YORK STREET flats were the last real slums in Dublin to survive into the 21st century, and probably provided a setting for films that needed an authentic "tenement" backdrop. But now they've been replaced by a superb social housing scheme that would put even the most "exclusive" private sector apartments to shame.
"The old flats were really appalling," says architect Seán Harrington, whose firm designed the replacement housing.
A Georgian terrace, rebuilt in 1949, the block contained 99 apartments, 45 of which faced northwards onto the street and the rest faced south, looking out over bleak concrete yards with washing lines.
Harrington is a committed architect who is passionate about housing. His "learning curve" in this area was a competition, sponsored by Dublin City Council, for an affordable housing scheme on Holles Street; a complex public-private partnership (PPP) project, it is only now nearing completion six long years later.
"When we came on the scene in York Street, the city council had already decided to demolish the flats," he recalls. "We said we wanted to meet the remaining residents to find out what their needs, wants and worries were, and to introduce them to the design process, instead of just getting what they would be given.
"We had some experience of this in Ballymun and also in the UK and, although it can be difficult, it can also be very rewarding. As architects, it's great to meet the people you're housing because it focuses you in a way and makes you do a good job. So we ended up having 10 meetings in Aungier Street community centre."
By then, less than 60 of the York Street flats were occupied and the city council had agreed to sell a third of the site to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, whose main teaching building is directly opposite.
The flats were also plagued by "quite serious crime, health and safety issues", according to Seán Harrington.
The brief was to provide 66 new homes on a relatively tight site, and the residents made it clear that they wanted a variety of apartments, duplex units and townhouses.
"Right at the beginning, they also said the things we wanted to hear about building 'eco-homes' with waste control and even a composter," he says.
Architecturally, the new building turns the corner at York Street and Mercer Street, heralding its presence with a flourish; previously, there was only a blank gable here. It is arranged around a Scandinavian-style courtyard, divided into useful compartments - including a sedum-roofed and timber-clad recycling centre.
Rainwater is harvested in large stainless steel drums, from which it can be drawn to water a variety of shrubs, vegetables and fruit trees. There's also a seating area, which conceals the basement carpark vents, a playspace for kids and a portico formed by a pair of salvaged Georgian doorcases, set back-to-back. The apartments, all dual-aspect, are arranged in a U-shaped block around the courtyard, with five cores of lifts and staircases serving just two apartments per floor.
To the rear, where the back yards used to be, there is a range of three-storey mews buildings - separated from each other to let the sun come through.
The footprint of the apartment and mews pavilions is quite shallow, at just 11 metres (compared to 13 or 14 metres for most private apartments). Spatially, they are very generous, with 85sq m (915sq ft) for two-bed apartments and nearly 110sq m (1,184sq ft) for three-bedroom duplexes - well ahead of minimum standards.
With the city council's backing, Seán Harrington Architects extended the environmental agenda to include very high levels of insulation (using sheep's wool, incidentally) as well as glazed shutters on balconies, so that they can become winter gardens, and solar thermal panels on the roof, to supplement gas boilers.
"We just thought that all of this was best practice, even though it was way in excess of Building Regulations at the time," Harrington says. "As a result, each home in the scheme will have a BER (Building Energy Rating) of A3 or B1, which is still higher than what's required by the latest Building Regulations."
As if that wasn't enough, all of the timber joists in the old flats were salvaged and re-used in the timber-frame construction of the new mews housing as well as "green" cement from Ecocem for the concrete casting.
Even MDF was shunned in favour of plywood and chipboard for the kitchen units and wardrobes.
There are no PVC drainpipes either; stainless steel was used instead. Lime mortar, rather than cement, was used to point the brickwork, which is "stacked" on the street elevations to show that it is merely a cladding material. And every balcony has been supplied with a built-in planter - another Scandinavian touch (project architect Jim Roche lived in Finland for a while).
On both street frontages, steel bands delineate the extent of each apartment while the projecting bay windows all have side windows in different colours to give a sense of individuality. "But street elevations in a sensitive location like this need to be polite and have certain uniformity," Harrington says.
Echoing the Georgian idiom, a railed dry moat on York Street "keeps people away from the windows", with short bridges leading to entrances.
Granite gate piers were carved to provide children's seats and the architects have even designed a 10-panel art work in baked enamel illustrating the area's history.
On Mercer Street, the balconies are diagonally arranged so that residents enjoying the afternoon sun will always just have the sky over their heads.
The balustrades are also solid, rather than glazed, to provide a greater degree of privacy - and also to conceal bikes and toys that would otherwise be visible. In the seven-storey corner tower, rendered in cobalt blue, the balconies are "stacked like drawers" to reinforce its verticality.
Solar panels are integrated into the design, as is a south-facing roof garden from which there are great views; pity about the incessant noise from the Mercer Hotel's air-handling units opposite.
Extract vents from the plant rooms read like Georgian chimneys - a device also used by Grafton Architects on their great new building for the Department of Finance on Merrion Row. It is also possible to see right through the apartment block on York Street to the garden, or rather "outdoor room", in the courtyard.
The completed scheme, with its lavishly furnished showflats (all with lots of storage space), contrasts with the grim blocks of flats on the west side of Mercer Street, built by Dublin Corporation in the 1970s - none of which addresses the street; they're almost crying out for demolition and replacement.
Built by McNamara for €16 million (including fees), the York Street housing may be the swansong of a particular form of procurement and seems unlikely to be replicated elsewhere.
The critical thing now is that it gets good estate management, most effectively involving its justifiably delighted residents.
The Irish Times
Monday, March 9, 2009
Wad River Blog is Online!
This blog was set up by the emerald housing co-operative as a forum of communication for ideas on sustainable living in Ballymun. We invite everyone to contribute to the blog with information such as local news, project updates and also anything you stumble upon that might be of interest to the future sustainable community that will be living at Wad river road!
it is very simple to add posts and comments so don;t be shy in adding content!
it is very simple to add posts and comments so don;t be shy in adding content!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Brakes are on and plans are on hold, but Treasury says it's in it for long haul
TREASURY HOLDINGS: Even in a recession and with the commercial property market in the doldrums, Treasury Holdings is building two major office schemes in Dublin – with not a single tenant yet lined up
TWENTY YEARS after it was conceived as a project and following three competitions for the tender to build it, the National Conference Centre (NCC) is well under way at Spencer Dock, on a pivotal Liffeyside site controlled by developers Treasury Holdings – and it looks as if the massive building will be completed on schedule by September 2010.
Richard Barrett and Johnny Ronan, who own Treasury and its multiplicity of subsidiaries and who control two publicly quoted companies – Real Estate Opportunities (REO) and China Real Estate Opportunities (CREO) – are old hands at the property game and show no signs of cashing in their chips at this stage; they’re in it for the long haul.
Even at a time of recession and with the commercial property market in the doldrums, they are building two major office schemes – one called Montevetro in the Grand Canal Dock, funded by a 50 per cent pre-sale to a Quinlan Private syndicate, and the other at Central Park, Leopardstown, in partnership with David Arnold and Derek Quinlan. This bullish behaviour is remarkable when
not a single tenant has yet been lined up for either scheme, which will deliver 18,600sq m and 16,700sq m of office space respectively.
As a result, it is likely that No 1 Central Park will be built only to “shell and core” until tenants are found, by offering rental levels 50 per cent lower than in the city.
However, plans for two major golf resorts in the Dublin area are “on hold” – at Milverton, Skerries, where there is full planning permission for a 300-bedroom “green” hotel, 50 houses and two Arnold Palmer-designed golf courses, and Roundwood Park, Co Wicklow (bought for €17 million in 2005) where a similar scheme is being planned.
“We’re bullish by nature but, in this market, we would be absolutely mad to press the button [on either scheme] unless we had pre-takers committed,” said John Bruder, Treasury’s managing director for Ireland. Its experience with the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Enniskerry, which cut rates since it opened in October 2007, has been salutary.
Other major plans are being delayed for one reason or another.
The huge Ballymun town centre, with 60,000 sq metres of retail space at its core, is under appeal to An Bord Pleanála.
One of the appellants is N1 Property Holdings, owner of Northside shopping centre; it is controlled by Brian O’Farrell, who ironically is a partner in the Milverton scheme.
O’Farrell, who is planning to replace Northside with a much larger shopping centre, fell out with Barrett and Ronan over his acquisition of the property, in which REO had a 21 per cent stake. After a case came before the High Court, O’Farrell paid a total of €100 million to buy out AIB Investment Managers and REO, which received nearly €30 million.
Last month, Treasury initiated a High Court action against docklands entrepreneur and impresario Harry Crosbie, seeking to compel him to pay his alleged €3 million share of a €19 million bill relating to the development of Spencer Dock, in which he has a stake. Crosbie counterclaims that Treasury owes him €70 million.
Meanwhile, progress on Ballymun has been slow.
Nine years ago, Treasury paid Sisk Properties €8 million for its 500–year lease on the eight-acre town centre site. It then claimed that it was entitled to acquire Dublin City Council’s freehold title and a further six acres for €25 million. The council held out though and was paid nearly €60 million.
Treasury’s much-revised scheme for Stillorgan shopping centre, which Barrett and Ronan bought in 1996, will not proceed for at least two years, although a local area plan was adopted in late 2007. This plan also covers two other Treasury properties (Blake’s and Stillorgan Leisureplex), which brought its holding in the area to more than 13 acres.
In Sligo, full planning permission for another long- delayed shopping centre was granted last December, but construction cannot get under way until the borough council completes a compulsory purchase order for parts of the site.
“We have sufficient tenant interest that it could start very quick, by the end of this year,” according to John Bruder.
He also said that a planning application for the proposed container port at Bremore in north Co Dublin, would probably be made in the first quarter of 2010. An environmental impact statement is currently being prepared, including reference to the sensitive archaeology of the area, although he believes that this could be “worked around”.
The new deepwater port, a joint venture between REO and Drogheda Port with Hong Kong maritime conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa lined up to develop the master plan, could ultimately replace Dublin Port if the Government was to decide that it should be relocated; one of Bremore’s selling points is its close proximity to the M1 motorway.
It was Treasury’s Chinese connections that led to the acquisition of Battersea power station in London.
Based in Shanghai since 2003, Richard Barrett heard at a dinner party that Hong Kong property tycoons George and Victor Hwang were willing to sell the 38-acre site – and the deal was finally done in November 2006 for £400 million. This equated to almost €600 million at the time – an enormous sum, reflecting the fact that it was close to the peak of the property boom. REO was the vehicle used to acquire the old power station with its iconic table-leg chimneys, availing of a £185 million “debt facility” from HBOS; the bank later lent £110 million to buy adjoining properties.
Uruguay-born “starchitect” Rafael Violy was commissioned to draw up the master plan, unveiled last June, which included a transparent tower 300 metres high. This element of the huge ecologically branded scheme generated strong opposition, even from London mayor Boris Johnson, mainly because of its impact on views of Westminster.
The controversial tower has now been dropped and Violy is recasting his master plan with a view to REO making a planning application later this year.
However, Battersea power station has been the subject of
so many unrealised plans by different developers over the past 20 years that it seems as if some sort of jinx hangs over it.
In the meantime, REO has been revaluing its property portfolio, which was reportedly worth €2.4 billion at the end of 2007. Six months later, net asset values had fallen by 7 per cent and they are bound to have taken another tumble since then.
As company chairman Ray Horney said, REO could not have “remained immune” to the downturn. Neither, it seems, will CREO.
The prospect that China would have immunity to a global economic recession has evaporated, with up to 40 million workers in danger of losing their jobs as the country’s extraordinary export-led boom fizzles out and hundreds of factories close down due to the worldwide drop in demand for their products.
Series concluded.
Irish Times
TWENTY YEARS after it was conceived as a project and following three competitions for the tender to build it, the National Conference Centre (NCC) is well under way at Spencer Dock, on a pivotal Liffeyside site controlled by developers Treasury Holdings – and it looks as if the massive building will be completed on schedule by September 2010.
Richard Barrett and Johnny Ronan, who own Treasury and its multiplicity of subsidiaries and who control two publicly quoted companies – Real Estate Opportunities (REO) and China Real Estate Opportunities (CREO) – are old hands at the property game and show no signs of cashing in their chips at this stage; they’re in it for the long haul.
Even at a time of recession and with the commercial property market in the doldrums, they are building two major office schemes – one called Montevetro in the Grand Canal Dock, funded by a 50 per cent pre-sale to a Quinlan Private syndicate, and the other at Central Park, Leopardstown, in partnership with David Arnold and Derek Quinlan. This bullish behaviour is remarkable when
not a single tenant has yet been lined up for either scheme, which will deliver 18,600sq m and 16,700sq m of office space respectively.
As a result, it is likely that No 1 Central Park will be built only to “shell and core” until tenants are found, by offering rental levels 50 per cent lower than in the city.
However, plans for two major golf resorts in the Dublin area are “on hold” – at Milverton, Skerries, where there is full planning permission for a 300-bedroom “green” hotel, 50 houses and two Arnold Palmer-designed golf courses, and Roundwood Park, Co Wicklow (bought for €17 million in 2005) where a similar scheme is being planned.
“We’re bullish by nature but, in this market, we would be absolutely mad to press the button [on either scheme] unless we had pre-takers committed,” said John Bruder, Treasury’s managing director for Ireland. Its experience with the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Enniskerry, which cut rates since it opened in October 2007, has been salutary.
Other major plans are being delayed for one reason or another.
The huge Ballymun town centre, with 60,000 sq metres of retail space at its core, is under appeal to An Bord Pleanála.
One of the appellants is N1 Property Holdings, owner of Northside shopping centre; it is controlled by Brian O’Farrell, who ironically is a partner in the Milverton scheme.
O’Farrell, who is planning to replace Northside with a much larger shopping centre, fell out with Barrett and Ronan over his acquisition of the property, in which REO had a 21 per cent stake. After a case came before the High Court, O’Farrell paid a total of €100 million to buy out AIB Investment Managers and REO, which received nearly €30 million.
Last month, Treasury initiated a High Court action against docklands entrepreneur and impresario Harry Crosbie, seeking to compel him to pay his alleged €3 million share of a €19 million bill relating to the development of Spencer Dock, in which he has a stake. Crosbie counterclaims that Treasury owes him €70 million.
Meanwhile, progress on Ballymun has been slow.
Nine years ago, Treasury paid Sisk Properties €8 million for its 500–year lease on the eight-acre town centre site. It then claimed that it was entitled to acquire Dublin City Council’s freehold title and a further six acres for €25 million. The council held out though and was paid nearly €60 million.
Treasury’s much-revised scheme for Stillorgan shopping centre, which Barrett and Ronan bought in 1996, will not proceed for at least two years, although a local area plan was adopted in late 2007. This plan also covers two other Treasury properties (Blake’s and Stillorgan Leisureplex), which brought its holding in the area to more than 13 acres.
In Sligo, full planning permission for another long- delayed shopping centre was granted last December, but construction cannot get under way until the borough council completes a compulsory purchase order for parts of the site.
“We have sufficient tenant interest that it could start very quick, by the end of this year,” according to John Bruder.
He also said that a planning application for the proposed container port at Bremore in north Co Dublin, would probably be made in the first quarter of 2010. An environmental impact statement is currently being prepared, including reference to the sensitive archaeology of the area, although he believes that this could be “worked around”.
The new deepwater port, a joint venture between REO and Drogheda Port with Hong Kong maritime conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa lined up to develop the master plan, could ultimately replace Dublin Port if the Government was to decide that it should be relocated; one of Bremore’s selling points is its close proximity to the M1 motorway.
It was Treasury’s Chinese connections that led to the acquisition of Battersea power station in London.
Based in Shanghai since 2003, Richard Barrett heard at a dinner party that Hong Kong property tycoons George and Victor Hwang were willing to sell the 38-acre site – and the deal was finally done in November 2006 for £400 million. This equated to almost €600 million at the time – an enormous sum, reflecting the fact that it was close to the peak of the property boom. REO was the vehicle used to acquire the old power station with its iconic table-leg chimneys, availing of a £185 million “debt facility” from HBOS; the bank later lent £110 million to buy adjoining properties.
Uruguay-born “starchitect” Rafael Violy was commissioned to draw up the master plan, unveiled last June, which included a transparent tower 300 metres high. This element of the huge ecologically branded scheme generated strong opposition, even from London mayor Boris Johnson, mainly because of its impact on views of Westminster.
The controversial tower has now been dropped and Violy is recasting his master plan with a view to REO making a planning application later this year.
However, Battersea power station has been the subject of
so many unrealised plans by different developers over the past 20 years that it seems as if some sort of jinx hangs over it.
In the meantime, REO has been revaluing its property portfolio, which was reportedly worth €2.4 billion at the end of 2007. Six months later, net asset values had fallen by 7 per cent and they are bound to have taken another tumble since then.
As company chairman Ray Horney said, REO could not have “remained immune” to the downturn. Neither, it seems, will CREO.
The prospect that China would have immunity to a global economic recession has evaporated, with up to 40 million workers in danger of losing their jobs as the country’s extraordinary export-led boom fizzles out and hundreds of factories close down due to the worldwide drop in demand for their products.
Series concluded.
Irish Times
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