Reclaiming Unused Space
Concentrating Development The greatest threat to our public realm comes from unfinished development following our property crash and economic crisis. We need to concentrate new growth and building in mixed use developments on brown field and partially developed sites close to the city centre. Doing this will improve the public realm and also restore real value to the property market.
Working with NAMA The Council document refers to private ownership of land in the city, but fails to note the role of NAMA. The agency has a primarily commercial objective, but it also has a function in its legislation to “contribute to the economic and social recovery of the State”. The Council needs to work with NAMA to ensure that new developments in areas such as Poolbeg and Spencer Dock are developed quickly and to the highest possible design and planning principles. This may involve the use of sites for the provision of public parks and other non commercial activities. The increase in overall property values that should arise from a proper planning approach will raise the overall financial return that the taxpayer will get from the NAMA portfolio of loan and land assets.
South William Street McNamara Construction previously owned large parts of South William Street, which are now presumably managed by NAMA. Semi-public ownership of a large area presents a great opportunity to develop the public realm there.
Spencer Dock Development It is unclear whether the Dublin Docklands Authority or Dublin City Council now have responsibility for the planning of the docklands area. This impasse needs to be resolved quickly so that the re-development of the Spencer Dock area can resume. As the Quays are greened, this part of the city will be better linked with the centre centre. We propose “pocket parks” throughout the area, which will serve existing communities and the growing workerforce in the area. We also envision Spencer Dock as a transport hub for the city. There is to the Port Tunnel, the Port itself, a Luas terminus and in the future, the East West rail inter-connector. With new passenger ships due at the docks near the East Link bridge we need to make this arrival point to the city especially attractive. The relocation of Busáras to the land near the O2 could bring other development to the area and improve what is now a relatively barren landscape.
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