Limerick improvement projects

kilburn

That end of town is dead and it will increase footfall on the main street

Mc Love

kilburn wrote: »

That end of town is dead and it will increase footfall on the main street

That end of town? I can assure where the museum will be located isnt dead by any stretch

johnmolloy554

Vanquished wrote: »

An Taisce are perfectly entitled to make submissions on planning applications. There is a shocking apathy and lack of engagement in Limerick towards the architectural heritage of the city. We seem intent on repeating the mistakes of the past when monstrosities such the AIB bank, George Hotel, Bank of Ireland, National Irish Bank, Cruises Street etc etc. were inflicted upon the city at the expense of buildings of architectural and historical significance.

The 'development at all costs' mentality has inflicted massive damage upon the city centre. Many people seem to be sold on this so-called rugby experience simply because Paul O'Connell is the public face of the project or the constant PR generated hype portraying rugby as the very essence of life in Limerick. Therefore it must go ahead and sure who cares if a couple more historical buildings are lost along the way.

I don't really have anything against a project like this in principle. But the location is all wrong. Shoehorning an incongruous ignorant lump of a building in to a constrained site in the middle of an Architectural Conservation Area is lunacy and should be refused out of hand if we have a functioning planning system. I'd far rather see a facility like this built near the train station, in the Market area or Kings Island for example.

I couldn't give a fiddlers Fnck if Paul O'Connell is involved or not. The fact that JP McManus is going to develop a World Class project in the centre of Limerick probably spending the guts of €30m is to be commended and encouraged. Anyone who has been lucky to visit Adare Manor knows that a sympathetic renovation was completed from top to bottom costing circa €150m.
The fact you are calling it an incongruous ignorant lump is incorrect. It is a wonderful design by Niall McLaughlin who has been shortlisted for a Stirling Prize.

zulutango

Does it matter to anyone that it's in a designated Architectural Area of Conservation? That's the biggest issue here. The Council has laid down a rule here that the buildings must be protected and they hold most people to this rule but they're willing to break it for JP and O'Connell. That's not right. There's locations in the city that it would be more beneficial to and less controversial.

nim1bdeh38l2cw

zulutango wrote: »

Does it matter to anyone that it's in a designated Architectural Area of Conservation? That's the biggest issue here. The Council has laid down a rule here that the buildings must be protected and they hold most people to this rule but they're willing to break it for JP and O'Connell. That's not right. There's locations in the city that it would be more beneficial to and less controversial.

How long should the buildings be protected for though? Eternity?

panda100

Mc Love wrote:

That end of town? I can assure where the museum will be located isnt dead by any stretch

Walked by there today, of the 9 units on that stretch 3 are empty. One is a vape shop, one a takeaway. Hardly a bustling metropolis. Across the road on Cecil Street you have whole units of derelict buildings. But I guess I'm just 'moaning'.

mart 23

Maybe its time the Council reviewed these AAC areas and let some of them remain as AAC and the rest go to their just reward. We need to modernise the City centre and attract business there We wont with the present building layout.

Cookiemunster

panda100 wrote: »

Walked by there today, of the 9 units on that stretch 3 are empty. One is a vape shop, one a takeaway. Hardly a bustling metropolis. Across the road on Cecil Street you have whole units of derelict buildings. But I guess I'm just 'moaning'.

In fairness two of those empty units are the Rugby Experience site, as is the unit behind Fines on Cecil St. The biggest issue on that part of Cecil St. though is across the road at the old globe night club. It was gutted to create a hostel, but the developer went bust leaving it derelict. Now that is a prime city centre site ripe for development.

Vanquished

johnmolloy554 wrote: »

I couldn't give a fiddlers Fnck if Paul O'Connell is involved or not. The fact that JP McManus is going to develop a World Class project in the centre of Limerick probably spending the guts of €30m is to be commended and encouraged. Anyone who has been lucky to visit Adare Manor knows that a sympathetic renovation was completed from top to bottom costing circa €150m.
The fact you are calling it an incongruous ignorant lump is incorrect. It is a wonderful design by Niall McLaughlin who has been shortlisted for a Stirling Prize.

You've just proved my point. Wooed by the profile and status of the people involved. Did you support that pathetic bridge proposal down by the Hunt Museum just because McManus was involved too? Citing Adare Manor as a comparison is ludicrous and laughable. That project involved the preservation and refurbishment of a 200 year old property and the construction of an extension in the same style as the original house in limestone blocks. They didn't go for a gaudy modern design.

The Rugby Experience proposal could not be further removed from sensitive tasteful overhaul of Adare Manor. It involves the complete destruction of a number of buildings and the construction of an indulgent fantasy design concept that is entirely unsympathetic to its surroundings. Have you even studied the plans? He proposes a 2 storey entrance arch on O'Connell Street with a set back seven storey tower behind. If that isn't incongruous and ignorant then I don't know what is. A project like this needs to be built on a large site with plenty of public space and landscaping etc. Only then could the architect be free to design a landmark structure unconstrained by plot size and heritage concerns.

LeoD

Vanquished wrote: »

You've just proved my point. Wooed by the profile and status of the people involved. Did you support that pathetic bridge proposal down by the Hunt Museum just because McManus was involved too? Citing Adare Manor as a comparison is ludicrous and laughable. That project involved the preservation and refurbishment of a 200 year old property and the construction of an extension in the same style as the original house in limestone blocks. They didn't go for a gaudy modern design.

The Rugby Experience proposal could not be further removed from sensitive tasteful overhaul of Adare Manor. It involves the complete destruction of a number of buildings and the construction of an indulgent fantasy design concept that is entirely unsympathetic to its surroundings. Have you even studied the plans? He proposes a 2 storey entrance arch on O'Connell Street with a set back seven storey tower behind. If that isn't incongruous and ignorant then I don't know what is. A project like this needs to be built on a large site with plenty of public space and landscaping etc. Only then could the architect be free to design a landmark structure unconstrained by plot size and heritage concerns.

Are there any renderings of what this building will look like from various angles at street level? All I've seen so far is that stylised front elevation which in no way reflects what the final structure will look like once complete and even disguises the set back tower.

LeoD

zulutango wrote: »

The particular development isn't on a flood plain and isn't in the nature reserve either, although it is beside a Special Area of Conservation. Because it's a Council development it doesn't go through the normal planning process, so people won't get a chance to object. The Councillors do have the power to vote it down though.

Council meeting & vote on this development happening right now I believe. Things are on a knife-edge apparently.
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/336231/council-vote-over-new-social-housing-estate-in-limerick-city-on-a-knife-edge.html

irishproduce

LeoD wrote: »

Council meeting & vote on this development happening right now I believe. Things are on a knife-edge apparently.
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/336231/council-vote-over-new-social-housing-estate-in-limerick-city-on-a-knife-edge.html

They were all passed, see it on leader web front page.

Mc Love

This is what Limerick should be aiming towards. It would be fantastic

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/paradise-life-spanish-city-banned-cars-pontevedra

Cookiemunster

Mc Love wrote: »

This is what Limerick should be aiming towards. It would be fantastic

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/paradise-life-spanish-city-banned-cars-pontevedra

The advantage of having directly elected mayors with executive powers who get to keep the taxes raised in their city for use in their city. Everywhere in Ireland is hamstrung by the system of local government being a relic of the 19th century which is not fit for running a 21st century city. Even the UK dumped that system 30-40 years ago.

zulutango

It seems that we're going to get the chance to vote on whether we want directly elected mayors or not. I'd be very much in favour of it.

LeoD

Rugby Experience images from planning files...

LeoD

If it does get the go ahead, the traffic will have to be removed from outside its front door to do it any justice.

panda100

Today is the final day for submissions on the proposed new structure in Peoples Park: http://eplan.limerick.ie/AppFileRefDetails/18842/0. The new structure proposed is a giant 14 foot cross and 8 6foot slabs of stone with names engraved taking up a whole corner of the park.

Cookiemunster

I don't suppose anyone has heard anything about when the council plan to progress with the next stage the upgrade Parnell St and Hyde road? The realignment of Hyde Rd to meet Mallow St is badly needed and should have been done when they were doing Davis St and the first section of Parnell St.

Vanquished

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I don't suppose anyone has heard anything about when the council plan to progress with the next stage the upgrade Parnell St and Hyde road? The realignment of Hyde Rd to meet Mallow St is badly needed and should have been done when they were doing Davis St and the first section of Parnell St.

I'm not sure if the reconfiguration of Hyde Road to feed directly in to Mallow Street is now going ahead. The last plans I saw during the summer showed the arrangement remaining as it currently is. Poor decision if so.

Cookiemunster

Vanquished wrote: »

I'm not sure if the reconfiguration of Hyde Road to feed directly in to Mallow Street is now going ahead. The last plans I saw during the summer showed the arrangement remaining as it currently is. Poor decision if so.

Not the news I wanted to hear. It's a ridiculous junction the way it is.

Cookiemunster

In better news, the scaffolding is coming down at the Gardens.

https://twitter.com/limerick_2030/status/1044929318793728005

dominatinMC

Looking nice!

Treepole

Any sign of that development on the old ESB site by the river starting soon?

damowill

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Not the news I wanted to hear. It's a ridiculous junction the way it is.

I never saw the plans? Would they have to put in a roundabout or traffic lights or how would it work?

Cookiemunster

damowill wrote: »

I never saw the plans? Would they have to put in a roundabout or traffic lights or how would it work?

Traffic lights. The plans are here

damowill

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Traffic lights. The plans are here

Thanks. Plans look great. Got to laugh at the cycle lanes though No doubt they will pull the plug on those. They cycle lanes on Parnell street are like a hybrid of bike lane and drop off point for cars. And they used up a big chunk of space with the big island in the middle of the Parnell st which could have been better utilized.

chicorytip

zulutango wrote:

It seems that we're going to get the chance to vote on whether we want directly elected mayors or not. I'd be very much in favour of it.

Cookiemunster wrote:

The advantage of having directly elected mayors with executive powers who get to keep the taxes raised in their city for use in their city. Everywhere in Ireland is hamstrung by the system of local government being a relic of the 19th century which is not fit for running a 21st century city. Even the UK dumped that system 30-40 years ago.

A mayoral election is the last thing we need. We elect councillors who in turn elect a mayor which is purely a ceremonial post anyway so the present system - antiquated though it is - serves it's purpose well enough. The real issue here is the poor calibre of candidates that actually get elected. Most appear to me to be lacking both initiative and original thinking.

Silentcorner

chicorytip wrote: »

A mayoral election is the last thing we need. We elect councillors who in turn elect a mayor which is purely a ceremonial post anyway so the present system - antiquated though it is - serves it's purpose well enough. The real issue here is the poor calibre of candidates that actually get elected. Most appear to me to be lacking both initiative and original thinking.

Couldn't disagree more.

We have a ham fisted, centrally controlled government in Dublin, we are the most centralised country (in terms of government and power) in the EU.

Our local politicians are a mixture of ego maniacs and well meaning individuals and everything in between, but not one of them can affect change in any meaningful way, change that is so vital to this region.

A directly elected mayor can only work if that mayor has actual power to affect change, that mayor would be elected on a manifesto that he/she will be judged on every 4 or 5 years, if that position has the power to influence how we police our city, how we administer justice, how we clean our city, how we plan our city then you find a completely different calibre of politician.

Currently, we have an unelected, unaccountable, local authority who's positions are at the mercy, not of a Government Minister in Dublin, but an unelected Secretary of the Department of Environment....which is why our regional cities are all basket cases for a variety of different reasons.

Mc Love

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Traffic lights. The plans are here

Asked our mayor for an update:

“we will be shortly be going on site with the car park. We will then move to Parnell street and Wickham street. Works to the Mallow street junction and the connection to Hyde road are not part of this construction phase but will follow in a later procurement process”