Dublin's new skyline

The latest plan for a 32-storey tower adjoining the Point in Dublin's Docklands area raises questions about what kind of city…

The latest plan for a 32-storey tower adjoining the Point in Dublin's Docklands area raises questions about what kind of city we are going to have in the future and how its skyline will look. With some exceptions, such as Liberty Hall, Dublin has generally developed as a low-rise city. But relentless sprawl into surrounding counties has given it a footprint much greater than comparably sized cities on the Continent.

And this, in turn, has thrown up significant problems, not least long-distance commuting, car dependency and traffic congestion - all of which are directly related to low-rise, low-density suburban expansion.

Achieving a more compact urban form is one of the declared objectives of planning policy, so that people can live closer to where they work or, alternatively, use good public transport to get around the city. This drive for higher density residential development does not necessarily mean reaching for the sky; Ballymun, after all, was a low-density housing scheme that took a high-rise form.

Last June, An Bord Pleanála granted full planning permission for a 32-storey residential tower nearly twice the height of Liberty Hall on a site opposite Heuston Station. It made this decision on the basis of design quality and said it "did not consider that this should be regarded as a precedent in relation to any other proposal for a high building in the city". Nonetheless, it is known that the board's ruling in this case was keenly awaited by developers anxious to proceed with their own plans for high-rise buildings, particularly in the Docklands area. And whatever An Bord Pleanála had to say, they had a sense that its decision would open the floodgates for similar schemes in other locations.

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The Dublin Docklands Development Authority has already agreed to raise the height of the much-vaunted U2 tower on Britain Quay from 60 to 100 metres and there is provision in its revised planning scheme for the north docks area for another tower rising to the same height on a site next to the Point. Hence the claim by its architects, Scott Tallon Walker, that these two towers would form a "maritime gateway" that would give Dublin an "instantly recognisable vista."

They would be as different as chalk and cheese, however. Whereas the U2 tower is notable for its twisting form, what has been proposed to complement it on the north side of the Liffey seems very bland by comparison. Quite apart from the principle of high-rise, how it is to be executed is equally important and suggests that we need much more public debate about how Dublin's new skyline is to be composed.