Dublin's Champs

From building site to boulevard, the capital's main street is finally free from builders and diggers – at least for the next five years. But their are flaws in O'Connell Street's new pedestrian-friendly design, writes Colin Murphy

 

It may seem like it's taken forever but, according to Dublin City Council, the refurbishment of O'Connell St has come in six months ahead of schedule – and under budget. The refurbished street was "launched" on Sunday 11 June.

Although the earlier work on the Spire was delayed by court proceedings, the most recent phase of the refurbishment, of the northern half of the street, was due to be completed by December 2006. The overall budget was €23m.

The redevelopment has involved work underground, at street level, at eye level and above. Underground, the sewer system, gas, water, electricity and telecommunications networks have been rationalised, and serviced or renewed when necessary.

The street layout has been radically changed: traffic is down from four lanes on each side to two and the pavements have been doubled in width. New granite paving in front of the GPO aims to create a "civic space".

The street's monuments, including Daniel O'Connell and Jim Larkin, have been cleaned, new lighting has been installed and 142 trees have been planted.

A series of kiosks along the central boulevard, to provide retail and café services, are yet to be built. London Bloc architects won an international design competition for the kiosks, but the final go-ahead is being postponed until the Rail Procurement Agency decides on Luas and metro developments and what implications they will have for O'Connell St.

Dublin City Council's project architect for the redevelopment, Kilian Skay, says he hopes that the street will not suffer further work – barring emergencies, or Luas or metro works – for at least five years. The major service providers were consulted on the works and any anticipated servicing was done in tandem with the redevelopment, he says.

The redevelopment was first touted in the 1998 Integrated Area Plan for the city centre. The first work, relining the original Victorian brick sewers under the street, began in 2000. The Spire was erected in 2003 and the surface redevelopment has taken place in two phases since then.

The council looked at two streets in Europe as a basis for the redevelopment – the Champs-Elysées in Paris and Las Ramblas in Barcelona – both of which had been redeveloped in recent years. Las Ramblas has a wide central boulevard, busy with market stalls, with one lane of traffic on either side and narrow pavements. Traders on O'Connell St thought this would have a negative impact on business, and instead the council opted for the Champs-Elysées model of widened pavements along the sides and a less prominent central boulevard.

Kilian Skay hopes the redevelopment will "raise the bar" for businesses on the street, especially fast-food restaurants. "We don't have the power to change businesses," he says. "It has to happen by osmosis." One plan is to give licences for pavement café facilities to existing restaurants, but not to fast-food restaurants.

The derelict Carlton site remains the biggest obstacle to a complete redevelopment of the street. In December 2001, development of the site was to go ahead with a completion date of April 2004. But Dublin City Council intervened and issued a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the site, for reasons which have never been fully explained. The council then entered into an agreement with another developer. A legal challenge to the CPO is to be heard in the Supreme Court on 26 June. Because of this, and the contested ownership of the greater portion of properties that make up the site, the development is unlikely to be completed until 2011.

Traffic management on O'Connell St also remains a problem. At rush hours, the street is regularly choked up, with buses having to queue to pull in at bus stops, holding up traffic behind them.

The street is particularly unaccommodating for cyclists, who are forced to share narrow lanes with the steady stream of buses. Green Party TD Eamon Ryan says the situation is "a disgrace" and "shows that Dublin City Council doesn't give a damn about cycling in this city". Cycling on O'Connell St and down onto the quays is "like being in a Ben Hur chariot race", he says.

According to Kilian Skay, the design for the street "incorporates a cycle lane", but this has not been implemented because traffic engineers do not yet have a plan for continuing the lane at either end of the street.

One person with a close view of changes on the street is Austin, who runs a news-stand at the corner of Abbey St. "The biggest difference I see is the difference in the people," he says. "Only for the influx of non-nationals, many days I could just go home."

"I'm a Spire man, myself. When you're here in the early hours of the morning and you see the Spire against a dark blue sky with the sunshine coming up Talbot St, it looks very different than it does now." p