The gargantuan scale of what has been proposed for the 51-acre site at Spencer Dock, pivotally located halfway between the International Financial Services Centre and the Point Depot, was immediately evident yesterday to everyone in the Gresham Hotel ballroom.
There it was, the largest urban development scheme planned in Ireland, in a 1:1,000 scale model of the area stretching from Liberty Hall to the East Link bridge. An Bord Pleanala had requested the model to enable it to assess the urban design ramifications.
Flanking three Bord Pleanala inspectors were two models of the proposed national conference centre, one at a scale of 1:200 and an even larger one at 1:50, the latter just flown in from the Hamden, Connecticut, offices of its architects, Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates.
There was also a 1:200 block model of the entire scheme, plus numerous drawings, photomontages, silhouette studies and other measures of its likely impact on Dublin's skyline, seen from every angle, and reams and reams of supporting documentation for the £1.2 billion project.
The developers' planning consultant, Mr Tom Phillips, was given an opportunity at the outset to sketch its essential elements and he could also not resist adding to the superlatives by describing the architect, Mr Kevin Roche, as being "on a par with the giants of Irish literature".
But such credentials did not deter Cllr Gerry Breen (FG) from denouncing the scheme, describing it as "a model of Lilliput", with Dubliners as the Lilliputians. Cllr Ciaran Cuffe (Greens) described its streetscapes as reminiscent of Blade Runner.
All of the main issues about height, bulk, scale and appropriateness were aired, as well as how the site was to be served by public transport, given that there would be up to 15,000 people working there and many living in its 3,000 apartments.
Dublin Corporation's chief planning officer, Mr Pat McDonnell, looked decidedly uncomfortable under pointed questioning from An Bord Pleanala's three inspectors; it was obvious that he was under instructions not to say anything which would sink the project. Mr McDonnell had given an account of how the corporation dealt with the developers' planning application by way of a "cook's tour" of his voluminous report on what Mr Phillips had described as "the most comprehensive application in the history of Irish planning".
He conceded that there had been "a slight difference in emphasis, to put it mildly" between himself and the city architect, Mr Jim Barrett, on the height issue.
While he believed that no other building on the site should exceed the height of the conference centre, Mr Barrett thought otherwise.
Mr McDonnell also made it clear that there had been only limited consultations between the planners and the developers and their architects prior to the planning application being lodged last March, though there was subsequently a "frank exchange of views".
Despite the enormous scale of the proposal, consideration of it had to be telescoped because the corporation did not want to jeopardise the developers' deadline for drawing down £26 million in EU aid. At the same time, it wanted to ensure "proper planning and development".
Mr McDonnell outlined the "development principles" for Spencer Dock which the planners had drawn up, but he seemed reluctant to highlight the extent to which these had not been realised.
On the height issue, the chief planning officer said that any building higher than 40 metres on much of the site would be visible above the roofline of Holles Street Hospital. That important vista northwards from the Georgian Mile "has to be protected".
Referring to the impact of the scheme on city views, he said it would have a "profound presence", especially from close up, and that people in the vicinity would find themselves living "in a different environment". From some angles it would block views of the mountains.
Asked by the presiding inspector, Mr Des Johnston, if it would not have been more appropriate for the corporation to issue a refusal, given the serious reservations held by its planners, Mr McDonnell said the outline permission offered the basis for recasting the scheme.
In response to a further question about whether the scheme was prejudicial to the outcome of the corporation's high buildings study now under way, he said this was "hard to say". However, unlike Mr Cuffe, he saw there was some potential for high buildings at Spencer Dock.
Mr Cuffe, one of the eight third-party appellants, came in for a tough round of cross-examination by Mr Phillips, who is clearly determined to defend the scheme against its many critics. If so, he is going to find himself very busy indeed over the next week or so.