Newsletter Summer 2020

Issue 38

On The Move One of our younger local residents takes the opportunity to explore Grangegorman’s tree-lined allée. During the Covid-19 lockdown, Grangegorman was one of few public green spaces within a 2km distance for many of our local community. Image: Brian Cregan Poem Camino de Gangegorman

Silence, Footsteps Morning Dew on the Campus, Birds Singing Dublin Mountains, can’t visit Sun shining, soft clouds, angry clouds, rain falling Absent Family, Friends, some gone forever Absent Colleagues, No Friday Cake Empty, Silent Structures, Old and New Changing Blossoms on the Trees and Flowers, Empty Wooden Benches, Sound of the Clock Honouring the Past Open Spaces, Altering Spaces, New Foundation Document and Website Launches Quiet Playgrounds, no kids, no tears or laughter or small colourful trikes Grangegorman Histories, a public history and a workhouse. Crunch of footsteps on the running track project led by the GDA and the Royal The history project and its programme Irish Academy (RIA), has launched its of activities will examine and engage with Empty Sports Pitches, no players, no Foundation Document. The document, the histories of Grangegorman using whistle, no cheers which sets out the purpose of the project three learning pathways: the people; the and provides details of upcoming events places; and the practices. Planning is also Socialisation, no socialisation, the new and activities, will be housed on the underway for contributions to Culture norm of distance, new Grangegorman Histories website at Night, the Dublin Festival of History and Meandering people, strangers, colleagues, grangegormanhistories.ie. First Fortnight, as well as a pilot Oral eye contact, no eye contact Grangegorman Histories will History project. Joggers, Dog walkers, Meet ups, Baby contribute to the uncovering, cataloguing The Grangegorman Histories Founding Walkers, Frontline Workers and commemoration of this distinctive Partners include Dublin City Council, A smile, a nod, a Hello, eye contact, no eye part of the city that is woven into the fabric GDA, Health Service Executive, local contact of Dublin’s social history. communities, National Archives, RIA and People crisscrossing, circling, meandering, Located just over 1km from the TU Dublin. echoes of the past city centre in Dublin’s north inner city, The Project Manager for this Grangegorman was synonymous with the exciting project is Aisling Roche. Go to Lost in our own thoughts confinement of vulnerable people in a grangegormanhistories.ie for more details Yellow signs; 2 metre distance variety of institutions – an asylum, a prison on how to get involved. Alert to oncomers, Side step to avoid, was that rude? Pandemic, new behaviours Construction Update Old behaviours Hopscotch, children’s games chalked on All projects up and running following national shutdown the empty pathways Smiley faces, sad faces, lost faces Following a construction hiatus due to Grangegorman’s oldest building, the Missing Family, missing Friends Covid-19, all Grangegorman construction Lower House. TU Dublin are leading recommenced on site from 18th May. Time away from this new digital world of on two further projects, redeveloping communicating New measures have been put in place Rathdown House and also to fit-out Park by all contractors to safely remobilise on House as temporary library services for site, including appointing a Covid-19 the coming years. Construction of the No Travels, 2020 Lockdown Compliance Officer for each project. Broadstone Plaza is continuing to progress Enjoying what’s on our doorstep The pause in works and subsequent through Transport Infrastructure Ireland A new way of living implementation of Covid-19 measures with Dublin City Council. The plaza is Grangegorman every morning an altered has led to unavoidable delays in our programme delivery. expected to be ready by the autumn. This vision will provide a pedestrian/cyclist gateway The GDA continues to work closely Time out, next 8 hours a virtual space. with our contractors and project partners to Grangegorman. The next phases of to deliver these projects as soon as possible. development in Grangegorman include the - Nora Rahill, GDA The three projects currently under new 24 classroom national school for the construction, and due for completion Dublin 7 Educate Together, the Academic in 2020, include the Central and East Hub, West Quad and the HSE Residential Quads, and the adaptive recovery of Care Neighbourhood.

Issue 38 Grangegorman Development Agency | Gníomhaireacht Forbartha Ghráinseach Ghormáin Grangegorman Thrives Exploring the value of public space during lockdown

The nationwide lockdown imposed last important for him and his family during March due to the Covid-19 pandemic left lockdown. He describes how the tree many of the city’s public spaces silenced lined avenue with the benches and pitches and bare for the first time. The vast majority on either side was a family-favourite, of people who followed the Government particularly for his 16 month old daughter. appeals stayed within 2km of their home ‘It was great to have a safe and secure - stepping outside only for essential work, space to go with very little anti-social or to shop, exercise, or care for elderly or behaviour that you find in some city parks. vulnerable people. It’s also clean and well maintained.’ In Grangegorman was one of a few public particular, Brian commended the campus green spaces where many people in the staff for their friendly and approachable local community could get their much manner. needed recreation, play and exercise. Head of Campus Life at TU Dublin, This unique lived experience highlights Brian Gormley and his family visited the importance of public spaces like the campus 3 or 4 times a week during Grangegorman in serving the needs of our lockdown. ‘We’re lucky enough that the communities. To capture their personal Blossom-filtered morning light experiences, we interviewed some of the Image: Stephanie Dickenson local residents and people who work in the area of Grangegorman and asked them people walking comfortably and safely what significance the space held for them through the campus. during the pandemic. Frontline worker Victor, who works Local resident of Grangegorman, Luke in the Phoenix Care Centre recalls McManus describes how, in the early how getting daily exercise by walking stages of lockdown when communities around the campus during break-times were restricted to the 2km limit, people’s was an important aspect of health and immediate surroundings began to bear a wellbeing for him and his colleagues unique and unprecedented significance. during the lockdown. He observed that ‘Our worlds contracted so we found while the pathways generally offer safe new meaning and opportunities in our Exploring the Cultural Garden in the sunshine social distancing, it was sometimes hard neighbourhoods. The Grangegorman Image: Brian Cregan to maintain the 2 metre distance rule, campus played a huge part in our daily particularly on sunny days when there was lives as a family and made lockdown more an increase in walkers and joggers on the pleasurable than it had any right to be.’ campus. Despite how challenging and tragic the Kirwan Street resident Stephanie experience was for many, Luke recalls how Dickenson also incorporated an early the safe and open spaces, both grassy and morning walk through the campus into tarmac, provided an opportunity to create her daily routine. In particular, she enjoyed fond memories as a family. One such photographing the wildlife around the special moment for Luke was watching his site – the blossom trees, the birds, the son Danny learning Gaelic football skills wildflowers and the bees. When lockdown and riding a bicycle for the first time. eased, one distinct memory for Stephanie Local artist photographer, Brian Cregan was having physically-distanced meet-ups had a similar experience. Having access Scaling Grangegorman’s Holm Oaks with colleagues from the eco-network, Image: Brian Gormley to the Grangegorman campus was really Leafybatter and the Grangegorman Histories group. The outdoor space Grangegorman campus was within our continues to enable face-to-face meetings 2km radius. The opportunity in the evening like these to take place in a safe way. to cycle down car-free city streets, kick a ball, or throw a frisbee around was of huge The global pandemic and the resulting benefit. Some of my favourite memories of lockdown across Ireland impacted on April and May are sunny, balmy evenings the lives of every individual, some more sitting on the parched grass on the campus, devastatingly than others. We’re all acutely bird song filling the air, while the kids aware that the risks associated with the honed their tree-climbing skills or played spread of Covid-19 remain and that the hide-and-seek through the grounds.’ situation continues to unfold. However, these accounts of the human experience TU Dublin student Kaiwen Yang during the early stages of the virus, provide also spent time honing his skills on the an insight into the resilience of the local basketball courts during lockdown. He community and into the value of the enjoyed the quiet spaces of Grangegorman Grangegorman site during this particular in the early mornings and late evenings TU Dublin students practice basketball during lockdown phase of its ongoing evolution. and was particularly pleased to see older Image: GDA

Issue 38 Grangegorman Development Agency | Gníomhaireacht Forbartha Ghráinseach Ghormáin The Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA) is a statutory agency. This Newsletter is published by us for you. Stay in touch, come visit.

01 402 4140 The Clock Tower We were established to redevelop the former St. Brendan’s Hospital www.ggda.ie Grangegorman Lwr grounds in Dublin City Centre. We aim to create a vibrant new city facebook.com/GrangegormanDev Dublin 7 quarter in a way that is sensitive to the context of Grangegorman, its twitter.com/GrangegormanDev D07 XT95 surrounding neighbourhood and its existing communities. Subscribe to [email protected] Labour and Learning Forum Update New Socio-Economic Study of the Area Now Available

The Grangegorman Labour and Learning Grangegorman area to help support their and how public procurement can be used Forum (GLLF) has recently published own planning, development and funding as a tool to support and boost the social Joining Up the Dots 3, the third study processes. The report can be accessed on economy. assessing the socio-economic and the GDA website under Latest News. In place since 2012, the Grangegorman demographic characteristics of the In other news, the Grangegorman Employment Charter was one of the first Grangegorman area. It provides a clear Employment Charter has been cited initiatives of its kind to be used in Ireland. understanding of the demographics, as one of two Irish case studies in the It has since influenced a number of other educational and employment profile of European Commission guide “Making public projects nationwide. the area and will be used by the GLLF to Socially Responsible Public Procurement For further information, or for queries inform its future work. It is also a resource Work”. The guide aims to show how public on the forum, contact Kathleen McCann; for statutory, voluntary and community procurers have achieved social benefits [email protected]. groups and organisations working in the through their public procurement practice,

Print-Making Workshop TU Dublin School of Creative Arts

The Dublin School of Creative Arts’ Print-Making Workshop will take up interim residency in a new purpose-built workshop. A modest but ambitious building, it will informally bookend one edge of a temporary south-facing lawn behind the Clock Tower, fronting the East Quad. Its central studio will be diffusely daylit through three dramatic clerestory windows. SCULLION ARCHITECTS & Plus Architecture are leading the design and will take the project on-site over the coming months. A simple structure, it is assembled confidently with an exposed Communications Manager white steel frame and carefully wrapped in corrugated sheathing. Full-height street windows are positioned to connect with the city Tara Mulvany joins the GDA along St Brendan’s Way East.

The GDA is delighted to welcome on board our new Communications Manager; Tara Mulvany. Tara has recently joined the team, working alongside Lori Keeve to fufil the communications role for the GDA and Grangegorman Project. Originally from Stoneybatter, she has over 20 years-experience in the communications sector in Ireland and internationally. Tara is a graduate of TU Dublin and is currently completing a Masters in Climate Change at DCU.

TU Dublin Printmaking Workshop viewed approaching from Broadstone A generous central studio is formed within an uncomplicated white steel skeletal interior Image: SCULLION ARCHITECTS & Plus Architecture Image: SCULLION ARCHITECTS & Plus Architecture

Issue 38 Grangegorman Development Agency | Gníomhaireacht Forbartha Ghráinseach Ghormáin