Spencer Dock development

Posted in Old blogger by Twenty Major on December 14th, 2004

I read yesterday that the Spencer Dock development is to get underway at last. New offices, shops, restaurants and apartments will be built and will transform what was once the sort of place you’d go for a knife fight into one of the most desirable locations in Dublin.

The buildings will be restricted to just 11 stories though as permission was not granted to build a 37 story ’skyscraper’. It’s a bit of a shame really. I’d like to see some skyscrapers built. Dublin does not really have any kind of set architectural style. There are fine old streets like Dame Street which have been ruined by new buildings. There are some nice Edwardian and Victorian areas, but they’re out of town mostly. The city centre is a hodge-podge of poxy design and brown envelope purchased planning permission. What difference would a couple of really tall buildings down the quays make? In fact it would add something to the city, that’s for sure.

The new skyscrapers would be tourist attractions, great for sniping people from the roof and a whole new area for people to commit suicide on New Year’s Eve. Bord Pleanala need to get their fat arses into the 21st century and instead of trying to maintain what’s a pretty uninspiring city, architecturally, they should give Dublin a chance to develop it’s own style with flashy glass and chrome cloudticklers.

One small point about redevelopment in Dublin. The pictures of Spencer Dock show blue skies with speedboats resting outside a posh apartment complex. Speedboats I can live with, if you want to go up and down the Liffey in your Miami Vice boat then more power to you, but something should be done about the blatant false advertising. Blue skies and the sun shining, what are they thinking?