ON HOLD!? FINAL REVIEW: Tuesday 8th September @ 10.00am
in the Memorial Hall, School of Architecture, UCD

Presentation of all workshop projects and discussion with a panel of external advisors:

Donal O'Donoghue, Valuer and Property Consultant

Pauline Byrne, Strategic Planning Manager, Treasury Holdings

The discussion will be kept open as in the previous workshop meetings but four main questions will be addressed to all projects:

SHRINKING!?

With the unprecedented volume of construction in Dublin and the greater Dublin Area over the last decades now facing an equally unprecedented period of negative growth, the shrinking of the cities fabric in some form seems certain. While the economic realities of an emerging shrinking process can be described in numbers and balance sheets, it is the human, social and environmental aspect that requires new strategies. How to assess and distinguish between good and bad developments? What can be demolished and what has potential for consolidation? How can we manage a shrinking process that involves existing social patterns and identity? Can shrinking be positive?

GROWING!?

With some developments beyond hope and predisposed for demolition, other areas will be reinvigorated with both commercial and residential tenants on the move for cheaper and more central locations with proper access to infrastructure and services. Areas overlooked during the recent boom like the north inner city will shift into focus and could provide the playground for new alternative types of redevelopment and regeneration. Promising territories like the docklands could find a new lease of life and other underused areas with strong environmental character could be enhanced. A sustainable growth pattern and considered densification could provide the parameters for better services, public transport, permeability and connectivity.

PAYBACK!?

How can the city / society benefit from the inherent potential of state owned / controlled development land? Is the emerging priority of financial interests above societal, cultural and environmental interests an economic necessity or just a case of teaching an old dog new tricks? 

VALUE!?

How to assess the (real) value of property loans acquired by NAMA? While the current legislation proposes an assessment of loans and their associated assets based on “long-term economic value” the projects of the workshop should reflect on a wider definition of value and propose their own assessment criterias.

See also Section 5 of Draft Legislation (see Link) for proposed valuation methodology of NAMA.

ON HOLD!?  Office Developments on hold in Dublin Docklands

ON HOLD? REVIEW #1 + Presentation of “Unbuilding” by Alan Mee

Review #1 of the workshop will take place on Tuesday 21st July in the Urban Design Studio, School of Architecture, Richview, UCD. This will be a review of and discussion about the various project proposals with some of the external advisors and the workshop tutors.

There will also be a presentation by Alan Mee, Director of Urban Design, of his project “unbuilding”, an examination of the scenario of taking away, or “unbuilding” some of the development which has taken place inappropriately in Ireland in recent years. The presentation will deal with definitions, scale, methodologies of analysis, and the economic context of the proposal.

Workshop#16 - Public Space Mapping will join the review and presentation.