Public Realm Masterplan Grand Canal Dock and North Lotts, Dublin, IRL
Connecting a Green City to the Water
Our waterfront vision for Dublin’s docklands reconnects the river to the city. It adds new amenity spaces, sustainable mobility, and riparian ecologies to strengthen the biodiversity of the river.
The overarching ambition of the North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock Public Realm Masterplan is to create a world-class maritime quarter with a distinctive Dublin character. The Masterplan seeks to develop a sustainable new vision for the SDZ that connects the city with the waterfront. It proposes to improve the environmental quality of the SDZ area through new water management proposals, improving bio-diversity through the design of new parks and green streets, and seeks in particular to improve the connectivity of the city streets with a new green and animated waterfront. This is to be created by three main recommendations;
The process of consultation and communication undertaken was participative, aiming to reach all local residents (or resident representatives) and relevant stakeholders such as infrastructure providers, sectoral groups and statutory agencies. Key stakeholders represented at the first phase of consultation were local traders, NAMA, Waterways Ireland, resident groups, Dublin Port, local TDs and business owners. Several workshops and presentations, individual meetings, and a series of collaborative workshops for key areas were held. Internally Dublin City Council organised its own communication process: the public realm proposals were presented at managerial and committee (public realm group) level as well as to relevant departments involved with its future delivery.
The Liffey Campshires – enhancement of the Campshires both north and south of the Liffey, to provide a new urban promenade serving pedestrians and cyclists, avenues of trees to line the Liffey, and pocket public spaces along the waterfront at appropriate nodal points within the urban fabric.
The Floating Waterfront – activation of the waterfront with a series of floating landscapes on pontoons and boardwalks that improve walkability and connections, provide new public spaces, urban greening, recreation and cultural activities on the Liffey and other waterways.
The Green Waterfront – improvement of the Docklands streetscapes by creating comfortable green connections from surrounding neighbourhoods to allow easy movement of pedestrians and cyclists towards the waterfront.
The Masterplan builds on the objectives of providing a continuous promenade along the water edge through developing links to the city centre along the Camsphires, and links across the Liffey along the bridges.
Masterplan sets out guidelines to redesign some of the major thoroughfares in the area to provide for more sustainable forms of transport, including Sheriff Street, East Wall Road, Ringsend Road and the Campshires. It recommends measures to improve biodiversity, retain and strengthen aspects of heritage and integrate opportunities for new arts and culture developments into the city fabric. It develops a palette of materials for the different characteristic areas and sets out a toolbox for greening the new city quarter.
Client: Dublin City Council
Team: REDscape, Met O Connor Sutton Cronin Engineers, Howley Hayes Architects, Scott Cawley Ecologist En Build Cost Quantitiy Surveyors.
Status : completed
Project area: 96ha