..The two towers: demolition threat to Dublin icons


16 August 2009


By Pat Leahy, Political Editor

The ESB will consider demolishing the iconic twin chimney stacks at the Poolbeg power generating plant in Dublin when it closes next year.

The red-and-white twin stacks, which dominate the Dublin skyline, will become obsolete when the Pigeon House plant is decommissioned next year.

Sources said that the company management favour the demolition of the chimneys, although it is conscious that there is likely to be a strong lobby to retain the stacks. Officially, the company said that no decision had yet been made about the future of the structures.

Dublin City planners have already rejected a proposal to put a preservation order on the chimneys, declaring that they were not of ‘‘sufficient architectural, social or historical value’’. A preservation order would have prevented any demolition plans.

The candy-striped chimneys, which are 207 metres (680 feet) high, have been an integral feature of the Dublin skyline since they were built more than 30 years ago. However, the oil and gas generating plant which they serve is due to be decommissioned next year, and the ESB is expected to seek to realise the value of the site. This process is likely to include plans for the demolition of the chimneys.

Three weeks ago, the ESB demolished two 300 feet tall stacks at another decommissioned plant, in Shannonbridge, Co Offaly. A decade ago, the company demolished another two stacks – about half the height of the existing Pigeon House stacks – at the Ringsend plant.


www.thepost.ie

At this rate there will be f*ckall left on the Dublin skyline, but you'll have the same people who object to anything over 5 stories lobbying to keep the towers. The two chimneys are probably the only things of note on the skyline. If they are gone then that's it. Anyway I'm almost beyond caring at this stage.

I doubt there is many people that would object to highrise development down there. When it is open to development it will come under the DDDA remit anyway and they can fast track permissions.


I don't know about the chimneys really. Yeah they are a bit of a landmark but on the other hand skyscrapers are likely to be built down there of all places at some stage in the future. The chimenys may look a little "odd" then. And they will be obselete so what is the point in keeping them?

Id love to see them woven into some sort of building, I think it would look great if they were incorporated somehow into a nice cluster. We should certainly retain them anyway, and light them up as was suggested, after the plant closes.

Id love to see them woven into some sort of building,

Good idea.:okay:

Hope they're knocked down asap, they're hideous. They, and the grotty buildings that surround them absolutely ruin this part of Dublin bay.

The prospect of a CBD here is beyond idyllic, but of course with this being Ireland, that kind of imagination is way too much to ask for.

Two skyscrapers of similar scale surrounded by a smaller cluster here would create the most magnificent waterfront in Europe, and the views from the top would be amazing.
The views would offer panoramic views all the way up to the mournes, back down to the islands off north county dublin, howth peninsula, bull island beaches, back over the city, and then south over the mountains, the victorian seaside towns and out towards Killiney. I most definitely would pay to go to the observation deck!

Seriously, it is the most 'realisitically' sublime location for a skyscraper district in Europe, and we choose to leave it as a sess pit with hideous factories and chimneys. I really do wonder about this wonderful little country of ours sometimes. If this was Australia or America this area would be spectacular.

I'll be there to cheer them on as they knock them down!!!!!!!! As you can prob tell this is an area I fell strongly about, but seriously the lack of vision just pisses me off. We need to get Donald Trump down there!

I live in Dublin and these chimneys are absolutelly hideous and I cannot see how people can appreciate it. It destroys the bay.

I hope they get destroyed and replaced by a complex or neigbourhood with a commercial and touristic function because the area has a great potential.

Being a foreigner I can assure that it is the last thing tourists wants to see in Dublin

^^ True. Just because they are a landmark for Dubliners does not mean foreigners appreciate that the same way. Knock them tbh.

@nordisk celt83: +1

Knock 'em down as soon as possible and give Dublin a proper waterfront.

A touristy-type district with a Cruise ship harbour, hotels, casinos, etc. would be brilliant for the area.

This is the long term plan

http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/uploads/images/heart_for_dublin.jpg


And let's be honest the chimneys are completely out of kilter there!

I hope not...

http://www.newheartfordublin.ie/downloads/dublin_new_heart.jpg

Yeah, well obviously it ain't gonna look that in reality - lol!^^

Love how they cheaply pasted buildings from other cities. Looks incredibly shit

Obviously this is a political document and as such should not be noted for it's architectural prowess. The plans in future will be very highly developed and planned. That is just indicative.

I also highly doubt anything of this size will be fully achieved for a very long time given the rather perilous state of the Irish property market and horrendous levels of default loans.

The property market has bottomed out and mortgage lending is on the rise again. It's a first time buyers market and they now make up the majority of buyers. For the residential market it will take a good few years to clear the backlog of built houses and appartments but the commercial market will recover before that hence the ratio of commercial completions is now greater then residential. Construction has not completely halted either and there are many schemes currently in planning or under construction.

NAMA will complete developments that have halted aswell once it has those sites in it's portfolio, once their viability is assured.

I think properly incorporated into a high rise district they would be right at home and give the place real character, having demolished the plant.

Nordisk, You paint a beautiful picture :P belfastuniguy is right though, the economy must sort itself before any of this can happen, it would be long term it seems. Such development would really escalate Dublin to high international standards if handled properly.

I really like the stadium and the park in the above picture, such potential.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115779727172&ref=nf


A facebook group has already been started:bash:

I'd even rather a park there tbh. I think they'll prob be kept though, and be surrounded by lots of 4 storey duplex buildings.

I dont think they're needed at all, and I'm sure most Dubliners dont exactly appreciate them in the skyline. I'd rather have no skyline than those lol

Hopefully if they're demolished, Dublin will get an amazing high rise area in their place.

I don't understand the fixation with high-rise buildings, but anyway as regards the chimneys... I've always liked them. I much prefer them to that dreadful spike. That thing is an embarrassment.

How exactly is the spire an embarrassment ?

How exactly is the spire an embarrassment ?


snailtrain finds anything constructed after 1800 an embarrassment. He'd love for our cities to build everything in a period style, ignoring the fact it would look cheap and pastiche

This is the long term plan

http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/uploads/images/heart_for_dublin.jpg


And let's be honest the chimneys are completely out of kilter there!

lmao oh man looks like something out of SIM city. Love the art deco building on the left! Too funny

How exactly is the spire an embarrassment ?

Well it's devoid of meaning, or relevance for a start. You could stick it anywhere, so what does that say about Dublin? It's a bland piece of corporate sculputure, like that which is most admired by the likes of Donald Trump.

To be more specific: The pattern around the base area is totally incongruent with the rest of it. The lights at the top are twee and inadequate. It always reminds me of one of those spikes that shopkeepers once used to impale receipts. I bet it was designed by an architect. They often fool themsleves into thinking they could be artists if only....

This was originally a great opportunity to create something unique, brave, bold, memorable, inventive, challenging, clever, and even funny that was sqaundered.

They should have commissioned a piece by Claes Oldenberg, then you really would have got something fantastic. If I had my way, I'd attach a cable to the very top, then pull it over and anchor it like a bent car aerial!

Claes Oldenberg

Oh please, what like a massive peg or cherry in central Dublin. That would have looked crap.

Snail Train has a point about the Spire - I have said it before - it's biggest downfall is the fact you can't use it for anything - except for taking snaps. As an icon it very much overcomes this though IMHO.


As for the chimneys - seems to be nostalgia almost in the debate about them - they have actually only been there little more then 30 years!

I do wonder - if the same people who would like them preserved would allow the construction of them today!

knock em down :bash:

Well it's devoid of meaning, or relevance for a start. You could stick it anywhere, so what does that say about Dublin? It's a bland piece of corporate sculputure, like that which is most admired by the likes of Donald Trump.

To be more specific: The pattern around the base area is totally incongruent with the rest of it. The lights at the top are twee and inadequate. It always reminds me of one of those spikes that shopkeepers once used to impale receipts. I bet it was designed by an architect. They often fool themsleves into thinking they could be artists if only....

This was originally a great opportunity to create something unique, brave, bold, memorable, inventive, challenging, clever, and even funny that was sqaundered.

They should have commissioned a piece by Claes Oldenberg, then you really would have got something fantastic. If I had my way, I'd attach a cable to the very top, then pull it over and anchor it like a bent car aerial!
Devoid of meaning? It's art. Meaning is conferred on it by the viewer.

The Spire is tremendous.

The Spire is tremendous.

I agree- i can't remember O'Connell street without it now. That, and the brilliant resurfacing of the street makes it as impressive a street as i've ever seen in all of europe.

Plus, it's really handy at night- last time in Dublin a few of us ended up lost- but you could see the light at the top of the spire, and instantly we knew roughly where we were lol.

On the subject of the two chimneys- i really like them. They are always the first things i notice when arriving at Dublin- from the north, the south or even by air. Even watching ireland rugby matches on tv years ago, they were always there, in the background behind lansdowne's north terrace. To me, they're a bit like the cranes at H&W. Though i hear the power station they serve is scheduled for closure- so i suppose there'll be no need for them. I'd certainly miss them though!

Stand on Killiney Hill or the foot of the Dublin mountains, or any good vantage point, and look out at the city. There is nothing which stands out apart from these two stacks. You can't see the (tiny) Spire.

Please don't demolish the Pigeon House.

I think they should be incorporated into to something. I think, although they don't look fantastic they have a real character. it'd be great to retain some of the old.

Could some upload the plans again for this area?

Something akin to the Battersea Power station scheme in London could be an idea....?

I wouldn't like to see the chimneys go. They've been there forever as far as I'm concerned. I love that long walk along the pier by the chimneys that brings you right out into the middle of Dublin Bay, especially on a warm Summer's evening, and you can appreciate the scale of the chimneys on the way back from the lighthouse. That walk is a secret of many Dubliners and well worth doing if you haven't done it before.

Something akin to the Battersea Power station scheme in London could be an idea....?

I hope not - the Battersea power station scheme is being taken by NAMA - all work on the proposal has ceased. :o

Break it to the Londoners gently.

they are truely horrific. i have thought so since the day i moved to dublin... i find it amazing that people would rather have those 2 eyesores than a beautiful skyscraper or 2 in dublin!?

They could do with a cleaning, repaint the candy stripes, and the black and grey boxes around their base can go but what sort of callous person could knock down them chimneys? ....oh wait - an Irish developer!

they are truely horrific. i have thought so since the day i moved to dublin... i find it amazing that people would rather have those 2 eyesores than a beautiful skyscraper or 2 in dublin!?

They are over 600 ft tall, or about 60 storeys. 3 times the height of Liberty Hall. Nobody's going to build skyscrapers that tall in Dublin.

Like them or not they define Dublin's skyline. Without them it would have no definition.

They are infinitely more symbolic of Dublin than the Spire.

They are horrific. And the fact that anyone likes them gives a clue why Dublin is architecturally one of the ugliest cities in Europe. And the reason why Art and Architecture wise Ireland is a minnow in the European league.
99% of Dublin's quality buildings were designed by foreigners.

Take a look at this:

http://bazoka.hu/PanDub/images/PanoramaDublin2.jpg

What do you see?

I see Dublin's Eifel Tower.

It's all we got!

They look like the world's biggest dioxin monument.

This seems to have split people down the middle.
I think the best think would be to leave them, turn them into MA-HOOSIvE viewing platforms/ bungee jumping platforms and cover the rest of the area in skyscrapers slightly smaller than them. Could be a major tourist attraction and a symbol of Dublin.
They do need a cleaning up but i think they give a character to dublin that i wouldn't have no matter how nice a skyscraper they put in their place.
Dublin's Eiffel tower i dont know though.

How feasible would it be to keep them as part of a development around there? I know a much smaller chimney was kept near to Grand Canal Dock

The sight of them from sandymount makes me sick; burn them!

I hope not - the Battersea power station scheme is being taken by NAMA - all work on the proposal has ceased. :o

Break it to the Londoners gently.

I meant the concept:|

If you get bored of duty free browsing after about two minutes and you like being nostalgic, it is interesting to watch them vanish into the horizon when leaving Dublin on the ferry.

Like so...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v254/198/51/576244378/n576244378_433905_2078.jpg

I hope not - the Battersea power station scheme is being taken by NAMA - all work on the proposal has ceased. :o

Break it to the Londoners gently.

It'll eventually go ahead. A £1bn American Embassy, rather sexy one at that, is being built practically beside it and will lead a new development plan for the area.



http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/2811/usembassy1.jpg

The fact that the Battersea power plant is in itself rather quirky and an interesting piece of architecture means it isn't really comparable to a non-descript 1960's power plant.
Although, the old pigeon house, which used to house soldiers I think, should be saved and revamped.

Dubliner's and our complete lack of appreciation for asthetics; it baffles me.

EDIT: Well when it comes to the city centre and civic buildings/places anyway!

The fact that the Battersea power plant is in itself rather quirky and an interesting piece of architecture means it isn't really comparable to a non-descript 1960's power plant.
Although, the old pigeon house, which used to house soldiers I think, should be saved and revamped.

Many seem to be sentimentally attached to the towers - as for the plant itself, I can't comment! What I like about them is they seem to 'frame' the entrance to Dublin - as commented it's the first thing you see from the Ferries.
IMO they'd also look great as the entrance to a cluster of highrises leading from the Docklands into town

A segment on the chimneys at the end of this weeks Capital D programme:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0520/capitald_av.html?2757163,null,228