Conference on Dublin told of chance to redesign

THE FIRST chance to redesign Dublin city since the 18th century would preserve the Georgian squares and streetscapes while allowing “a small number of high-rise buildings in a small number of areas of the city”, a conference on the future of the capital heard yesterday.

The conference, called by Dublin city manager John Tierney and attended by about 500 planners, architects, property developers and politicians, addressed the question of how Dublin is to cope with a population rise of 280,000 over the next eight years.

In a keynote address, Mr Tierney said the city would need to find room for another 220,000 homes, which he described as the “challenge of place-making”.

He said the recently-published draft strategy “Maximising the City” sought to intensify the density of Dublin, while allowing “a small number of high-rise buildings, in a small number of areas of the city”. This would allow the whole city to benefit from a “density dividend” which removed the requirement for a 60-mile commute. It would also boost productivity and gave the city a greater energy and vibrancy.

Assistant city manager Michael Stubbs said the policy was to preserve the Georgian core, but he questioned whether sites such as the Nissan compound on the Naas Road, which was an 18-acre site on which just 97 people worked, provided the best use of land.

Such sites could provide “the first chance to redesign Dublin city since the 18th century”.