Limerick improvement projects

Arrival

Should build it as tall as possible to get even more apartments in there if possible and hopefully the apartments are actually built to a high standard and not like the absolute **** we see all over the rest of the city

nim1bdeh38l2cw

zulutango wrote: »

Agreed, it looks promising. Just a point about tall buildings, they don't tend to result in particularly high density as they tend to require a lot of low rise or empty space around them.

Have you never been to New York?

mdmix

just listened to the live 95 podcast on park valley, very promising development. hopefully, considering the eyesore that exists at the moment, we won't see to many objections. Traffic is a big worry, hopefully though the council can include this site (and potential sites near) in the transport strategy due this year and prioritise public transport.

the downside to this is that developers indicate 2020 start date, assuming planning permission is granted and a possible 5-7 year build time. I suppose this is reasonable as its a private company but that just increases the risk of it being held up by the next economic event

Vanquished

mdmix wrote: »

The downside to this is that developers indicate 2020 start date, assuming planning permission is granted and a possible 5-7 year build time. I suppose this is reasonable as its a private company but that just increases the risk of it being held up by the next economic event

In all fairness, when you consider the glacial pace of progress on the 'priority sites' trumpeted by Limerick2030 including the absolute shambles that it is the so-called Project Opera. Just be thankful that the Council hasn't bought the Parkway Valley site.

Cookiemunster

mdmix wrote: »

the downside to this is that developers indicate 2020 start date, assuming planning permission is granted and a possible 5-7 year build time. I suppose this is reasonable as its a private company but that just increases the risk of it being held up by the next economic event

2020 is only 16 months away. As with all large developments it's almost inevitable that planning will end up being appealed to ABP, so they're obviously factoring it in.

And it seems it's to be built on a phased basis with the hotel coming last. So you build the apartments first and get them generating income to finance the next phase.

Shn99

Great news, hopefully there are no planning objections. About something is done to the place

Mc Love

This was shown at the Irish Consulate in New York for the launch of our tourism campaign. Have to say its a great piece of work

https://www.facebook.com/1735310256/posts/10204765618457052/

zulutango

Bexley Petite Scum wrote:

Have you never been to New York?

I have. It's lower latitude and therefore much less issues with shading. Tall buildings at northern latitudes cast much longer shadows, hence they aren't common up here.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote:

2020 is only 16 months away. As with all large developments it's almost inevitable that planning will end up being appealed to ABP, so they're obviously factoring it in.

It more than likely requires an EIAR, in which case it would be a direct application to ABP rather than the Council.

Cookiemunster

zulutango wrote: »

I have. It's lower latitude and therefore much less issues with shading. Tall buildings at northern latitudes cast much longer shadows, hence they aren't common up here.

They've got 100 plus storey skyscrapers with the average height being around 40 storeys We're planning 10-15 storey towers. The height difference would more than make up for the 10 degrees latitude difference when it comes to shading.

And London is only 1 degree lower than Limerick and its got plenty of tall buildings. As have places like Moscow, Frankfurt and Toronto.

zulutango

As incredible as New York is it's not exactly a template for modern city planning. Building high rises right next to each other isn't good practice and that's not really in dispute. The point that in most modern, northern cities high rise doesn't equate to high density because they tend not to be built very near each other, stands.

mdmix

In most countries anything from 5 up to 19 stories is considered mid rise, its only in Ireland that we consider buildings of 10-15 stories high rise. Still tho, tall buildings are not impressive and shouldn’t be built for the sake of it. The travel lodge has set a precedent and seeing as the proposed building is close to existing housing a similar height seems appropriate

zulutango

It's hard to see there being any issue or any reasonable objection with taller buildings in the Horizon Mall / Parkway Valley site. It makes a lot of sense there.

lufties

Arrival wrote: »

Should build it as tall as possible to get even more apartments in there if possible and hopefully the apartments are actually built to a high standard and not like the absolute **** we see all over the rest of the city

Totally agree. Most of the apartment blocks around limerick are awful. You'd want to be mad to buy any.

mdmix

zulutango wrote: »

It's hard to see there being any issue or any reasonable objection with taller buildings in the Horizon Mall / Parkway Valley site. It makes a lot of sense there.

I doubt there will be any reasonable objections, we are almost certain of a few unreasonable objections though.

dave 27

I suppose if the tower by aldi got approved then i see no grounds for any reasonable objection given the need for housing

nim1bdeh38l2cw

zulutango wrote: »

I have. It's lower latitude and therefore much less issues with shading. Tall buildings at northern latitudes cast much longer shadows, hence they aren't common up here.

The City of London?

Shn99

Further details re Parkway Valley emerging today. Singaporean investment group Novelty ICAV will be behind the project. They are hoping to complete the planning process before the end of the year. There are to be TWO hotels, one being a 300 room budget hotel A 4 storey 120 room hotel is to be joined by an 11 storey apart-hotel. There are to be 6 apartment blocks with 191 apartments, 4 storeys of office space and 3 industrial zones. It is expected the development will create 150 permanent jobs once complete.

Architectural Impression attached. Article https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/334904/90m-plan-will-put-150-jobs-on-horizon-for-limerick-as-new-community-planned.html
[IMG][/img]

pigtown

I can see the apart hotel becoming student accommodation. Is there really a demand for that many hotel beds in Castletroy?

Shn99

pigtown wrote: »

I can see the apart hotel becoming student accommodation. Is there really a demand for that many hotel beds in Castletroy?

If there was im sure Travelodge would have taken some advantage already, 420 rooms is a bit much IMO.

mdmix

Shn99 wrote: »

If there was im sure Travelodge would have taken some advantage already, 420 rooms is a bit much IMO.

Travel lodge was bought by UL a few years back who had other plans for it. Castletroy Park is expanding, UL are planning new student accommodation that will serve as a hotel in summer. There probably is a need for extra rooms but not on that scale. I can see future business and events creating more demand, but unless there is some new pull for tourists I can’t see this going well. We will see how it goes, it will be 7 years before it’s built, if it does get built

Shn99

mdmix wrote: »

Travel lodge was bought by UL a few years back who had other plans for it. Castletroy Park is expanding, UL are planning new student accommodation that will serve as a hotel in summer. There probably is a need for extra rooms but not on that scale. I can see future business and events creating more demand, but unless there is some new pull for tourists I can’t see this going well. We will see how it goes, it will be 7 years before it’s built, if it does get built

The council have a crowd hired to brand the city so it might draw something to Limerick. I agree...dont think many are believing it until they see it

Glenomra

Limerick City needs another hotel. The city is progressing rapidly, look at the current demand for housing etc. This could be a very significant development.

rebs23

Proposal after proposal and plans after plans and still very little construction activity. Not one working tower crane and unlikely to be for some time in Limerick.

Cookiemunster

rebs23 wrote: »

Proposal after proposal and plans after plans and still very little construction activity. Not one working tower crane and unlikely to be for some time in Limerick.

We recently had construction on the new courthouse and the Gardens. We could soon have construction on the Savoy extension and the rugby museum. Bishops Quay has planning permission (although admittedly that looks to be stalled for some reason). The only other projects are the Opera center and the new Parkway Valley plan.

There hasn't actually been 'proposal after proposal and plans after plans' in the last few years since the economy picked up. Proposals have been limited and in fact construction has been very limited everywhere in the county outside of Dublin and Cork.

crusha101

Does anyone know where progress with bishops quay project is currently at ?

mdmix

Cookiemunster wrote: »

We recently had construction on the new courthouse and the Gardens. We could soon have construction on the Savoy extension and the rugby museum. Bishops Quay has planning permission (although admittedly that looks to be stalled for some reason). The only other projects are the Opera center and the new Parkway Valley plan.

There hasn't actually been 'proposal after proposal and plans after plans' in the last few years since the economy picked up. Proposals have been limited and in fact construction has been very limited everywhere in the county outside of Dublin and Cork.

Limerick 2030 is nearly 5 years old and it’s only accomplishment in that time is finishing a half built site. We had all heard of opera site plans before limerick 2030 came into existence and have seen heard of multiple different plans for the site since, which has yet to get planning permission. The same is now happening with the cleaves and other sites. There is a limerick 2030 website online which is more of a wishlist than a master plan. There are multiple holes and contradictions in the 2030 plan. I had thought the plan was a first draft but aparantly not.

I don’t underestimate how big the task is but I’m also beginning to feel the frustration. We had limerick councilors hailing the rise of limerick back in 2014 and talk of “overtaking cork”. Now in 2018 Cork developers have approved planning permission for developments which if taken combined eclips the whole limerick 2030 project! A Galway developer this week was granted planning approval for 400 apartments in the city center alongside a new hotel and office blocks.

I understand the limerick 2030 project was long term, but did anyone expect it to take this long to get started? Even the first batch of mungret houses aren’t due till 2020- 2022. Hopefully the opera site starts in the next few months, otherwise things might start to look farcical

Cookiemunster

The only firm proposals from Limerick 2030 were the Gardens and the Opera centre. They own the Cleaves site but no proposals have been made for what they're going to do with it. What other sites do they own?

The Bonham Docks development in Galway that just got permission is mainly commercial and only has student accommodation. It is the only major development in Galway with permission. There are plans for development near Eyre Square and the train station, but at the minute they're only pie in the sky plans. Just like Limerick. Have a look at the Galway forums on Skyscrapercity. The locals are not happy and are actually jealous of Limerick!

And as for Cork. Get real. It's over 3 times larger than Limerick, with a much larger economy and has plenty of central brown field sites. Developers are always going there before places like Limerick. Like I said earlier there is little private development anywhere in the county outside of Dublin and Cork.

zulutango

People are always conflating the Limerick 2030 report and the Limerick 2030 development company. They're two very different things. The former was a first attempt at figuring out how the city could lift itself out of economic decline. The latter is a state owned development company tasked with developing some brownfield and greenfield sites. Mungret, Hanging Gardens or Cleeves were never mentioned in the original report in 2013. The Opera site was.

Vanquished

mdmix wrote: »

Limerick 2030 is nearly 5 years old and it’s only accomplishment in that time is finishing a half built site. We had all heard of opera site plans before limerick 2030 came into existence and have seen heard of multiple different plans for the site since, which has yet to get planning permission.

I understand the limerick 2030 project was long term, but did anyone expect it to take this long to get started? Even the first batch of mungret houses aren’t due till 2020- 2022. Hopefully the opera site starts in the next few months, otherwise things might start to look farcical

The levels of ineptitude and incompetence displayed by Limerick Council/Limerick 2030 DAC in managing the development of the 'opera' site are truly staggering. It has been in their possession for seven years now and we still don't even have a solid coherent plan for the vast site. The planning application which was to be progressed by means of the Part 8 process and finalised by September 2017 was quietly dropped because unbelievably the Council had failed to adhere to the applicable statutory procedures. So we've lost another year and there is still no sign of a fresh application which will likely be submitted to An Bord Pleanala this time around.


Incidentally they made a similar cock-up on the O'Connell Street remodelling scheme. That project has been stuck in limbo since June 2017 because yet again the Council botched the management of the application and failed to satisfy the necessary criteria. You couldn't make this ****e up!