TENDERS ARE being sought for a “design and build” contract for the controversial children’s hospital on the Mater site in Dublin at least a month in advance of An Bord Pleanála’s decision on whether to grant planning permission for it.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label national children’s hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national children’s hospital. Show all posts
Friday, 30 December 2011
Sunday, 6 November 2011
'Fatal legal flaw' possible in children's hospital plan
THE DEPARTMENT of Health failed to comply with an EU requirement for a strategic environmental assessment of the proposed national children’s hospital in Dublin, An Bord Pleanála has been told.
In a submission to the board’s oral hearing on the hospital, the Heritage Council said the department’s failure to carry out the assessment could be a “fatal legal flaw” in the planning process.
The council, a statutory body, said much of the conflict over the hospital’s proposed height and bulk resulted from this failure by the department to assess the environmental implications before deciding in May 2006 to go ahead with the €650 million project.
An Bord Pleanála is holding oral hearings into the plan to build the 16-storey hospital on a two-hectare site on the grounds of the Mater hospital. It is due to be completed in 2016.
The National Children’s Hospital Development Board says an environmental report on Dublin City Council’s 2008 Mountjoy/ Phibsboro local area plan, which covered the Mater site, was adequate to fulfil an EU directive’s requirement for a strategic environmental assessment.
However Colm Murray, the Heritage Council’s architecture officer, said the directive, which was transposed into Irish law in 2004, related to “all decisions in respect of plans and programmes that may have an environmental effect”, such as the proposed hospital.
It also required an examination of alternatives. “Without real alternatives, there is no scope for choice or judgment and the environmental impact process is pointless and flawed”, he said in a submission to the oral hearing. This could be “a fatal legal flaw in the decision-making process”.
The fact that an environmental report was done on the Mountjoy/ Phibsboro local area plan, published in March 2008, was insufficient, as “the prior decision of government [to locate the hospital on the Mater site] prevented the generation of alternatives”.
An Bord Pleanála’s minutes of pre-planning consultations with the applicants record them as saying the decision to locate the hospital on the Mater site “was based on medical policy more so than planning policy and [they] acknowledged that it could be a contentious matter”.
Mr Murray said the Heritage Council “is of the view that the integrity and authenticity of Dublin as a candidate [Unesco] World Heritage Site ought to be a major material consideration in this planning decision”, because the 16-storey hospital would have negative impacts.
He noted that conservation architect Paul Arnold had conceded that “the adverse impact on St George’s Church [in nearby Hardwicke Place] will be high” and there would also be “identifiable adverse impacts” on North Great George’s Street and O’Connell Street.
An Taisce, in its submission to An Bord Pleanála’s oral hearing, drew attention to two alternatives that were not considered – a €102 million expansion plan for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin and a publicly owned site between St James’s Hospital and Heuston Station. The latter site, it said, “offers more than double the footprint compared to the existing proposal” and was also “substantially co-located with a major adult teaching hospital, requiring only a 90m link to St James’s” as well as adequate space for expansion.
Lawyer James Nix, who appeared for An Taisce, also argued there was a failure to observe the EU’s strategic environmental assessment directive (SEA) and this “continues to the present day”, with the decision to opt for the Mater site “taken as a fait accompli” in the Mountjoy/Phibsboro local area plan.
“In effect, the failure to meet the SEA begins in 2006 and persists into the arms of An Bord Pleanála,” Mr Nix said. “Indeed, looking at what took place over these five years, the decision-making process is compromised by the very mischief that the SEA directive seeks to avoid.
“By failing to ascertain and study alternatives, we witness an unshakeable faith that the decision must be right in the first place. This cannot be the process, and is indeed the last thing the framers and those adopting the [SEA] directive . . . intended.”
Irish Times
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
In a submission to the board’s oral hearing on the hospital, the Heritage Council said the department’s failure to carry out the assessment could be a “fatal legal flaw” in the planning process.
The council, a statutory body, said much of the conflict over the hospital’s proposed height and bulk resulted from this failure by the department to assess the environmental implications before deciding in May 2006 to go ahead with the €650 million project.
An Bord Pleanála is holding oral hearings into the plan to build the 16-storey hospital on a two-hectare site on the grounds of the Mater hospital. It is due to be completed in 2016.
The National Children’s Hospital Development Board says an environmental report on Dublin City Council’s 2008 Mountjoy/ Phibsboro local area plan, which covered the Mater site, was adequate to fulfil an EU directive’s requirement for a strategic environmental assessment.
However Colm Murray, the Heritage Council’s architecture officer, said the directive, which was transposed into Irish law in 2004, related to “all decisions in respect of plans and programmes that may have an environmental effect”, such as the proposed hospital.
It also required an examination of alternatives. “Without real alternatives, there is no scope for choice or judgment and the environmental impact process is pointless and flawed”, he said in a submission to the oral hearing. This could be “a fatal legal flaw in the decision-making process”.
The fact that an environmental report was done on the Mountjoy/ Phibsboro local area plan, published in March 2008, was insufficient, as “the prior decision of government [to locate the hospital on the Mater site] prevented the generation of alternatives”.
An Bord Pleanála’s minutes of pre-planning consultations with the applicants record them as saying the decision to locate the hospital on the Mater site “was based on medical policy more so than planning policy and [they] acknowledged that it could be a contentious matter”.
Mr Murray said the Heritage Council “is of the view that the integrity and authenticity of Dublin as a candidate [Unesco] World Heritage Site ought to be a major material consideration in this planning decision”, because the 16-storey hospital would have negative impacts.
He noted that conservation architect Paul Arnold had conceded that “the adverse impact on St George’s Church [in nearby Hardwicke Place] will be high” and there would also be “identifiable adverse impacts” on North Great George’s Street and O’Connell Street.
An Taisce, in its submission to An Bord Pleanála’s oral hearing, drew attention to two alternatives that were not considered – a €102 million expansion plan for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin and a publicly owned site between St James’s Hospital and Heuston Station. The latter site, it said, “offers more than double the footprint compared to the existing proposal” and was also “substantially co-located with a major adult teaching hospital, requiring only a 90m link to St James’s” as well as adequate space for expansion.
Lawyer James Nix, who appeared for An Taisce, also argued there was a failure to observe the EU’s strategic environmental assessment directive (SEA) and this “continues to the present day”, with the decision to opt for the Mater site “taken as a fait accompli” in the Mountjoy/Phibsboro local area plan.
“In effect, the failure to meet the SEA begins in 2006 and persists into the arms of An Bord Pleanála,” Mr Nix said. “Indeed, looking at what took place over these five years, the decision-making process is compromised by the very mischief that the SEA directive seeks to avoid.
“By failing to ascertain and study alternatives, we witness an unshakeable faith that the decision must be right in the first place. This cannot be the process, and is indeed the last thing the framers and those adopting the [SEA] directive . . . intended.”
Irish Times
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Height of children's hospital plan defended
THE DEVELOPERS of the proposed national children’s hospital have rejected suggestions that the 16-storey development could scupper Dublin’s chances of securing Unesco World Heritage Site designation.
Architects representing the hospital development board have told a Bord Pleanála hearing on the proposed facility that such claims were “scare stories” and the site of the development on the grounds of the Mater hospital, Dublin may not even be included in the application for world heritage status.
Shane O’Toole, an architect and architectural critic, told the hearing that having a tall building affecting views in the city did not preclude Dublin having world heritage status.
Mary Gallagher, representing a number of local residents who have concerns about loss of daylight if the 16-storey building goes ahead, said the development was so hemmed in by other structures that its “iconic landmark” aspect would be lost. “It’s like trying to put a two-pint bottle into a pint bottle,” she said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Architects representing the hospital development board have told a Bord Pleanála hearing on the proposed facility that such claims were “scare stories” and the site of the development on the grounds of the Mater hospital, Dublin may not even be included in the application for world heritage status.
Shane O’Toole, an architect and architectural critic, told the hearing that having a tall building affecting views in the city did not preclude Dublin having world heritage status.
Mary Gallagher, representing a number of local residents who have concerns about loss of daylight if the 16-storey building goes ahead, said the development was so hemmed in by other structures that its “iconic landmark” aspect would be lost. “It’s like trying to put a two-pint bottle into a pint bottle,” she said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Scale of hospital a key issue for planning board
THE ENORMOUS scale of the proposed Children’s Hospital of Ireland on the Mater site on Dublin’s Eccles Street has emerged as the key issue in the first week of An Bord Pleanála’s oral hearing on this €650 million Government-approved project.
The focus by objectors on the height and bulk of the multilayered scheme is inevitable as it is one of the biggest structures ever planned for Dublin, as well as being significantly taller than the stadiums at Croke Park and Lansdowne Road.
Rising above a four-level basement car park, the hospital is “stacked” – five storeys of major diagnostic, topped by a “therapy park” with a rooftop terrace on the next four floors, and a curvaceous seven-storey block of inpatient wards floating above.
This element is evocative of a multideck ocean liner, permanently “moored” on top of a nine-storey building and highly visible on the city’s skyline as an “anomalous” feature, in the words of one supporter, or simply “wrong”, according to objectors.
As a linear block, the proposed children’s hospital would have an impact quite different to a tower – not just because of its overall height which, at 73.89m (243.8ft), would be 14.5m (47.8ft) taller than Liberty Hall, but also because of its length and breadth.
The oversailing ward block would extend to 150m (495ft) in length and about 30m (99ft) in width, narrowing in the middle and tapering at each end. In other words, the most visible part of the project would be equivalent to eight Liberty Halls side by side, and twice as deep.
According to critic Shane O’Toole, who appeared for the hospital promoters, the “sculptural” ward block “literally elevates the position of sick children . . . above all else”, giving them “wonderful views . . . which will be better than from any penthouse apartment in the city”.
He rejected concerns that the intrusion of such an enormous edifice into the northside Georgian core would jeopardise Dublin achieving Unesco world heritage site status, citing examples of buildings that had “dramatically changed the unique character” of other cities.
But neither Cook Fournier’s “biomorphic” Spacelab in Graz nor Renzo Piano’s Nemo science museum in Amsterdam, like a half-sunk ship in the harbour, are seriously out of scale. And Robbrecht en Daem’s concert hall in Bruges, while bulky, is not anything like as tall.
Hospital architects O’Connell Mahon and NBBJ insist that the undulating form of the Eccles Street ward block, with its “thoughtfully engineered glass skin”, would “sit favourably” on Dublin’s skyline, catching and “subtly reflecting the ever- changing light and sky”.
They have made repeated references to Dublin City Council’s 2008 Phibsborough/ Mountjoy local area plan, which supported the development of a “world-class” children’s hospital on the Mater site and recognised that this would entail a “cluster of taller buildings”.
However, the plan also said: “Every effort must be made to ensure that increases in height will not have any negative overshadowing effects on adjoining properties or impact negatively on the settings of the protected structures both on the site and its periphery.”
The plan envisaged that significantly taller buildings might be located on the Eccles Street frontage than what O’Connell Mahon/NBBJ have proposed. Indeed, they have made a virtue of the fact that their scheme would be only four storeys high on the street.
“The Eccles Street block fills the existing void which resulted from significant demolitions of existing buildings during the 1980s and will complete the street in a manner that is consistent with good urban design objectives, appropriate to the character and urban grain . . . ”
The vast bulk of the hospital is set back from the street, partly hidden by a high canopied entrance forecourt, on a site that is already elevated at least 20m above sea level. As planning consultant Eamonn Kelly conceded, its scale would be “dramatically different”.
City council management’s view, in a submission to An Bord Pleanála, is that “while it is clear that a building of this scale will impact significantly on the character of the city, this is an inevitable part of the compromise necessary to achieve development in inner urban areas”.
Yet the height-and-bulk issue was barely considered in the decisions made by the Health Service Executive, former minister for health Mary Harney and her successor, James Reilly – and two governments – to proceed with this scheme, at a direct cost to taxpayers of €540 million.
The independent review commissioned by Dr Reilly last May only refers obliquely to this central issue, noting that “generic” eight-storey buildings on greenfield sites in Blanchardstown, Newlands Cross and Tallaght would be “significantly lower than the current proposals”.
Yet although it would be cheaper to develop the children’s hospital on any one of the three alternative sites, the review recommended that the present scheme should go ahead on the basis that writing off €24 million in planning and design costs “may be politically sensitive”.
Nobody considered that the objective of “co-locating” paediatric and adult hospitals might be achieved if the site occupied by Mountjoy Prison – directly across the North Circular Road from the Mater and due to be replaced – was developed for the Children’s Hospital of Ireland.
Neither has any consideration been given to what will become of the existing children’s hospitals in Temple Street and Crumlin after they are vacated. Will new uses be found for these buildings or will they become playgrounds for vandals like the empty Army barracks in Naas?
The only lateral thinking that has been applied to the project is evident in the form of the proposed development – the decision by its architects that a huge and highly visible horizontal slab, however well tricked out, is the most appropriate response to their almost impossible brief.
An Bord Pleanála’s oral hearing is expected to continue for a further two weeks, but it would not be surprising if the board eventually gives its approval for the scheme; after all, it represents the realisation of Government policy, which the board would be loathe to ignore.
Irish Times
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
The focus by objectors on the height and bulk of the multilayered scheme is inevitable as it is one of the biggest structures ever planned for Dublin, as well as being significantly taller than the stadiums at Croke Park and Lansdowne Road.
Rising above a four-level basement car park, the hospital is “stacked” – five storeys of major diagnostic, topped by a “therapy park” with a rooftop terrace on the next four floors, and a curvaceous seven-storey block of inpatient wards floating above.
This element is evocative of a multideck ocean liner, permanently “moored” on top of a nine-storey building and highly visible on the city’s skyline as an “anomalous” feature, in the words of one supporter, or simply “wrong”, according to objectors.
As a linear block, the proposed children’s hospital would have an impact quite different to a tower – not just because of its overall height which, at 73.89m (243.8ft), would be 14.5m (47.8ft) taller than Liberty Hall, but also because of its length and breadth.
The oversailing ward block would extend to 150m (495ft) in length and about 30m (99ft) in width, narrowing in the middle and tapering at each end. In other words, the most visible part of the project would be equivalent to eight Liberty Halls side by side, and twice as deep.
According to critic Shane O’Toole, who appeared for the hospital promoters, the “sculptural” ward block “literally elevates the position of sick children . . . above all else”, giving them “wonderful views . . . which will be better than from any penthouse apartment in the city”.
He rejected concerns that the intrusion of such an enormous edifice into the northside Georgian core would jeopardise Dublin achieving Unesco world heritage site status, citing examples of buildings that had “dramatically changed the unique character” of other cities.
But neither Cook Fournier’s “biomorphic” Spacelab in Graz nor Renzo Piano’s Nemo science museum in Amsterdam, like a half-sunk ship in the harbour, are seriously out of scale. And Robbrecht en Daem’s concert hall in Bruges, while bulky, is not anything like as tall.
Hospital architects O’Connell Mahon and NBBJ insist that the undulating form of the Eccles Street ward block, with its “thoughtfully engineered glass skin”, would “sit favourably” on Dublin’s skyline, catching and “subtly reflecting the ever- changing light and sky”.
They have made repeated references to Dublin City Council’s 2008 Phibsborough/ Mountjoy local area plan, which supported the development of a “world-class” children’s hospital on the Mater site and recognised that this would entail a “cluster of taller buildings”.
However, the plan also said: “Every effort must be made to ensure that increases in height will not have any negative overshadowing effects on adjoining properties or impact negatively on the settings of the protected structures both on the site and its periphery.”
The plan envisaged that significantly taller buildings might be located on the Eccles Street frontage than what O’Connell Mahon/NBBJ have proposed. Indeed, they have made a virtue of the fact that their scheme would be only four storeys high on the street.
“The Eccles Street block fills the existing void which resulted from significant demolitions of existing buildings during the 1980s and will complete the street in a manner that is consistent with good urban design objectives, appropriate to the character and urban grain . . . ”
The vast bulk of the hospital is set back from the street, partly hidden by a high canopied entrance forecourt, on a site that is already elevated at least 20m above sea level. As planning consultant Eamonn Kelly conceded, its scale would be “dramatically different”.
City council management’s view, in a submission to An Bord Pleanála, is that “while it is clear that a building of this scale will impact significantly on the character of the city, this is an inevitable part of the compromise necessary to achieve development in inner urban areas”.
Yet the height-and-bulk issue was barely considered in the decisions made by the Health Service Executive, former minister for health Mary Harney and her successor, James Reilly – and two governments – to proceed with this scheme, at a direct cost to taxpayers of €540 million.
The independent review commissioned by Dr Reilly last May only refers obliquely to this central issue, noting that “generic” eight-storey buildings on greenfield sites in Blanchardstown, Newlands Cross and Tallaght would be “significantly lower than the current proposals”.
Yet although it would be cheaper to develop the children’s hospital on any one of the three alternative sites, the review recommended that the present scheme should go ahead on the basis that writing off €24 million in planning and design costs “may be politically sensitive”.
Nobody considered that the objective of “co-locating” paediatric and adult hospitals might be achieved if the site occupied by Mountjoy Prison – directly across the North Circular Road from the Mater and due to be replaced – was developed for the Children’s Hospital of Ireland.
Neither has any consideration been given to what will become of the existing children’s hospitals in Temple Street and Crumlin after they are vacated. Will new uses be found for these buildings or will they become playgrounds for vandals like the empty Army barracks in Naas?
The only lateral thinking that has been applied to the project is evident in the form of the proposed development – the decision by its architects that a huge and highly visible horizontal slab, however well tricked out, is the most appropriate response to their almost impossible brief.
An Bord Pleanála’s oral hearing is expected to continue for a further two weeks, but it would not be surprising if the board eventually gives its approval for the scheme; after all, it represents the realisation of Government policy, which the board would be loathe to ignore.
Irish Times
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Children's hospital to be world class, say its backers
THE planned new €650m national children's hospital will be a "world-class" facility, a planning hearing has been told.
Under its current timetable, construction on the new Children's Hospital of Ireland at Eccles Street in north Dublin will begin in the second quarter of next year with the first patient due to be treated towards the end of 2016.
On the first day of An Bord Pleanala's oral hearing in Dublin yesterday, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) outlined its plans for the project, which will replace the three existing children's hospitals in the capital.
The new hospital will have 392 in-patient beds and 53 day care bed spaces and will include an emergency department, 13 operating theatres, research laboratories, a hospital school and restaurant and a family resource centre.
There will also be a four-storey underground carpark with 972 spaces and more than 240 bicycle spaces.
The development, which was designed by architects O'Connell Mahon/NBBJ, will vary in height from four storeys fronting on to Eccles Street, rising to 16 storeys toward the centre of the site.
Concerns
While some residents' groups have raised concerns at the height of the development, its designers have pointed out that the local area plan does not impose height restrictions.
Once up and running, it will be the only paediatric hospital in the country providing specialist treatments such as cardiac and cancer surgery, bone marrow transplantation and neurosurgery.
It will also provide out-patient clinics and emergency department services for children in the greater Dublin area.
The NPHDB will continue to outline its submission to An Bord Pleanala today and tomorrow and will face questions from objectors next week including residents' associations, individuals and organisations such as the Irish Georgian Society.
The main objections raised so far are the proposed siting of the new hospital, its height in relation to surrounding buildings and traffic management.
Eamonn Kelly, chartered town planner and consultant to the NPHDB, yesterday told the hearing that the new facility would be co-located with the newly constructed Mater Misericordiae University Hospital for adults and the proposed future maternity hospital, which would see the Rotunda relocated to the Mater site.
Breda Heffernan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Under its current timetable, construction on the new Children's Hospital of Ireland at Eccles Street in north Dublin will begin in the second quarter of next year with the first patient due to be treated towards the end of 2016.
On the first day of An Bord Pleanala's oral hearing in Dublin yesterday, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) outlined its plans for the project, which will replace the three existing children's hospitals in the capital.
The new hospital will have 392 in-patient beds and 53 day care bed spaces and will include an emergency department, 13 operating theatres, research laboratories, a hospital school and restaurant and a family resource centre.
There will also be a four-storey underground carpark with 972 spaces and more than 240 bicycle spaces.
The development, which was designed by architects O'Connell Mahon/NBBJ, will vary in height from four storeys fronting on to Eccles Street, rising to 16 storeys toward the centre of the site.
Concerns
While some residents' groups have raised concerns at the height of the development, its designers have pointed out that the local area plan does not impose height restrictions.
Once up and running, it will be the only paediatric hospital in the country providing specialist treatments such as cardiac and cancer surgery, bone marrow transplantation and neurosurgery.
It will also provide out-patient clinics and emergency department services for children in the greater Dublin area.
The NPHDB will continue to outline its submission to An Bord Pleanala today and tomorrow and will face questions from objectors next week including residents' associations, individuals and organisations such as the Irish Georgian Society.
The main objections raised so far are the proposed siting of the new hospital, its height in relation to surrounding buildings and traffic management.
Eamonn Kelly, chartered town planner and consultant to the NPHDB, yesterday told the hearing that the new facility would be co-located with the newly constructed Mater Misericordiae University Hospital for adults and the proposed future maternity hospital, which would see the Rotunda relocated to the Mater site.
Breda Heffernan
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Children's hospital hearing begins
A public hearing on plans for the proposed National Children’s Hospital on the grounds of the Mater Hospital Dublin began this morning.
An Bord Pleanála expects the hearing, which will hear evidence from more than 30 parties, will take three weeks to complete.
The hospital, which is expected to cost €650 million, would be able to accommodate clinical facilities for the provision of paediatric care, including 392 beds, 53 day care beds, 13 operating theatres, overnight beds for parents and a family resource centre.
The application also seeks to develop play areas, a school, external gardens and courtyards. The development, which is intended to be up to 16 storeys in height, is due for completion in late 2016.
Architects representing the National Children’s Hospital Development Board told the hearing that the site offered an opportunity to provide “world class” facilities in co-location with an adult hospital and eventually a maternity hospital.
Architect Clare White acknowledged that many submissions had raised concerns about the effect on the historic Georgian area, particularly protected structures.
“Almost every building on Eccles Street is a protected structure and we considered this context from the very outset,” she said.
Plans to locate a 16 storey “landmark” building on the site were consistent with Dublin City Council’s Local Area Plan, Ms White said.
The heights proposed for Eccles Street had been limited to four storeys rather than the six to 12 which would have been permitted by the council’s plan she said.
An eight storey block, set back from Eccles Street was planned but this would have “minimal impact on existing vistas or protected structures” and would be similar in height to the Mater Adult Hospital currently under construction.
The development would cause some overshadowing of Leo Street, off the North Circular Road, but this was “generally not considered to be significant”, she said.
The construction of the hospital at the Mater site is being opposed by a number of parties including local residents, An Taisce, the Irish Georgian Society, Tallaght Hospital Action Group, and the New Children’s Hospital Alliance.
The alliance, which involves health professionals and parents of sick children, in its submission to the hearing said it would not be possible to maintain proper standards of care at the chosen site, and that alternative sites were not adequately considered.
An Taisce, the Georgian Society and local residents have said the facility’s height and scale would have an unacceptable impact on the historic core of the city. In its submission An Taisce said the proposed development was in “fundamental conflict” with the Dublin City Plan because it was “seriously over-scaled” and “damaging to the setting and integrity of protected structures”.
The site was inherently unsuitable for a new National Children’s Hospital because of its constricted nature an Taisce said. The scale, bulk and height of the proposed development, which would dominate the northside Georgian city and “should be rejected out of hand,” it said.
Dublin City Council supports the development but said it must be compensated for the resulting loss of on-street parking revenues.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
An Bord Pleanála expects the hearing, which will hear evidence from more than 30 parties, will take three weeks to complete.
The hospital, which is expected to cost €650 million, would be able to accommodate clinical facilities for the provision of paediatric care, including 392 beds, 53 day care beds, 13 operating theatres, overnight beds for parents and a family resource centre.
The application also seeks to develop play areas, a school, external gardens and courtyards. The development, which is intended to be up to 16 storeys in height, is due for completion in late 2016.
Architects representing the National Children’s Hospital Development Board told the hearing that the site offered an opportunity to provide “world class” facilities in co-location with an adult hospital and eventually a maternity hospital.
Architect Clare White acknowledged that many submissions had raised concerns about the effect on the historic Georgian area, particularly protected structures.
“Almost every building on Eccles Street is a protected structure and we considered this context from the very outset,” she said.
Plans to locate a 16 storey “landmark” building on the site were consistent with Dublin City Council’s Local Area Plan, Ms White said.
The heights proposed for Eccles Street had been limited to four storeys rather than the six to 12 which would have been permitted by the council’s plan she said.
An eight storey block, set back from Eccles Street was planned but this would have “minimal impact on existing vistas or protected structures” and would be similar in height to the Mater Adult Hospital currently under construction.
The development would cause some overshadowing of Leo Street, off the North Circular Road, but this was “generally not considered to be significant”, she said.
The construction of the hospital at the Mater site is being opposed by a number of parties including local residents, An Taisce, the Irish Georgian Society, Tallaght Hospital Action Group, and the New Children’s Hospital Alliance.
The alliance, which involves health professionals and parents of sick children, in its submission to the hearing said it would not be possible to maintain proper standards of care at the chosen site, and that alternative sites were not adequately considered.
An Taisce, the Georgian Society and local residents have said the facility’s height and scale would have an unacceptable impact on the historic core of the city. In its submission An Taisce said the proposed development was in “fundamental conflict” with the Dublin City Plan because it was “seriously over-scaled” and “damaging to the setting and integrity of protected structures”.
The site was inherently unsuitable for a new National Children’s Hospital because of its constricted nature an Taisce said. The scale, bulk and height of the proposed development, which would dominate the northside Georgian city and “should be rejected out of hand,” it said.
Dublin City Council supports the development but said it must be compensated for the resulting loss of on-street parking revenues.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 19 September 2011
Proposal for children's hospital 'overwhelming'
THE SCALE of the National Children’s Hospital proposed for the Mater site in Dublin is so large it will be visible from many vantage points in the city, but some local residents say it will be “overwhelming” to streets in the immediate vicinity.
In a submission to An Bord Pleanála, they say photomontages of the scheme – prepared as part of the environmental impact statement (EIS) – are “shocking”, and that the plan “shows scant regard” for the low-rise character of the neighbourhood and city.
The scheme, designed by architects O’Connell Mahon, would consist of an eight-storey rectangular block topped by an oval-shaped element that would also be eight storeys high. Overall the building would be 68m tall – 8m higher than Liberty Hall.
“The scale of the proposed development is so great that its visual impact will be noted from areas as far away as Clontarf Road, St John’s Road West, the Swords Road at Highfield and even Harold’s Cross,” according to the Blend residents’ association.
Blend represents people living in single-storey cottages and two-storey Victorian houses in the Eccles Street area, including St Joseph’s Parade and Blessington Place, and says the scheme “will effectively swamp” them.
“This oval-shaped structure looks for all the world like a football stadium, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Road,” it says. The submission says “to even consider this proposed development on a site such as the Mater beggars belief”, given its elevated position and protected structures such as St George’s Church on Hardwicke Place, and the residential environment.
An Taisce has said the proposed children’s hospital “is in fundamental conflict” with the Dublin City Plan because it “is seriously over-scaled [and] damaging to the setting and integrity of protected structures” and residential streets.
“The site is inherently unsuitable for a new National Children’s Hospital because of its constricted nature,” it says. “The scale, bulk and height of the proposed development, which would dominate the northside Georgian city . . . should be rejected out of hand.”
An Taisce heritage officer Ian Lumley says in a personal submission to the appeals board the planned hospital would be the tallest structure in Dublin, “soaring way above landmark church spires such as nearby St George’s” and St Joseph’s Catholic Church on Berkeley Road.
With such a “significant and adverse impact on the skyline and character” of the city, it would “seriously undermine Dublin’s potential World Heritage Site candidacy, he says, adding Dresden lost this status following construction of a new bridge over the Elbe.
Blend noted there already were significant traffic congestion and parking problems in the area, and anticipated that catering for an estimated 10,000 arrivals and departures per day at the Mater site – mostly by car – would worsen this situation “substantially”.
It suggested the reason why the EIS did not assess alternative sites such as Newlands Cross was that “it is obvious that the Mater site is highly unsuitable in planning terms and that any comprehensive comparative assessment could not avoid illustrating this”.
“We submit that the decision made by the Government on July 5th, 2011, to proceed with the plan to locate the National Children’s Hospital on the site of the Mater demonstrates a total disregard of planning provisions as they apply to the subject site.”
It was “the most ill-conceived . . . of an unprecedented number of poor and inappropriate planning decisions that have blighted the landscape, destroyed people’s lives and left a trail of destruction that individuals, communities and local authorities now struggle to rectify”.
The proposed hospital is dealt with by An Bord Pleanála under the Strategic Infrastructure Act.
NEW NATIONAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: TIMELINE OF EVENTS
2006 : February – Report by consultants McKinsey recommends a single world-class tertiary paediatric centre amalgamating three existing children’s hospitals in the capital. New facility to be located in Dublin adjacent to an adult hospital.
June – HSE taskforce selects the Mater campus as the site. This is endorsed by the government.
2007 : May – National Paediatric Hospital Development Board established by then minister for health Mary Harney.
2009 : October – taoiseach Brian Cowen says the hospital will open by the end of 2014.
2010 : October – board chairman Philip Lynch resigns after Ms Harney hears he questions the site’s suitability for the project.
2011 : March – board’s second chairman, John Gallagher resigns saying he is at “risk of incurring further material ongoing costs in the project without full government support”.
May – Minister for Health James Reilly announces independent team to review site decision.
July – Team’s report affirms the correct site was chosen. A planning application for the new hospital is submitted to An Bord Pleanála.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
In a submission to An Bord Pleanála, they say photomontages of the scheme – prepared as part of the environmental impact statement (EIS) – are “shocking”, and that the plan “shows scant regard” for the low-rise character of the neighbourhood and city.
The scheme, designed by architects O’Connell Mahon, would consist of an eight-storey rectangular block topped by an oval-shaped element that would also be eight storeys high. Overall the building would be 68m tall – 8m higher than Liberty Hall.
“The scale of the proposed development is so great that its visual impact will be noted from areas as far away as Clontarf Road, St John’s Road West, the Swords Road at Highfield and even Harold’s Cross,” according to the Blend residents’ association.
Blend represents people living in single-storey cottages and two-storey Victorian houses in the Eccles Street area, including St Joseph’s Parade and Blessington Place, and says the scheme “will effectively swamp” them.
“This oval-shaped structure looks for all the world like a football stadium, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Road,” it says. The submission says “to even consider this proposed development on a site such as the Mater beggars belief”, given its elevated position and protected structures such as St George’s Church on Hardwicke Place, and the residential environment.
An Taisce has said the proposed children’s hospital “is in fundamental conflict” with the Dublin City Plan because it “is seriously over-scaled [and] damaging to the setting and integrity of protected structures” and residential streets.
“The site is inherently unsuitable for a new National Children’s Hospital because of its constricted nature,” it says. “The scale, bulk and height of the proposed development, which would dominate the northside Georgian city . . . should be rejected out of hand.”
An Taisce heritage officer Ian Lumley says in a personal submission to the appeals board the planned hospital would be the tallest structure in Dublin, “soaring way above landmark church spires such as nearby St George’s” and St Joseph’s Catholic Church on Berkeley Road.
With such a “significant and adverse impact on the skyline and character” of the city, it would “seriously undermine Dublin’s potential World Heritage Site candidacy, he says, adding Dresden lost this status following construction of a new bridge over the Elbe.
Blend noted there already were significant traffic congestion and parking problems in the area, and anticipated that catering for an estimated 10,000 arrivals and departures per day at the Mater site – mostly by car – would worsen this situation “substantially”.
It suggested the reason why the EIS did not assess alternative sites such as Newlands Cross was that “it is obvious that the Mater site is highly unsuitable in planning terms and that any comprehensive comparative assessment could not avoid illustrating this”.
“We submit that the decision made by the Government on July 5th, 2011, to proceed with the plan to locate the National Children’s Hospital on the site of the Mater demonstrates a total disregard of planning provisions as they apply to the subject site.”
It was “the most ill-conceived . . . of an unprecedented number of poor and inappropriate planning decisions that have blighted the landscape, destroyed people’s lives and left a trail of destruction that individuals, communities and local authorities now struggle to rectify”.
The proposed hospital is dealt with by An Bord Pleanála under the Strategic Infrastructure Act.
NEW NATIONAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: TIMELINE OF EVENTS
2006 : February – Report by consultants McKinsey recommends a single world-class tertiary paediatric centre amalgamating three existing children’s hospitals in the capital. New facility to be located in Dublin adjacent to an adult hospital.
June – HSE taskforce selects the Mater campus as the site. This is endorsed by the government.
2007 : May – National Paediatric Hospital Development Board established by then minister for health Mary Harney.
2009 : October – taoiseach Brian Cowen says the hospital will open by the end of 2014.
2010 : October – board chairman Philip Lynch resigns after Ms Harney hears he questions the site’s suitability for the project.
2011 : March – board’s second chairman, John Gallagher resigns saying he is at “risk of incurring further material ongoing costs in the project without full government support”.
May – Minister for Health James Reilly announces independent team to review site decision.
July – Team’s report affirms the correct site was chosen. A planning application for the new hospital is submitted to An Bord Pleanála.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Local residents worry about size of National Children’s Hospital
DUBLIN POLITICIANS HAVE raised their concerns about some aspects of the proposed National Children’s Hospital on Eccles Street in the city.
Although they welcome the development of the hospital at the Mater site, Councillor Ray McAdam and Dublin Central TD Pascal Donoghue have submitted their concerns to An Bord Pleanála.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Cllr. McAdam said there are a number of planning issues that need to be addressed, including those around traffic management and conformity with the area’s existing plans.
He is hopeful that an oral hearing – which is not legally required – will take place ahead of the granting of planning permission.
“The sheer scale and density of the project has certainly taken local residents by surprise,” he said.
The Irish Times reports today that the Blend Local Residents’ Association has also made a submission to An Bord Pleanála, in which it objects to the “shocking” and “overwhelming” size of the proposed 16-storey building.
Included in the planning application were some photo-montages of what the building will look like and how it will impact the environment.
TheJournal.ie
www.buckplanning.ie
Although they welcome the development of the hospital at the Mater site, Councillor Ray McAdam and Dublin Central TD Pascal Donoghue have submitted their concerns to An Bord Pleanála.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Cllr. McAdam said there are a number of planning issues that need to be addressed, including those around traffic management and conformity with the area’s existing plans.
He is hopeful that an oral hearing – which is not legally required – will take place ahead of the granting of planning permission.
“The sheer scale and density of the project has certainly taken local residents by surprise,” he said.
The Irish Times reports today that the Blend Local Residents’ Association has also made a submission to An Bord Pleanála, in which it objects to the “shocking” and “overwhelming” size of the proposed 16-storey building.
Included in the planning application were some photo-montages of what the building will look like and how it will impact the environment.
TheJournal.ie
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 12 September 2011
Council seeks damages over parking fee losses
DUBLIN CITY Council is seeking compensation from the State for the loss of more than €200,000 a year in on-street parking fees resulting from the development of the new national children’s hospital.
A planning application for the new children’s hospital on the site of Dublin’s Mater hospital was submitted to An Bord Pleanála last July.
The city council, as the planning authority for the area in which the €650 million project would be situated, is required to make a submission setting out its views on the effects of the development on the surrounding area.
The submission, which will be presented to councillors tonight, is broadly supportive of the development, but it raises concerns about its impact on the architectural heritage of Georgian Dublin, potential increases in traffic and the loss of revenue to the council.
The development requires the permanent removal of 54 pay-and-display parking spaces from Eccles Street, the effect of which will be to remove public parking from the street, where the council, as the road authority for the city, gets the revenue, to the hospital car park, it said.
“Based on current pay and display usage, the financial loss to the Road Authority for the construction period (four years) shall be €1.2 million. In addition the financial loss to the city for the permanent loss of the 54 spaces is approximately €205,000 per annum.”
The council would need to have €4 million on deposit at an interest rate of 5 per cent to make up for such a loss. As the road authority for the area, it said it will need to be compensated for the loss, although the exact level of compensation is not detailed in its submission.
“The Road Authority requires remuneration for the financial losses proposed from the removal of on-street pay-and-display parking. Prior to commencement of development exact details of this sum shall be agreed in writing with the Road Authority.”
The development, which is up to 16 storeys in height, would have a considerable adverse effect on the surrounding Georgian streets, the council said.
It would have a “particular adverse impact” on Eccles Street, Berkeley Street, Mountjoy Street, Nelson Street and the North Circular Road. It would also “detract greatly” from the north Georgian core sites of Georgian core sites, such as St George’s church, Henrietta Street, Belvedere House and North Great George’s Street and Mountjoy Square.
The submission also notes that that traffic associated with the development would be higher than average because a significant portion of children will be driven to the hospital by parents.
“It is noted that on average across the day, the children’s hospital trip rates are approximately 83 per cent higher than those for an adult hospital.”
The existing road network surrounding the Mater hospital site is heavily congested during peak periods, the council said. However, it said that during peak hours, most trips would be by staff.
During the off-peak period, traffic conditions in the inner city, and on the main routes radiating out from the central area, generally improve, thereby yielding lower journey times to the new hospital, it said.
“The site is located in one of the most accessible locations in the city, if not the country,” the submission said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
A planning application for the new children’s hospital on the site of Dublin’s Mater hospital was submitted to An Bord Pleanála last July.
The city council, as the planning authority for the area in which the €650 million project would be situated, is required to make a submission setting out its views on the effects of the development on the surrounding area.
The submission, which will be presented to councillors tonight, is broadly supportive of the development, but it raises concerns about its impact on the architectural heritage of Georgian Dublin, potential increases in traffic and the loss of revenue to the council.
The development requires the permanent removal of 54 pay-and-display parking spaces from Eccles Street, the effect of which will be to remove public parking from the street, where the council, as the road authority for the city, gets the revenue, to the hospital car park, it said.
“Based on current pay and display usage, the financial loss to the Road Authority for the construction period (four years) shall be €1.2 million. In addition the financial loss to the city for the permanent loss of the 54 spaces is approximately €205,000 per annum.”
The council would need to have €4 million on deposit at an interest rate of 5 per cent to make up for such a loss. As the road authority for the area, it said it will need to be compensated for the loss, although the exact level of compensation is not detailed in its submission.
“The Road Authority requires remuneration for the financial losses proposed from the removal of on-street pay-and-display parking. Prior to commencement of development exact details of this sum shall be agreed in writing with the Road Authority.”
The development, which is up to 16 storeys in height, would have a considerable adverse effect on the surrounding Georgian streets, the council said.
It would have a “particular adverse impact” on Eccles Street, Berkeley Street, Mountjoy Street, Nelson Street and the North Circular Road. It would also “detract greatly” from the north Georgian core sites of Georgian core sites, such as St George’s church, Henrietta Street, Belvedere House and North Great George’s Street and Mountjoy Square.
The submission also notes that that traffic associated with the development would be higher than average because a significant portion of children will be driven to the hospital by parents.
“It is noted that on average across the day, the children’s hospital trip rates are approximately 83 per cent higher than those for an adult hospital.”
The existing road network surrounding the Mater hospital site is heavily congested during peak periods, the council said. However, it said that during peak hours, most trips would be by staff.
During the off-peak period, traffic conditions in the inner city, and on the main routes radiating out from the central area, generally improve, thereby yielding lower journey times to the new hospital, it said.
“The site is located in one of the most accessible locations in the city, if not the country,” the submission said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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