Michael O' Neill (O'neill Quigley & Associates)
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Michael O' Neill (O’Neill Quigley & Associates) RE: Initial Comments re GG_CC_Masterplan_2_Oct_2008.pdf Date: 12th October 2010 Dear Ronan, Herewith our initial brief comments in relation to the scheme. 1. The overall scale of the buildings seems just fine and non‐threatening while maintaining huge oversight of all public spaces. I approve of the extended use of the "civic square" element as organizer to a dispersed campus ‐ I use it in a smaller scale on my work. 2. However there is too much unbelievable green in the presentation ‐ I could have done without much of it, particularly the graphic plans. Showing wall‐to‐wall trees in the squares means that the nature of the spaces has been misunderstood by the planners in favour of graphic "wow" factor. The scale of urban spaces should be mitigated and translated towards human scale by intermediate elements like trees ‐ they should not dominate them like this. 3. The organization of the scheme needs a vertical element(s) to help with orientation in what is a non‐ orthogonal layout, serpentine in nature. This vertical feature(s) may or may not incorporate a viewing platform, and would have a tourist/visiting lecturer/visiting student complementary end use. Much is made in the presentation of the views of the Dublin Mountains to the south, but without high points other buildings and trees will block most of these views. 4. I would be very wary of the current trend towards a minimum scale of eight stories in Dublin City Council ‐ the seem to have no clue of scale. Eight stories is the largest London scale and they have commensurately wider streets to compensate for it ‐ height without width is very oppressive. One or two of the squares at the north of the site need to be looked at with this in mind, where building almost meet ‐ a balance needs to be struck here. 5. While the whole thing is an expansion or relocation of facilities from elsewhere, I feel the potential for expansion is limited and will mainly be vertical or take over the sports field. Long term we have to view this not only in a ten but a twenty year timescale ‐ if Dublin resurges again to a centre of academic excellence, how do we address the limitations of the site. Going against everything I have said above [balanced constructive criticism is where we are at :)] it may be better to build higher, or build more basements and leave more land for later use. Just some initial thoughts and thanks for asking ‐ kudos all round for an appropriate level of presentation with evocative sketches and simple elegant plans [apart from the green!]. Yours sincerely, Michael O'Neill for O'Neill Quigley & Associates Planning & Design Consultants Dip.Arch. DIT, B.Arch.Sc. TCD (1990) John Thompson (private individual) Greeting, First of all, as a local resident of Broadstone and a graduate of DIT I am very much in favour of the new development, and am happy to endure inconveniences related to construction works etc. should the full vision be ultimately realised DIT has always been a poor cousin within third level education in Dublin because of the lack of facilities and the wide dispersal of the staff and student populations. Gathering all of its many elements together in one site is a fantastic prospect. The north inner city area around Broadstone, Phibsboro and Stoneybatter is desperately in need of social and sporting facilities, particularly playing fields and a swimming pool, and community focal points such as a theatre and library. The addition of the Educate Together primary school to the site will bring vitality and wide community interaction to the project and provides a valuable option for parents who would prefer their children be taught in a secular environment. The prospect of the facilities of the whole campus being available for occasional school use are also exciting. One obvious question is where the pupils will go afterwards? As the present primary students grow older, parents are certain to lobby strongly for the provision of a similar type of secondary school. On a site as large as Grangegorman, it makes sense to make provision in the plan (at least in terms of space and services) for the potential/inevitable future development of a second level school, ideally proximal to the planned primary school. At present there seems to be no such allowance made. This is the only glaring omission readily apparent to me in the current plan, which otherwise appears impressively comprehensive and creative in both vision and detail, and I would imagine that I am not the first or the only person to draw attention to it. Regards, John Thompson Gwen Turner (private individual) Hi, Thanks for circulating the Grangegorman plans – it looks very exciting. I only have a few points that I’m sure have been considered already – but thought I’d flag them in any case: It would be great if as far as possible, the whole campus was accessible to wheelchairs & people with buggies – with as few steps and kerbs as possible – especially in and around the primary school and HSE buildings. It would also be good to have designated cycle paths all across the campus – so that cyclists aren’t cycling on footpaths – and to have lots of bike parking areas on site – with covered bike parking at main points of entry. In my view, escalators within the buildings should be avoided or minimised where possible – as they demand a lot of energy to run, are prone to breakdown, and don’t serve as a safe staircase when they are switched off. Stairs, Ramps and lifts would be better alternatives. Will there be some sort of storage unit for consumables? If so, it could be located near some sort of service entrance so that lorries are not making trips into the centre of the campus. Finally, some consideration should be given to the location of student lockers. Large banks of lockers on corridors (as in Bolton St) are unsightly, and lead to congestion as people are walking through the hallways between lectures whilst others are trying to get stuff in & out of lockers. Smaller groups of lockers placed throughout the building in less busy areas (similar to TCD Arts Block) would be better. Also, the size of the lockers available should be tailored to the types of students – with trades students needing more space for tools, safety gear, boots, etc. Thanks for the opportunity to contribute. Regards, Gwen Turner Tom Farrell (private individual) A very simple submission in regard to staff and student access to the Grangegorman site. There aren't any recognisable bus routes from North South or West which pass less than a mile from the centre of the site. Connolly, Heuston, Tara st and Drumcondra stations are up to 2 miles away and the Tallaght Luas is about a mile to the centre of the campus. Staff and students will have a very long walk from their stops, compared to current distances from Cathal Brugha, Bolton, Aungier and Kevin Sts. There will be minimal car parking available for staff, and no indication if the car parking will be free to staff or will be a charged. The idea of 10 to 20 000 staff and students in cars all trying to get up the Grangegorman road at ten minutes to nine would not require a computer model to figure out the consequences. My suggestion in this regard is that DIT undertake to extend the Dublin Bikes scheme specifically for staff and students, by contracting with Dublin bikes to provide 2000+ bikes with stands at all the main bus and rail and luas termini and operating in a manner which would prioritise those bikes for dit use, while making the surplus available to other commuters. Also the DIT could contract to supply a number of feeder buses to round robin the transit stops in opposite directions, departing every ten minutes at peak. Using a circular route from Grangegorman to Phibsboro, Drumcondra, Connolly/Busarus, Tara st, Pearse, Stephens green Luas, Heuston, Smithfield Luas and back to Grangegorman, and the same route in the opposite direction as far as is possible. Like most other members of staff, I have no idea how I am going to get to Grangegorman other than by walking for 30 or 45 minutes each way each day from Drumcondra or Connolly station, the latter option allows me to use the Luas, but my journey time will still be as long as the Smithfield Luas stop is still 20 minutes from the centre of the campus, plus the extra journey time from Drumcondra station to Connolly station and then the wait for the Luas, most of which now depart from dockland, requiring a longer walk from Connolly to the nearest stop. My current walk is 10 to 15 minutes depending on station, so the move to Grangegorman will double or treble that. Bikes and buses are the only way, the car option is of limited use given the inaccessibility of the site. UCD has a motorway flyover as part of its access. grangegorman is surrounded by cobbled lanes. Thomas Farrell George Henry (CIE) Richard Dunne (private individual) Hello As a runner , a slow runner i might add. I see that no track is in the plans for the sporting area in GG. There is enough space for one . You could incorporate it into the football pitches. TCD has one of the oldest grass tracks in the world. Its only used for about 7‐8 months of the year. In those months its used every day by many different groups be it runners footballers, all sports can use a running track , but only footballers can use a football pitch.