Are high-rise buildings the future for Dublin?
There is no doubt that if we carry on with our current sprawling pattern of development in Dublin, the quality of life for most citizens will deteriorate further, as commuting times increase. This will also reduce the city's attraction as a location for key players in business and education worldwide.
Current estimates show that the population of the Dublin region can be expected to grow by at least 700,000 over the next 25 years and that at least 500,000 of that growth needs to be within the Dublin conurbation. This would still mean huge growth for the satellite towns within the region.
Much of this growth will have to be provided in the townships on the urban edge, such as Adamstown, the Leopardstown/Cherrywood corridor and the north fringe. These are already being developed at much higher densities than existing suburbia and are well served by public transport.
The new Adamstown, which took at least 25 years to plan and build, will provide for only 250,000 people, so the challenge remains to intensify and grow the city centre and the existing suburbs.
Of course, increased density does not mean high-rise, but high-rise is hard to define and relative to the immediate built environment. Six stories in two-storey suburbia could be considered high-rise, whereas 20 stories in Manhattan would be considered low- to mid-rise.
Densities of up to 50 dwellings per acre can be achieved by three- to four-storey developments, but this is difficult in many suburban or even inner-urban sites that are surrounded by existing one- and two-storey housing and there are very few sites in central Dublin or the suburbs large enough to allow development densities to be maximised.
Densities that could be achieved in our inner-urban streets are going to be further reduced by the new standards for apartments introduced last week by Dublin City Council. These standards have a very worthy purpose of making apartments more family-friendly, but they will mean considerably fewer apartments on a length of street frontage. Thus there is more pressure to increase building height in order to achieve good urban densities.
Most residential development in central Dublin to date has been low- to medium-rise, in line with existing building heights. Slightly greater heights have been achieved in major redevelopments such as Dublin Docklands or Smithfield, which address larger public spaces or water frontage. However, considerable criticism has been levelled at the Docklands for creating too even and uneventful a profile.
This was only broken to date by the Millennium Tower at Charlotte Quay with a modest 18 stories, of similar height to the adjacent Boland's Mills, but it is now joined by the new, slender tower on the other side of the harbour.
Further landmark buildings at about the height of the Spire (120m) are emerging at key gateways at the Point Depot and the U2 tower on the opposite bank of the Liffey and also at Heuston Gate. I would consider that such landmark buildings at key points in our sprawling city are vital, as long as they do not compromise existing housing or historic buildings.
Are such high-rise buildings sustainable? They can be designed to zero carbon standard and they maximise development at key transport hubs. Building costs are higher, but they fetch more money.
I would therefore defend the siting of a tower at the Jury's site in Ballsbridge, although I feel it needs refinement in slenderness and a little reduction in height. It is sited at a key point of one of Dublin's major inner-urban townships. It creates a focal point at the end of Dublin's grandest 19th century terrace in Pembroke Road and does not impact on views from the surrounding grand, tree-lined roads. It will also complement the curvaceous but considerable bulk of the new Lansdowne Road stadium. Many of the lower buildings are going to create no more impact than the existing hotels and office buildings and promise to be much more refined, but some will need to be reconsidered.
Where else in the city is high-rise justified? At key locations on the urban edge or regenerated industrial estates such as Sandyford, or as focal points of major townships such as Ballsbridge or Heuston Gate, if suitable sites can be found. But I consider our greatest opportunity presents itself on the Poolbeg Peninsula and more particularly the existing Dublin Docks, which must inevitably be moved out in large part to Bremore, presenting a wonderful opportunity to create a major new city quarter, with up to 80,000 inhabitants at the heart of a magnificent bay, far from immediate impact on existing communities, and at present marked only by power station chimneys.
James Pike is a director and founder of O'Mahony Pike Architects and author of Living Over the Shop, which was recently published by Comhar, the national forum for sustainable development.
