarsfield bridge where at the time no expense was spared....then you have Shannon Bridge...

We have been unfortunate in this city in that we are probably Ireland's best example of what is wrong with a very centralised system of government.

James Bond Junior

I was in town today for the first time in a few weeks. Been away at the weekend etc. The tarmac is actually worse than I thought.

damowill

It could now be at least 2022 before the €9m revitalisation scheme in O’Connell Street is complete.

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/314315/fresh-delays-to-9m-redevelopment-plan-for-limericks-main-street.html#.WwPi_nZrMsg.twitter

LeoD

Are the updated plans for O'Connell Street a state secret or are the council too afraid/embarrassed to show them to anyone?

tototoe

damowill wrote: »

It could now be at least 2022 before the €9m revitalisation scheme in O’Connell Street is complete.

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/314315/fresh-delays-to-9m-redevelopment-plan-for-limericks-main-street.html#.WwPi_nZrMsg.twitter

That is an absolute disgrace. How long are they talking about this and now its another 4 years. Anyone involved in this should be sacked imo. The main thoroughfare of Limerick is a dump

zulutango

I wonder have the lost the funding from Europe. If I remember correctly, it was reported 2 years ago that the project had to be completed in 2018 in order to draw down the money.

Regardless, it sounds like they've made a hames of it. What's changed now, two years on, that they need to do it via An Bord Pleanála rather than as a Part 8 planning application? I'm not sure this would be tolerated in the private sector.

Vladimir Poontang

The whole city is like a gross monument to bad decision making and cronyism since the 70's.

brighterdays

What in the absolute F is that tarmac? Please do not tell me that's permanent?? It's a holy show! Between the braniac who chose limestone for Bedford Row in a rainy city, to this, I have to wonder do people in the council live in Limerick??

sleepyman

brighterdays wrote: »

What in the absolute F is that tarmac? Please do not tell me that's permanent?? It's a holy show! Between the braniac who chose limescale for Bedford Row in a rainy city, to this, I have to wonder do people in the council live in Limerick??

That tarmac is a f**king disgrace-I'd love to know who in the council thought that was a good idea.

brighterdays

Arrival wrote: »

Like something you'd see in a poor Eastern European city. Hopefully someone can find out it's temporary, but I doubt it

Pffft! You wouldn't even see that in a Eastern European county! Serbia for example. I think we need to stop acting like we're this highly developed country. We have some great developments but we're backwards in many other aspects.

On a main street? Who OK'd this? It's disgraceful. What business wants to set up shop with the state of that? Even current businesses hate it.

We defo need to send some emails and make noise. Sorry but that's just disgraceful. The old path wasn't even bad? If it's not being done for four years why did they lay the tarmac down now???

You can contact them here. If you have a social following, please share. Enough really is enough. https://www.limerick.ie/form/have-your-say

testicles

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brighterdays

testicles wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Close enough :pac::p

Fine. You wouldn't even find it in Romania, Ukraine... It's ****e. You know what I mean lol

James Bond Junior

https://www.limerick.ie/form/have-your-say

Can this be stickied? The more people who know it is there and use it the better. There are fantastic points made here daily which could be copied and pasted to be submitted. The more we rattle cages, the more the council will have to take note.

chicorytip

brighterdays wrote:

What in the absolute F is that tarmac? Please do not tell me that's permanent?? It's a holy show! Between the braniac who chose limestone for Bedford Row in a rainy city, to this, I have to wonder do people in the council live in Limerick??

It's called "Ecoflex", a cheap substitute for tarmac. The council have been using it for some years now to resurface pathways in housing estates around town. It's laid in a thin layer on top of the existing concrete but is not long lasting at all - breaks up very easily. I think they use an outside contractor to do the job, some crowd from Roscommon.

Mc Love

They are still doing it this morning - on upper mallow st.

Spent all their money on statues!

Vladimir Poontang

Jesus H. Christ.

dave 27

Thanks for the link to the council James Bond Junior,

I sent them an email this morning about the condition of the footpaths with this so called tar and the reply i got was as follows;

"I wish to acknowledge receipt of your email in relation to Footpath Maintenance.

I have been advised by James Moylan, Roads Engineer that;

'As you are aware, plans for the re-development of O’Connell Street are being drawn up and this will include a new surface for roads and pedestrian areas. In the interim it is necessary to address the deterioration of sections of the footpath in the core city centre area in the most efficient manner possible.

The works involved a two-stage process, of applying two separate layers once the final layer is applied it takes a number of weeks for the final finish to be reached as the product tones down and achieves a smooth surface.

It is very important to note that all the areas resurfaced with the new surface is exactly the same as the one it replaced. All of the footpaths surfaces were already Ecoflex, that have aged as a result of age, weather and footfall.'

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Brett, S.O.,

Operations & Maintenance Services (North)"

A load of bo!!ox in my opinion!

zulutango

There you have it .. roads engineers deciding what's good enough for the city centre. It's about time we put qualified professionals in decision making positions.

jbkenn

zulutango wrote: »

There you have it .. roads engineers deciding what's good enough for the city centre. It's about time we put qualified professionals in decision making positions.

This seems to be the genius responsible
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-moylan-511a455b/
From his linkedin profile

Experienced Civil Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the government administration industry. Skilled in Budgeting, Microsoft Excel, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Procurement, and Engineering. Strong engineering professional with a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) focused in Civil Engineering from The University of Dundee.

Unfortunately for the citizens of Limerick he doesn't seem to have much expertise on footpaths

mart 23

jbkenn wrote: »

This seems to be the genius responsible
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-moylan-511a455b/
From his linkedin profile

Unfortunately for the citizens of Limerick he doesn't seem to have much expertise on footpaths

I would expect a person who has a degree in Civil Engineering would have studied all aspects of roads and footpath design and the materials required . Maybe they should ask the posters here for their opinions before they commence any work in the future

dave 27

Im sure cow sh!t has some sort of practical purpose if used correctly too but i dont expect it to be used on our streets, what is used here is totally unacceptable.

They talk about buildings that are proposed that change the character of our city which are then refused planning, yet something like this can be acceptable for our streets?

I remember walking down O connell st when i was very young in the early 90s and i always remember the big square pavers which reminded me of something youd see in new york because of the wideness of the footpath too, even they were ten times better then this. Like previously stated this should not be tolerated and i think the above link should be stickied on the Limerick forum.

zulutango

mart 23 wrote: »

I would expect a person who has a degree in Civil Engineering would have studied all aspects of roads and footpath design and the materials required . Maybe they should ask the posters here for their opinions before they commence any work in the future

As a civil engineer Mr. Moylan can design footpaths to a safe standard. But he isn't qualified to decide what kind of footpaths should go in a city centre. Safety is not the only requirement. He doesn't appear to have any urban design expertise. Limerick deserves much better than having roads engineers deciding the aesthetics of the public realm. You wouldn't ask a structural engineer to do an architect's job, and you shouldn't ask a roads engineer to do an urban designer's job.

Cookiemunster

dave 27 wrote: »

Im sure cow sh!t has some sort of practical purpose if used correctly too but i dont expect it to be used on our streets, what is used here is totally unacceptable.

They talk about buildings that are proposed that change the character of our city which are then refused planning, yet something like this can be acceptable for our streets?

I remember walking down O connell st when i was very young in the early 90s and i always remember the big square pavers which reminded me of something youd see in new york because of the wideness of the footpath too, even they were ten times better then this. Like previously stated this should not be tolerated and i think the above link should be stickied on the Limerick forum.

What buildings would these be? The council granted permission to the Rugby museum, the extension to the Savoy and the Bishops Quay building over the last year or so.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote: »

What buildings would these be? The council granted permission to the Rugby museum, the extension to the Savoy and the Bishops Quay building over the last year or so.

It really shows how lowly they value heritage and aesthetic of the city centre.

Cookiemunster

zulutango wrote: »

It really shows how lowly they value heritage and aesthetic of the city centre.

And that's got what exactly to do with the point I was making?

testicles

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zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote: »

And that's got what exactly to do with the point I was making?

It was an observation on your point. Is that not allowed or something?

Vladimir Poontang

Perfect canvas for "FIRE THE COUNCIL" messages to be painted on every one of them