Waterford North Quays

It's good to be positive that something is actually being done with the site but it's a reasonable opinion that people would like something a bit more unique or beautiful rather than generic blocks of apartments.

I'd have liked something unique and creative that echoed something in Waterford's history like Waterford crystal or Vikings etc..

Maybe if the hotel echoed Reginald's tower in shape.

Or if it had a glass facade with similar design to Waterford crystal.

His company, most likely not him directly.

That is a concern I would have with apartments, the mentality in Ireland is to buy a house and if you are in the market you pick a house over an apartment every day especially if you are thinking of having or have kids.

In order for the apartments to work we need high quality jobs to go with them.

Submissions like this would be welcome as the council can issue conditional planning permission

I’m certainly not coming at this from the developers’ potential but from Waterford’s perspective. Ok if you don’t like the word viable put in ‘practical’ ‘possible’ ‘deliverable’.

If something doesn’t work for the developer nothing is going to happen. The city will be left with a derelict site for another 25 years. Many of the same people who complain that it’s not good enough now, will be saying that ‘nothing ever happens in this town’, ‘the town is dead boy’.

That doesn’t mean settling for something of poor design. I agree that what is built should be of the high-quality and that the mix should be right. I’d love to see a tall building and something iconic. However, notwithstanding those issues (which we have no control over), I do think that what is proposed in terms of now mix is right for phase 1. I’m sure the council have had to compromise on what is possible.

High density development in city centres’ is helping to reverse decades of hollowing out in favour of the suburbs. That comes from apartments. People living on the NQ will revitalise the city. There is a huge shortfall of accommodation, yet people don’t want them built. Given the current market, if there were other suitable sites in the city centre there would be more in the pipeline. The SDZ planning permission for this site means the planning risk is removed.

Apartments work on this site in terms of commercial viability, but it will also work for Waterford. People continually complain that John Roberts SQ is dead after the shops close. Along with the two hotels the development should give an impetus for the streets up to John St really come back to life in the evenings.

I don’t agree that no one will ever go across the bridge to visit the area. I reckon that it will be widely used. There will be scope for a small number of restaurants/bars, shops initially, there will be hotel bars and a conference centre. It will have a riverside promenade and will be south facing getting the sun long into the evenings in the Summer.

The site will also be the intersection of the most successful greenway in the country and the new Wexford greenway. Thousands of Ferrybank residents will now be within easy access of the city centre on foot. All will pass through the site.

If this was the full development mix then yes, I’d be disappointed. However, it is only the first step, which if successful, should lead to a large cultural and other elements. If this first step doesn’t happen, nothing else will.

I understand people have their own opinions but I’ve no problem with high density 9 story apartment blocks being a major part of the NQ. It will be major step to revitalising the city centre. It’s exactly what we need if the design is right.

I get that people in Ireland seem to have an aversion to apartments but I’m confident that will look good in this riverside location as a contrast to the city on the other side.

We have not seen the detailed plans yet.. So we are not all against it yet as the devil is in the detail.. All we have is a pre planning notification…

The pre-planning notification does sound naff but until we have the actual details and proper renders I'm holding off dismissing the plan as its premature

Looks like the renders are now on the architects website... Don't know how accurate they are as the hotel looks only 6 stories tall?

https://douglaswallace.com/

Have to say, that render is a bit uninspiring, isn't it. It's not awful or bad by any means, just feels like a missed opportunity.

Also looks a lot like another project of theirs in Dublin. https://douglaswallace.com/projects/alexandra-place

As the site development is to proceed in a sequential manner, like many such large sites, temporary carparks were always likely to happen, That happened with Dublin docklands and if memory serves was also the case in Cork. The notion that someone, anyone, was ever going to come in and build everything in one massive push and fill the whole NQ site from Rice Bridge to Abbeylands Church, was and is extremely fanciful.

In fairness, I fell that almost all the people who post here, do so out of concern, frustration and interest in the development of the city. Sometimes just waiting is the difficult bit.

It was my good self that mentioned both the Dancing house in Prague and the many modern architecture buildings in Valencia... There are numerous examples around the world.. Hey even the new central bank in Dublin is different but it's the facade that gives it that look and can easily be replicated to a standard square concrete formed building which is relatively cheap to build.. We're not reinventing the wheel here…

If I saw that being built on the NQs I would lose the will!

Definitely do not want

Or this? Id like to see some indication of style/choice!

I think the original Falcon design was on the right track

you can be sure it’s all down to economics/ financial risk….easy for local ‘experts’ here to critique the plans but have any of you ever been tasked with planning/designing/building/ financing/ project managing anything bigger than a one of house/extension to an existing one…?

I am Waterfords biggest supporter. I’m finding this plan just hard to accept. We waited a long time after Falcon fell through to be given this very average design. Falcon had proposed 3 high rise, which give the public a sense of the importance of the site and scale. Limerick has the Clayton hotel which is 17 storeys on the banks of the Shannon. It’s gives Limerick a proper city feeling. Waterford is missing this at the moment. 6 storeys is just not good enough for this site. Also the SDZ requirements were for a building of scale at each end of the site. This cannot be ignored. The apartments are fine my issue is with the hotel height. Also I don’t agree with this temporary carpark idea. Once constructed we will never get rid of them. We shouldn’t accept less than the best for this site.