An Irish Planning Students Blog

CLARE COUNTY Council is set to “freeze” more than 4,000 acres from development in response to Department of Environment concerns on “unjustified and unsustainable” overzoning.

The move means that during the lifetime of the current development plan to 2014, no housing development would take place on 4,171 acres of land zoned for housing around Ennis.

The local authority was given a deadline of last Friday, October 16th, to address the overzoning in the Ennis Development Plan only months after it was adopted.

The council has agreed to overhaul its development plan after the department warned that if it did not address the overzoning, Minister for the Environment John Gormley would be forced to direct the council to make the necessary changes to the adopted plan with immediate effect.

Arising from the adoption of the plan, the department has said that there are 4,500 acres of zoned land around Ennis to cater for a population increase of 100,000. The Ennis area has a population of 28,700 and official forecasts state that there will be a population increase of only 6,300 to 2020.

In response, the council’s senior planner, Gordon Daly, has now written to the department to confirm that the council will vary its Ennis Development Plan.

In his letter, Mr Daly says: “The proposed draft variation now under preparation will therefore seek to address the concerns of the Minister in relation to overzoning by introducing a phasing plan for residentially zoned lands that is reflective of current Department of Environment population targets for the hub town of Ennis.

“It will also seek to address the concerns raised by the department in relation to the appropriate assessment and housing policy in the countryside as they relate to the current plan.”

Mr Daly said the target date for the variation of the plans was the November or December meetings of the county council and the town council. Following these meetings, the changes to the plan will be published to allow the public make submissions.

In a memo to councillors, he said the department was of the view that “there is clearly a very substantial, unjustified and unsustainable amount of overzoning of land with residential potential”.

Mr Daly said the department’s preference to overcome the overzoning was the unzoning of a substantial amount of land.

He added that the department was open to a locally based solution which involved no unzoning.

Instead, the council has identified 187 acres during the lifetime of the plan for housing; this is in addition to a further 142 acres with permissions for 1,596 homes.

Source:IrishTimes

Not sure where the Eccles Street the site actually is, but i’m sure details will surface quiet quickly.

The new Children’s Hospital of Ireland will open by the end of 2014, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said.

Construction of the €750 million project on a site beside the Mater hospital in Dublin will begin at end of next year, Mr Cowen told a press conference to announce the design team today.

The three existing children’s hospitals in the city, at Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght, will be merged into the new entity, which will have up to 399 beds and 800 car parking spaces.

Mr Cowen insisted the amalgamation of the three hospitals was the logical step to take.

“It is quite clear that, in a city the size of Dublin, we do not need to have three children’s hospitals,” the Taoiseach said. “This is no reflection on the work of the three hospitals whose services will combine to make up the new paediatric hospital.

“Indeed Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght have all worked with enormous dedication to serve the needs of our sickest children over many years. Their loyalty and commitment has been exemplary.”

Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney said the new hospital would provide the sick children of Ireland with a world-class facility. Merging the three existing hospitals would result in savings of €25 million a year, she said.

“There is no more important building in the health area than this project. It is a priority for funding and funding is provided in the capital plan,” Ms Harney said.

Funding for the project, which was originally scheduled for completion in 2011, will come from the Exchequer. An ambulatory and urgent care centre will also open at Tallaght Hospital in 2013.

Sick children will be accommodated in single rooms with space for parents to sleep over.

The Murray O’Laoire/Brian O’Connell/NBBJ consortium, which has extensive experience of building healthcare projects, has been selected as the preferred candidate to design the hospital on Eccles Street. Subject to planning permission, building will start next year and be completed by the end of 2013, with fitout continuing into 2014.

The chairman of Temple Street hospital Dr Frank Dolphin welcomed the “momentous” decision. He said the Government’s commitment to building the new hospital during the current economic climate “sends an important message”.

Source:  IrishTimes

ANY RELAXATION of planning standards in response to the recession – even for land that falls into the hands of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) – would be “extremely shortsighted”, the chairman of An Bord Pleanála has said.

At a press briefing yesterday on the board’s 2008 annual report, John O’Connor also said the “excessive and unsustainable zoning of land” that contributed to the property bubble would have to be tackled by local authorities.

“If we are to return to realistic development planning, some of this land will have to be dezoned, and facing up to this has a part to play in deflating the bubble,” he said, adding that this would apply “irrespective of whether it’s in the hands of Nama or not”.

Mr O’Connor said there was nothing in the legislation establishing Nama that would change the need to obtain planning permission. He said that “the normal requirements will apply”.

“There can be no expectation that proper planning standards would not be applied to development proposals, even where the land is linked to distressed loans,” Mr O’Connor said. “Now, more than ever, we need to embrace the principles of good planning and sustainable development in order to prevent further deterioration of our environment, to respond to climate change [and] to maximise the return from expensive infrastructure investment.”

Mr O’Connor said the planning Bill now before the Oireachtas should ensure a “much more coherent and sustainable approach to zoning”. Anyone assessing property values in terms of development potential would now have to “look beyond the particular zoning” and focus on the availability of services as well as other planning issues such as density, height, impact on amenities and orderly urban expansion.

Mr O’Connor expressed concern that developers may be tempted to return to lower density development as a “safer option” in the present market and warned that such applications, particularly in major urban centres, would be “critically assessed” by the board.

The recession has had an impact on An Bord Pleanála’s workload, with a drop of more than 30 per cent in the intake of appeals in the past year. As a result, the number of cases on hand had almost halved to 1,550 and “routine delays” may soon be eliminated.

In 2008, however, “severe workload pressure” meant that the board met the statutory objective of determining appeals within 18 weeks in only 23 per cent of cases – down from 48 per cent in 2007. Last month, Mr O’Connor said the figure was 36 per cent.

Of 5,801 cases determined, appeals by developers against refusals had a 28 per cent success rate, while 39 per cent of third- party appeals were upheld.

The proportion of local authority decisions appealed rose from 6.7 per cent to 8.1 per cent.

From the introduction of the Strategic Infrastructure Act in 2007 to the end of last month, the board dealt with 137 requests from project sponsors for “pre-application consultations” on projects that were “too vague” in some cases, according to Mr O’Connor.

Of the 137 requests for projects to be processed under the Act, 33 qualified for its “fast-track” planning treatment, 46 were not regarded by the board as strategic infrastructure cases, and 18 were withdrawn or otherwise concluded.

Of 15 formal applications for permission received under the Act, eight have been concluded with four granted, three refused and one withdrawn.

Mr O’Connor said the public-service reform agenda must include rationalisation of the number of local authorities with planning functions – currently 88 county, city and town councils.

Source:  IrishTimes.com

“Many of these authorities have administrative areas that are much too small and fractured to constitute meaningful planning units,” he said, adding that he would not favour “one big monolithic planning authority”.

OFFSHORE WIND energy producers are hoping major support for the industry will be signalled by EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs, when he addresses their annual conference in Dublin today.

Currently in excess of 2,500 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy are in planning, alongside about another 8,000MW of onshore wind energy, representing potential investment of about €23 billion.

But while this represents just a fraction of the island’s total wind energy potential, the electricity is vastly in excess of Ireland’s own demand, and selling it abroad is dependent on major investment in the national grid and interconnectors to the UK.

Members of the National Offshore Wind Association (Now) which holds its annual conference today, are hoping Mr Piebalgs will say EU enthusiasm to replace imported fossil fuels with renewable energy will result in financial support for developing the Irish industry.

In recent weeks the European Investment Bank announced up to €300 million in soft loans for an interconnector between Ireland and the UK, while a further allocation of up to €200 million was approved for development of the ESB’s renewable energy businesses, principally wind farms.

However, given the potential of Irish wind energy, Now says many more interconnectors will be needed if wind energy is to be exploited.

Sources told The Irish Times an alternative proposal, that Irish wind farms located in the Irish Sea would seek connections to the UK grid, is also being considered. A third possibility is that a separate grid would be established to cater for offshore power.

A report from wind turbine manufacturer Siemens in recent weeks, calculated the value of proposed European wind farms over the next 25 years to be more than €300 billion.

Proposed Irish offshore wind farms included in this calculation were:

Clogher Head Oriel Wind Farm, which projects 330MW;

Dublin Array Saorgus Energy, offering 725MW;

Proposal from Codling Bank Fred Olsen/Treasury Holdings would add 1100MW;

Airtricity is offering 500MW through its Arklow Bank 2 project;

Na Sceirde Fuinneamh in Co Galway is projecting 100MW.

Based on calculations by Siemens that it costs in the region of €3 million per MW to install wind generation, Irish members of Now would account for a potential investment of almost €7 billion.

Source:  IrishTimes – www.irishtimes.com

AN BORD PLEANÁLA is to reopen a planning hearing into Dublin port proposals to infill 52 acres of Dublin bay.

The hearing was suspended last month after it emerged the board’s advisers HR Wallingford, had undertaken work on plans for Bremore port which is a potential rival for Dublin’s port’s expansion plans.

In a letter received by the parties to the hearing yesterday, the board said it did not accept there was a conflict of interest.

However, the board said it would be changing its advisers and dispensing with the services of HR Wallingford.

The hearing will reopen when new advisers read themselves into the brief.

The issue of conflict arose after it emerged during the inquiry that HR Wallingford had provided advice in 2004 to Drogheda Port Company which is planning a deep water port at Bremore, in north Co Dublin.

In deciding there was no conflict of interest the board noted the HR Wallingford adviser assigned to the case commenced employment with the company only in 2007. It also noted that in recent years HR Wallingford had also worked directly or indirectly for both Dublin Port Company and Dublin City Council.

The board said it will now appoint a new expert to replace the adviser but will reconvene the oral hearing under inspector Brendan Wyse as soon as feasible.

Welcoming the news, chairman of Dublin Bay Watch, Gerry Breen, said it was ‘‘keen to put our side of the argument to the hearing”.

Source:  IrishTimes – www.irishtimes.com

Interesting timing by SIPTU to announce the redevelopment of there “iconic” Liberty Hall.

Liberty Hall is to be replaced by a significantly taller building with a “sky pod” on top similar to the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse, to give visitors panoramic views over the city and Dublin Bay.

Siptu unveiled details of the proposed development today at an annual conference marking the trade union’s centenary, pledging that the new Liberty Hall would have a “wow factor” second to none in the capital.

Designed by Gilroy McMahon Architects, who were also responsible for Croke Park, the facilities would include a 300-seat theatre at lower ground level, a heritage centre illustrating Siptu’s history and 15 floors of open-plan office space.

The existing 17-storey building, which is 60 metres (198 feet) tall, would be replaced by a 20-storey tower rising to a height of 84 metres (277 feet), with a glass-fronted “sky lift” to take visitors to an enclosed observation terrace at the top.

Unlike the present tower, which has square floorplates, the new one would be trapezoid in shape — although the architects have sought to ensure that the relative proportions of its height and bulk would yield a satisfactory “slenderness ratio”.

After carrying out shadow studies to measure the impact of the proposed tower on nearby buildings as well as extensive consultations with Dublin City Council’s planners, they even shaved two metres off every floor to produce a better result.

The “sky dome”, composed of two interlocking semi-circles, would have three levels, incorporating the observation terrace and Siptu heritage centre, space for temporary exhibitions and an outdoor café enclosed by a five-metre glazed screen.

Des McMahon, of Gilroy McMahon Architects, said it was likely to attract 250,000 visitors annually, generating good revenue for Siptu. From the terrace, it would be possible to look down on the GPO in O’Connell Street and other historic buildings.

Another important element of the new Liberty Hall’s “engagement with the public” would be its generous double-height entrance area, stretching the full width of the building, including a podium adjoining the tower not unlike the present one.

The three-storey podium, set back from Eden Quay, would be “a place of welcome”, with a café, information desk, reception area and a large cut-out in the floor through which a curving staircase would lead down to the new theatre, all lit up at night.

Ground-floor level would be raised by almost a metre, to protect the building against future floods, with more space created outside on the constricted footpath at the corner of Beresford Place by cantilevering the tower over the lower three floors.

Access to the office floors would be via four lifts at the northeastern end of the tower, protected by turnstiles, and there is also provision for two staircases. The public “skylift” would be located on the western side, with views over the Liffey Quays.

One of the principal objectives, Mr McMahon said, is to create “an appropriate, energising and inspiring” workplace for Siptu’s staff, allowing them to interact in a way they cannot do with the present arrangement of “isolated” cellular offices.

These offices are laid out around a service core that takes up 40 per cent of the floorplate on every level, compared to 30 per cent for the much larger service core now proposed. “It’s totally impossible … really a white elephant”, Mr McMahon said.

“The Eiffel Tower is as valuable today as was 100 years ago, but Liberty Hall is not. It was a building of its day — not unique, except for its location and timing [it was completed in 1965] – and a carbon disaster in terms of its use of energy.”

Dave Richards, who was pivotally involved in designing the new building, said it would be the first office block in Dublin to achieve an A3 energy rating, with less than half the carbon dioxide output of newly-constructed air-conditioned offices.

As a result of relying on partly-assisted natural ventilation as well as low-watt lighting, solar panels and a building energy management system, Siptu would be able to reduce its annual energy bill from €450,000 to just €220,000 a year.

Mr McMahon said he was convinced that the new Liberty Hall, which would be much broader on Eden Quay yet appear quite similar when viewed from O’Connell Bridge, would quickly become a “transparent and translucent” Dublin landmark.

Source: www.irishtimes.com