Dublin City Council's planning committee is holding a special meeting tomorrow to discuss plans for a high-rise scheme of six million square feet at Spencer Dock, including the proposed National Conference Centre.
It is the largest development proposal ever submitted to an Irish local authority. Planning permission is being sought by a consortium comprising Treasury Holdings, the development company; Mr Harry Crosbie, the docklands entrepreneur; and CIE.
Dublin Corporation has a high-level project team examining the £1.2 billion project and intends to make a decision by the end of this month rather than delay it by seeking further information. Whatever the corporation decides, it will go to An Bord Pleanala.
The scheme has been designed by Mr Kevin Roche, the Irish-born international architect based in the US. It is the 32nd design concept prepared by his firm in Hamden, Connecticut, for the Spencer Dock site and is claimed to be "sensitive to the character of the area".
Strategically located half-way between the Point Depot and the International Financial Services Centre, the site is just over 1 km downstream from O'Connell Bridge. It is owned by CIE, which has agreed to lease it to the development consortium.
A number of objections have been lodged since the planning application went in on March 2nd. Objections have been lodged by the North Wall Community Association, the Ecological Design Association and the financier Mr Dermot Desmond, who is credited with originating the IFSC. In a document submitted on Mr Desmond's behalf, planning consultants Reid Associates say the size of the project is "driven purely by economic considerations of maximising commercial floorspace" on a pivotal Docklands site.
Mr Desmond's submission maintains there is "no justification" for the "excessively high" buildings proposed, saying these would "significantly obtrude on the skyline [and] detract from the importance of the Liffey as a major linear landmark of the city".
The developers' environmental impact statement (EIS) concedes that the erection of 26 buildings at Spencer Dock, ranging in height up to 95 metres (313 feet), would have a "profound and permanent impact" on landscape and skyline of the Docklands area.
It notes that the 51-acre site, used as a rail freight marshalling yard, is largely open and low-rise in character. Ultimately, the historic buildings being retained, such as the former Midland Hotel and nearby Woolstore, would be "the smallest on the site".
The tallest would be a 22-storey office tower, rising to 88 metres above a seven-metre podium. It would be surrounded on all sides by buildings varying in height from 27 to 67 metres. On the north side, building heights would taper from 60 metres to 26 metres at its extremity.
Existing views, particularly of St Laurence O'Toole's Church at Seville Place, would be obstructed by the development, the EIS concedes.
It would also overlook adjacent low-rise housing, casting shadows both within and outside its own area, especially in winter.
Worst affected would be an isolated terrace of six houses on Mayor Street Upper, which is currently a cul de sac. The development would loom up behind and in front of these houses, with a "profound" negative impact on their amenity, the authors say.
It would also bring more traffic into the area, change the microclimate at street level and create a large pool of light reflecting in the River Liffey.
In terms of the development's impact on views and vistas in the city, including the important axis of Fitzwilliam Street northwards to Holles Street Hospital, photomontages from 36 locations prepared by ARC Digital classified 32 as either "neutral" or "no change".
According to the EIS, the proposed development would provide housing for about 7,230 people, doubling the population of the north side of Docklands. Some 11,000 permanent jobs would probably "mop up" unemployment in the area, currently 35 per cent.
A total of 1,400 construction jobs would be provided on the site as the development is carried out on a phased basis over 10 years. Of the estimated 11,000 permanent jobs, about 10,000 would be in office buildings, 360 in retail and 197 in the conference centre.
Environmental benefits would include the restoration of Spencer Dock and creation of a linear park along the Royal Canal, to "turn a degraded stretch of water into a green corridor". Altogether, according to the EIS, more than half of the site would be open space.
"The emphasis would be on hard landscaping, softened with trees, formal clipped hedges and areas of ornamental planting." The main square would contain "strong sculptural elements" and would provide a "living space" for people to congregate and for outdoor events.
"The objective is to create an environment . . . which is an attractive place for people to look out onto and to be in; to provide a variety of spaces to create a mature landscape from day one, and to light the spaces to make them safe and interesting," the EIS says.
New streets and boulevards, with extensive pedestrian access, would replace a "sparse and discontinuous" street network. Shops, restaurants and bars would be located on street frontages and the buildings would be lit to create a "dramatic night-time environment". All but one of the listed buildings on the site - notably the former Midland Hotel, the London and Midland offices and the Woolstore - would be retained, though no specific uses have yet been found for them. Campion's Bar, on North Wall Quay, would be demolished.
To minimise the development's impact on the "rhythm and fabric of the city", the height of new buildings would be stepped up away from the river, with the tallest block in the centre of the site. And though heights would vary, there would be balance and a "rhythmic roofline".
Building exteriors would also vary from traditional brick to natural stone or pre-cast concrete cladding. Glazing would include conventional punched windows as well as curtain walling. All of the offices, hotels and conference centre would be air-conditioned.
"Given the scale of the proposed development, it is proposed to develop the balance of the scheme by way of applications for planning approval on foot of this parent permission," according to Frank L Benson and Partners, the developers' planning consultants.
Construction of the project would take place in four phases, starting with the conference centre, together with a 14-storey office block and a 17-storey apartment building beside Spencer Dock. Development further east on the site is constrained by CIE's huge freight gantry.
