Poolbeg chimneys to be knocked down?

samantha fortune

i would hate to see them go there a landmark.

dRNk SAnTA

I definitely think they should be retained. They are a bit grimey, but nothing a lick of paint couldn't fix.

Tell me this couldn't be a cool area if redeveloped:

http://emacl.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pigeon-house1.jpg

Floppybits

Any chance of turning them into observation towers that people can visit and look out over Dublin.

SEPT 23 1989

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

I definitely think they should be retained. They are a bit grimey, but nothing a lick of paint couldn't fix.

Tell me this couldn't be a cool area if redeveloped:

http://emacl.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pigeon-house1.jpg

Is is strong enough to hold Darth Brukes?

Maximus Alexander

One of my earliest memories is standing on a hill in the Dublin suburbs, holding my Grandad's hand and asking him what they were. So I suppose I'd be sad to see them go.

Joe prim

comongethappy wrote: »

I had no idea poolbeg wasn't generating power?

Where does Dublin get its electricity?

I get mine from a little outlet in the wall, so do most of my friends and neighbours.

darkpagandeath

Zulu wrote: »

You'd think that, but the tourist would go for the view. People head up to the guinness for the view - and thats out of the bloody way.

Hang on were being told wind farms will ruin the tourist industry yet massive chimneys will bring tourists ? They are both man made. If the criteria for this stuff is the amount of time it's been there. Then surely wind farms would eventually become a tourist attraction.

Mint Sauce

Luke92 wrote: »

They really are a Dublin landmark. They're usually how I know I'm over Dublin when in a plane.

The most built up and most populated part of the Island, and it takes two chimneys for you to recognise Dublin?



I personally have never noticed them from the air, but they are a grand sight around the docks, and are a major landmark for people arriving on the ferry. It would be a shame to see them go.

visual

comongethappy wrote: »

I had no idea poolbeg wasn't generating power?

Where does Dublin get its electricity?

We been running off an old car battery all this time.

Fratton Fred

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

One of my earliest memories is standing on a hill in the Dublin suburbs, holding my Grandad's hand and asking him what they were. So I suppose I'd be sad to see them go.

One of my first memories of looking out across Dublin bay, from dun Laoghaire was "what twat built a power station there, it's an eyesore".

Knock em down.

Ballymun flats was a landmark, no one is missing them.

Podge83

Tie a rope across the top and hang Garth Brooks from it!!

Peregrine

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Ballymun flats was a landmark, no one is missing them.

The difference being that people actually like this landmark and say that they will miss it.

Zulu

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Hang on were being told wind farms will ruin the tourist industry yet massive chimneys will bring tourists ? They are both man made. If the criteria for this stuff is the amount of time it's been there. Then surely wind farms would eventually become a tourist attraction.

What are you raving about man?

Donkey Oaty

A good compromise would be to knock one of them down and leave the other standing - that way everyone can claim victory.

end of the road

Hootanany wrote: »

They are only Chimneys

no they aren't, they are a huge part of the history of the city and must be retained at all costs.

Hootanany wrote: »

no loss.

yes they would be a huge loss, dublin has had enough of its history stolen from it

muddypaws

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

A good compromise would be to knock one of them down and leave the other standing - that way everyone can claim victory.

Nooooooooo, its 2 or nothing. Sorry, wrong thread

ScumLord

Zulu wrote: »

I'd love to see the government turning them into a tourist site. Buy them, build an observation deck on the top, with a lift up. Could have a simple deck on one and then in a few year, if it was turning a profit, build a revolving restaurant on the other?

I don't think you could start constructing on top of the chimneys, they weren't designed to hold up weight so you'd be talking about putting reinforcements inside to support the extra weight. Would end up being an expensive project.

It's always surprising the kind of crap Irish people will get attached too. We seem to have no criteria for excellence and all something has to do is be there for long enough for a few people to get emotionally attached to just the sight of it. It's odd the buildings and areas we will destroy and then the people of Dublin want to hang on to two bog standard and redundant chimney stacks because they don't like change.

There's no value to holding on to these towers, they're only going to cost money, it's not exactly much of a tourist attraction either so the only reason we'd be hanging on to them is to appease a section of the Dublin community.

hee-ar, leave our chimbleys alone.

Zulu

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't think you could start constructing on top of the chimneys, they weren't designed to hold up weight so you'd be talking about putting reinforcements inside to support the extra weight. Would end up being an expensive project.

It wouldnt be free - for sure - but they been designed to take strong stress forces by way of wind/storms. To suggest that they could hold the weight of, say, 50/100 people is not unreasonable.

end of the road

comongethappy wrote: »

Quality should trump nostalgia.

and history should trump quality, whatever replaces these if they go won't be "quality" but something that is nothing but plasticy soalless junk

darkpagandeath

Zulu wrote: »

It wouldnt be free - for sure - but they been designed to take strong stress forces by way of wind/storms. To suggest that they could hold the weight of, say, 50/100 people is not unreasonable.

Horizontal stress not vertical stress you would have to create a steel frame inside them to accommodate the extra weight of a building/platform and x amount of people. And TBH they were not designed to withstand hurricanes.

Thargor

I hike the Wicklow mountains a lot and without the chimneys there will be nothing to orient yourself from the peaks and say "Wow you can see all the way to Dublin from here", there isn't a single other interesting feature on the Dublin skyline from far out (or in close) to look at, which is really quite an achievement in incompetence for the planners/architects of a modern capital city in the year 2014, the whole city is just random sprawl. I say keep them.

Nemeses

Zulu wrote: »

It wouldnt be free - for sure - but they been designed to take strong stress forces by way of wind/storms. To suggest that they could hold the weight of, say, 50/100 people is not unreasonable.

Would you let a group of people stand on your house chimney?

Prob not as it would break..

listermint

Fratton Fred wrote: »

One of my first memories of looking out across Dublin bay, from dun Laoghaire was "what twat built a power station there, it's an eyesore".

Knock em down.

Ballymun flats was a landmark, no one is missing them.

If Fratton Fred doesnt like them,

That is reason enough to keep them around.

Zulu

Nemeses wrote: »

Would you let a group of people stand on your house chimney?

Prob not as it would break..

Seriously. WTF. I'd let a group of pigeons stand on it.

lord lucan

Zulu wrote: »

Seriously. WTF. I'd let a group of pigeons stand on it.

So it would be the pigeon house:)

I'm all for keeping them but I'm biased as my father worked most of his working life there and as kids we called them daddy's chimneys.

GreeBo

Zen65 wrote: »

From any generator connected to the grid, anywhere in Ireland (or the UK since we now have interconnectors). There are other large generators operating in Dublin, the biggest being in Huntstown and another in Ringsend. There is also some generation in Poolbeg still (the smaller four chimneys east of the big ones).

The truth is we don't need generators in Dublin though it's generally more efficient to generate locally to where you consume.

Personally I think the chimneys could be replaced with a couple of large wind turbines, to show how environmentally aware we have become.

Replace them with red and white striped turbines and Im in!

Thargor

I like the wind turbine idea, absolute monster ones as big as the Chinese or dutch or whoever can build them, big enough to be tourist attractions, they'd pay for themselves and more aswell, thats actually a really good idea.

GreeBo

ScumLord wrote: »

There's no value to holding on to these towers, they're only going to cost money, it's not exactly much of a tourist attraction either so the only reason we'd be hanging on to them is to appease a section of the Dublin community.

What "value" do any statues or art installations have exactly?

The spire? How long could you maintain Poolbeg chimneys with the money we spent on the spire?

Fratton Fred

listermint wrote: »

If Fratton Fred doesnt like them,

That is reason enough to keep them around.

School holidays eh?

ScumLord

GreeBo wrote: »

What "value" do any statues or art installations have exactly?

The spire? How long could you maintain Poolbeg chimneys with the money we spent on the spire?

The spire was designed to be an art installation. It doesn't really take up much space and does it's job of being an interesting landmark signifying something particular. Whether or not you like it is another thing. The poolbeg building is just a redundant rundown building. It could be turned into a museum to make use of the building, they've done similar things in the UK but that's an expensive project and would probably require development for the whole area. If no ones willing to pay the costs the whole thing might as well be torn down. There's no point leaving it there to rot which is what would happen.

foxy farmer

There would be only one man for the demolition job- the late great Fred Dibnah.

dd972

I've always liked them, the two chimneys and the mountains are the first sight of home on a night ferry.

cournioni

Tear them down. Eye sores.

KungPao

In such a low-rise and feature-less city, they are one the few things that are interesting to look at when in Dublin Bay or up the mountains looking over the city.

There are some towers that spring to mind that have been left up as they are landmarks...much less so than these two - One in Milltown and one in Grand Canal Dock area.

I'd be very disappointed if they go.

Muahahaha

When I first moved to Dublin I thought they were an eyesore. Over the years I've gotten used to them and see them as part of the Dublin furniture and attach some sentimental value to them like this

dd972 wrote: »

I've always liked them, the two chimneys and the mountains are the first sight of home on a night ferry.

However I reckon they should go. The very fact they took 10+ years to grow on me tells me that I like them now mainly because they've been around all that time. I don't like them because they add something to the landscape because they don't. I like them because they are familiar, much in the same way a child likes a security blanket.

If they added anything to the landscape I'd be all for saving them. One of my favourite buildings in the world is a power station- Battersea in London- but it is an outstanding and world renowned example of industrial functional architecture fused with Art Deco. Poolbeg is two striped chimneys, there is nothing of merit in the structure so sadly it should go.

muddypaws

I love that time moves on, but the same things matter to us http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055400964

LizzieJones

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

you can see them all the way from Canada?

what a true marvel they are

Amazing, eh.

LizzieJones

Nimr wrote: »

Did you just look up images of 'Poolbeg chimneys'?

Noo, you gotta see them from the Lighthouse or Dollymount Strand. The bay just won't look the same without them. It's not beautiful, no, but it's a landmark.

Well, there is that image link posted in the first post of this thread. I looked at that.

We have landmarks where I live too that are eyesores and need to be torn down.

vicwatson

Build a platform between them and let people pay to visit it as a viewing platform, some view from up there I'd say.

LizzieJones

You could always build a revolving restaurant on the top of each one and enjoy the view whilst you're eating like we do in Toronto.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/CN_Tower_1976.jpg

ScumLord

vicwatson wrote: »

Build a platform between them and let people pay to visit it as a viewing platform, some view from up there I'd say.

LizzieJones wrote: »

You could always build a revolving restaurant on the top of each one and enjoy the view whilst you're eating like we do in Toronto.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/CN_Tower_1976.jpg

You can't just plop these things on top of a stack that wasn't designed to do any of these things. All they're designed to do is stand upright under there own weight and be able to withstand a certain amount of sideways force from the wind.

If you want a nice high up restaurant knock the chimneys and build one in their place.

Bigus

According to the reporter on 6 one news they are definitely chimLeys

TeddyTedson

I would be shocked if they went ahead with plans to demolish them.
I quite like them, it's pretty cool being in the Dublin mountains and seeing them. There are so many points in Dublin where you can see them which is pretty nice to have that reference point.

Stereomaniac

No.

vicwatson

ScumLord wrote: »

You can't just plop these things on top of a stack that wasn't designed to do any of these things. All they're designed to do is stand upright under there own weight and be able to withstand a certain amount of sideways force from the wind.

If you want a nice high up restaurant knock the chimneys and build one in their place.

Ah well now, I meant some engineering to be done before letting the public up there FFS Thought that would have been obvious

Nemeses

Zulu wrote: »

Seriously. WTF. I'd let a group of pigeons stand on it.

Gawd dude...


We ain't talkin' bout no bird house!

ScumLord

vicwatson wrote: »

Ah well now, I meant some engineering to be done before letting the public up there FFS Thought that would have been obvious

It would probably be easier to knock them and build something purpose built that looked like the chimneys.

Zulu

ScumLord wrote: »

It would probably be easier to knock them and build something purpose built that looked like the chimneys.

Are you an engineer or something?

HeidiHeidi

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Poolbeg-Chimneys/1480343538876203

For anyone interested (like me) in these chimneys staying in place.

I really don't think the skyline of Dublin (particularly from out in Dublin Bay, where I spend an awful lot of my time) would be the same without them.

I'd be very sad if they get torn down.