Grafton Street Resurfacing - Progress to date

John_Rambo

No photos, but I was in today in the rain and its very reflective and a ice colour in the wet. It's much more grippy and solid underfoot.

Minier81

Passenger wrote: »

Is anybody actually pleased with the new surface?

I like it, obviously a mess at the moment but I do like it and think it will look well when finished.

Aykina

I like it too. Didn't get the whole crumbly pink/red brick thing at all!

EyeSight

i like it too. I find it's actually quite bright for grey slabs
As i said, i wish they would control the busking problem. On Sunday a band were playing right next to where works were on going(where there is only 2 narrow spaces to walk past) and it was impossible to walk through. There was a really long queue to walk down the street!

Hope they keep it is well maintained too. Nothing worse than stepping on a slab on a rainy day and to have a load of water shoot up on you

Cathmandooo

I took a couple of photos this morning of the junction with Chatham Street

At least the pink junctions add a bit of colour to the street.

mickyellow

the stone is being supplied by Ryanstone in Blessington. Here's a link to their Facebook page with some pics of the work.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryanstone/178598265553691

Aard

EyeSight wrote: »

As i said, i wish they would control the busking problem. On Sunday a band were playing right next to where works were on going(where there is only 2 narrow spaces to walk past) and it was impossible to walk through. There was a really long queue to walk down the street!

There is a busking by-law going through the council atm. Should help sort out the problem. The busking with amplifiers is a speficic problem for retailers on the street.

Jumboman

Somehow the new tiling makes the street seem bigger.

hfallada

It's nice to see dcc are spending money in the soutside of the city (I'm from north side). The foot paths in Dublin 2 are horrible to walk on compared to the Main Street in Dublin 1. Most of the foot paths in Dublin 2 are so slippy when wet.

John_Rambo

Jumboman wrote: »

Somehow the new tiling makes the street seem bigger.

Yep, you're right, not sure if it's the colour or the bigger spacing between the slabs, but it makes the street seem wider.

Regarding the buskers crowds? Take another route, there's lots and lots... OR... have the balls to stroll in front of the performers and the people looking on. You won't die. (not aimed at you Jumbo!)

EyeSight

John_Rambo wrote: »

Yep, you're right, not sure if it's the colour or the bigger spacing between the slabs, but it makes the street seem wider.

Regarding the buskers crowds? Take another route, there's lots and lots... OR... have the balls to stroll in front of the performers and the people looking on. You won't die. (not aimed at you Jumbo!)

Silly me, trying to use the street for walking when it was made for busking

I do avoid the street but sometimes i need to get to a shop on grafton street. Why can't they use the wide side streets just off grafton street? They will still get the foot traffic and not hold up as many people

Also it's harder to barge through the large circle of people and walk in front of the buskers than it is to go around

LXFlyer

Aard wrote: »

There is a busking by-law going through the council atm. Should help sort out the problem. The busking with amplifiers is a speficic problem for retailers on the street.

I'd have to say that I wish that the amplifiers were removed.

Most of the buskers don't need them at all and they are just noise pollution.

miamee

lxflyer wrote: »

I'd have to say that I wish that the amplifiers were removed.

Most of the buskers don't need them at all and they are just noise pollution.

True, was at a play in Bewley's Cafe Theatre on Saturday. It is up on the second floor but the noise coming from one of the bands on the street almost ruined the start of it and could have potentially ruined the whole thing if they hadn't stopped. No idea if them stopping playing was a coincidence or by design, it was at about 1pm.

John_Rambo

EyeSight wrote: »

Silly me

Indeed.

[Jackass]

The absolute state of Grafton Street. They really got around to fu*king up one of the last nice parts of the city centre.

superelliptic

Can someone tell me where DCC's love of grey patio slabs comes from? We live in a rainy country with nearly constant grey skys. O'Connell street look brutal because of it - grey street, grey building, grey spire, and grey skies. No cheer about the place at all. Grafton street has more colour to the buildings but Im not sold on the grey street look at all. Looks very very depressing imo.

LXFlyer

It isn't finished yet - they've to come back and do the sides of that section.

DCC committed to a works free area for a period.

kylith

[Jackass] wrote: »

The absolute state of Grafton Street. They really got around to fu*king up one of the last nice parts of the city centre.

Have they dug it up again already?

wicklowwonder

kylith wrote: »

Have they dug it up again already?

Gas leak before Xmas outside River Island, I think that trench is the result. Not sure why DCC don't insist on Bord Gais replacing like with like, instead BG just throw down some Tarmac.

hmmm

I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but god it looks manky. Grey slate, horrible in the dark, horrible in the wet, dire to look at the rest of the time. There even seems to be two types of slate used, so for variety you get two shades of grey.

They had to do something about the red pavement, it was falling apart and the white lines were lethal when wet, but the street had a bit of character. You can see even in the photo above the difference between the old red paving and the new paving which appears to be using leftover tiles from the deathstar.

carlmango11

I genuinely believe tearing up the red brick and replacing it with grey will go down in history as another terrible decision by DCC in the same league as the destruction of various Georgian buildings decades ago

Celly Smunt

The way this new pavement highlights the chewing gum is absolutely disgusting.

Actually,what scumbags spit their chewing gum straight onto the street anyway?,someday hopefully these people will be bred to extinction.Spit it in a bloody bin!

spank_inferno

Haven't been on Grafton street for a couple of years.

However I don't recall it ever looking worse!

kylith

wicklowwonder wrote: »

Gas leak before Xmas outside River Island, I think that trench is the result. Not sure why DCC don't insist on Bord Gais replacing like with like, instead BG just throw down some Tarmac.

They really should insist on the slabs being relaid after any work is done.

Scortho

I'm one of the few that's glad that the red was gone as it was cracked, manky and a death trap. At least the grey slabs aren't slippy like the white.

However why didn't they do use the type of paving that's survived the longest in Dublin and looks the best, the old granite paving around bank of Ireland on college green, trinity etc. While it only survives in patches, it still looks good and has been proven to be durable.
While it might have been more expensive to use the thick granite slabs, at least they'd have only had to do it once.
Do it once and do it right.

Muahahaha

I'm not a fan of the grey paving at all, as others have said it is drab and dreary and is definitely out of place in a country that is already besieged with grey skies. In fact to illustrate the point further there is a brach of psychology which examines how colours effect our moods and grey is a colour that puts people on a downer. I remember reading an article on how psychologists advise interior designers to avoid creating rooms that have entirely grey walls, carpets and furnishings in them as they reckon people living in that environment will have their mood affected by being surrounded by all greys.

Theres no doubt that the red brick was crumbling but I really didn't see any reason why something similar couldnt have been installed. Grafton St had a unique atmosphere about it, especially at Christmas, and the red bricks were a lot to do with helping to create that. Thats been lost now and replaced with grey slabs, the likes of which you will see in any city center right across Europe. Shame on DCC.

Cienciano

wicklowwonder wrote: »

Gas leak before Xmas outside River Island, I think that trench is the result. Not sure why DCC don't insist on Bord Gais replacing like with like, instead BG just throw down some Tarmac.

Bord Gais usually get contractors to do proper reinstatement no longer than 7 days after work is done. The tarmac is temporary.

Cienciano

kylith wrote: »

They really should insist on the slabs being relaid after any work is done.

They do, Dublin is fairly strict about this. I worked in the area about 10 years ago, in dublin you have to apply for a road opening licence saying exactly what you're doing. If you ever see any reinstatement for services (new or repair) that you feel is worse quality than the road, complain to the council and the company will be ordered to fix their reinstatement.

Aard

Scortho wrote: »

However why didn't they do use the type of paving that's survived the longest in Dublin and looks the best, the old granite paving around bank of Ireland on college green, trinity etc. While it only survives in patches, it still looks good and has been proven to be durable.
While it might have been more expensive to use the thick granite slabs, at least they'd have only had to do it once.
Do it once and do it right.

That granite certainly is beautiful (and as you mention, very expensive) but the difference between the routes around College Green and Grafton Street is that it's only used for the footpath on College Green, whereas the whole width of Grafton Street is being relaid. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there are underground services running down Grafton Street that would preclude the use of such heavy and large stones if they needed to be accessed.

Scortho

Aard wrote: »

That granite certainly is beautiful (and as you mention, very expensive) but the difference between the routes around College Green and Grafton Street is that it's only used for the footpath on College Green, whereas the whole width of Grafton Street is being relaid. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there are underground services running down Grafton Street that would preclude the use of such heavy and large stones if they needed to be accessed.

I know!:( but at the same time, the slabs they're putting down may need to be accessed.
The biggest problem I can see is with deliveries, overtime those slabs they put down won't be strong enough and will crack.