Broadstone station Luas wall to be subject of protest meeting

Residents in the vicinity of the former Broadstone railway station are to hold a protest at the development of a wall, which they say will block the view of the classical building.

Some 1,350 signatures have been added to an online petition organised by Phizzfest – the Phibsboro Community Arts festival, which is also organising the protest meeting on Saturday.

Broadstone station was designed by John Skipton Mulvany for the Midland Great Western Railway company and built during the Great Famine. The station closed to trains in 1937 and since then has been used as a bus station, and latterly as offices for Bus Éireann managers.

The wall installed across the front facade of the station was put in by the builders of the Luas Cross City project to prevent cars parking in the Bus Éireann site from falling on to a lower level where a Luas stop is planned.

But a number of commentators including chairman of Dublin City Council’s Transport Committee Ciarán Cuffe and artist Robert Ballagh – both local residents – as well as Ian Lumley heritage officer with An Taisce have questioned the need for the wall, suggesting a see-through railings would be a more acceptable alternative.

Facade

The Phizzfest petition called on the Luas Cross City project “to reduce in height, and finish in a style appropriate to the surroundings, the sheer and brutal solid concrete wall that has been erected in front of Broadstone Station, cutting off the lower part of the facade of a building of architectural and heritage significance”.

Phizzfest said the building should be “framed and not obscured by the remnant of this wall”.

However Transport Infrastructure Ireland has said it is already in negotiations with the local community on finding a design that would improve the visibility of the building. A spokesman said any design would be subject to constraints dictated by safety issues, as there was a considerable gap in levels between the Luas stop and the car parking spaces in front of the station.

Local resident Gwen O’Dowd said a number of solutions should be available including a glass screen or simply not allowing cars to park on the upper level.

The protest is to take place at 2pm on Saturday, November 19th, at Broadstone. Details of the petition can be found here at change.org/p/luas-cross-city-project-demanding-luas-cross-city-project-to-remove-wall-obscuring-broadstone-development

An artist's impressionof the initial Luas plans for Broadstone is available at luascrosscity.ie/galleries/broadstone/