Areas of Dublin such as that around Heuston Station, Spencer Dock and the south docks will be targeted for intensive development, including medium-rise buildings up to the height of Liberty Hall, if the findings of a report on the development of the city are implemented.
The report, Managing Intensification and Change: A Strategy for Dublin Building Height, was presented to Dublin City Council yesterday. It will then go the strategic policy committee and there will be public consultation before it comes back to the city council for final approval.
The report was prepared by international consultants DEGW, and compared Dublin with cities of similar size and character in Europe. However, Dublin had one of the lowest land-use densities of any European city, and the biggest "footprint", or occupied land area.
The report's starting point was that Dublin is the fastest growing city in Europe, according to city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald. He said the economy was continuing to grow and the population of the greater Dublin area was expected to grow by 350,000 between 1996 and 2011, which would require 250,000 more housing units.
"We have a clear-cut choice: we can continue to build on low-level densities and expand outwards, with the associated transport and social problems, or intensify our usage of the city centre. This report is the means for getting that discussion off the ground," said Mr Fitzgerald.
Prof John Worthington of DEGW, who wrote the report with Ms Lora Nicolaou, said Dublin was a low-to-medium rise city, and the report did not recommend changing its character.
He did not think buildings as high as those in US cities like Chicago would be necessary to achieve greater density of use in Dublin. Buildings up the height of Liberty Hall could be built on suitable sites, notably around transport interchanges like Heuston Station.
The report identifies five types of area in the city, ranging from the historic core, which should have minimal change, to brownfield sites like those around the docks, which would involve major changes in the city's architecture. Areas like Ballsbridge, around Heuston Station and Collins Barracks and the North Wall are identified as "potential new character areas with contextual constraints", which means new buildings could not be significantly higher than those around them. Prof Worthington stressed that a higher density of usage would require an adequate public transport system.
Ms Nicolaou said it was not envisaged that any buildings would be more than 12 stories high. Much would depend on the corporation's planning policy. It was likely that in areas outside the canals, where there was a high proportion of residential use, development should be limited to two-storey buildings.
The assistant city manager, Mr Sean Carey, stressed there would be discussion with all interested parties, including developers. "By the planning permission stage a lot of the fundamentals will be resolved," he said.