PLANNING EXPERTS will be among the new group that will examine the implications of An Bord Pleanála’s refusal of permission for the new national children’s hospital. Sources said the group, to be established by the Government and chaired by former Health Service Executive chairman Frank Dolphin, would comprise five or six members, among them people with both strong planning and clinical expertise.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Heuston site ticks all boxes for new children's hospital
OPINION: THE AN Bord Pleanála decision on the proposed national children’s hospital came as a shock to many, a shock still reverberating. Yet the priority now must be to embrace a collaborative approach where the best outcome can be achieved in the shortest possible time. We need a holistic approach, one that assesses an agreed number of proposed locations against an agreed number of key considerations. (Why this has not happened to date – or has not happened to the degree necessary – is an issue for another day.) I have outlined four sample locations and benchmarked them on four grounds.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Planning process needs 'finessing'
Minister for Communications and Energy Pat Rabbitte has said the refusal of permission for the new national children’s hospital demonstrated the new for a finessing of the planning process. An Bord Pleanála refused permission for the development on Mater Hospital campus on the grounds that the size of the project would be an overdevelopment of the site. Speaking today Mr Rabbitte said the planning process "continually raises its head in terms of implementing necessary infrastructure projects”.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Coalition still wants Mater site for children's hospital
THE MATER Hospital in Dublin remains the Government’s preferred site for a new national children’s hospital in spite of An Bord Pleanála’s decision to refuse planning permission for the €650 million facility. The fallout from the planning board’s decision to turn down the development on grounds including its height and scale is to be considered by the Cabinet tomorrow.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Paediatric group to consider Mater issue
THE NATIONAL Paediatric Hospital Development Board will meet tomorrow to consider An Bord Pleanála’s rejection of its plans for the Mater Hospital site in Dublin. One of the board’s members, publisher and Dragon’s Den panellist Norah Casey, said yesterday that people were “working round the clock” over the weekend to “see if we can come up with a plan to improve our offer to An Bord Pleanála”.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Urban brawl
The public commentary on the national children's hospital during the past few days has afforded a fascinating insight into Ireland's predominantly suburban mindset.
The unconsciously pejorative term 'Dublin's north inner city' has peppered much debate -- a term, curiously enough, that would translate into 'Dublin city centre' for an equivalent site on the south side of the city.
Likewise, the general public consensus that a 'greenfield' or 'M50' site should be deployed, in typical American sprawl style, over the inherent social, economic and civic benefits of a large brownfield site as part of a stimulating urban setting, speaks volumes of our sprawling, car-dominated culture -- ironically, a culture that promotes childhood obesity.
In its decision, An Bord Pleanala has stood up for urban life in Ireland by rejecting a proposal that would have grievously undermined the much undervalued architectural heritage of Dublin's north city centre and, in particular, by dismissing a project that paid scant regard to the provisions of an award-winning Local Area Plan that sought to accommodate this hospital and enhance the quality of life in the urban quarter.
Also, remarks on this letters page on Saturday arguing for the side-stepping of the expert opinion of the board, and to blindly plough through due process, merely confirm we have learnt nothing from the spectacular planning failures of the recent past.
In considering the board's decision, we must not lose sight of the fact that the national children's hospital is a major civic building and should unquestionably be located on a capacious and accessible urban site in the city. The fact that the wrong site was chosen should not dilute this aspiration.
Graham Hickey
Conservation Research Officer,
Dublin Civic Trust
Read the article @ The Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The unconsciously pejorative term 'Dublin's north inner city' has peppered much debate -- a term, curiously enough, that would translate into 'Dublin city centre' for an equivalent site on the south side of the city.
Likewise, the general public consensus that a 'greenfield' or 'M50' site should be deployed, in typical American sprawl style, over the inherent social, economic and civic benefits of a large brownfield site as part of a stimulating urban setting, speaks volumes of our sprawling, car-dominated culture -- ironically, a culture that promotes childhood obesity.
In its decision, An Bord Pleanala has stood up for urban life in Ireland by rejecting a proposal that would have grievously undermined the much undervalued architectural heritage of Dublin's north city centre and, in particular, by dismissing a project that paid scant regard to the provisions of an award-winning Local Area Plan that sought to accommodate this hospital and enhance the quality of life in the urban quarter.
Also, remarks on this letters page on Saturday arguing for the side-stepping of the expert opinion of the board, and to blindly plough through due process, merely confirm we have learnt nothing from the spectacular planning failures of the recent past.
In considering the board's decision, we must not lose sight of the fact that the national children's hospital is a major civic building and should unquestionably be located on a capacious and accessible urban site in the city. The fact that the wrong site was chosen should not dilute this aspiration.
Graham Hickey
Conservation Research Officer,
Dublin Civic Trust
Read the article @ The Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
City planners give green light for demolition of Liberty Hall
DUBLIN CITY planners have granted permission to Siptu for the demolition of Liberty Hall and its replacement by a much taller and bulkier building – described by one critic as having the attributes of a “Sumo wrestler”. At a height of 93.6 metres, the new tower would be more than half as tall again as Dublin’s first “skyscraper” as well as being significantly broader and would include a “skydeck”.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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