Dublin Docklands

THE EXO BUILDING

August 16, 2023 by infomatique

CORNER OF THE NORTH WALL QUAY AND EAST WALL ROAD

The Exo Building is a 17-storey office building located at the corner of North Wall Quay and East Wall Road in Dublin 1, Ireland. The building is adjacent to the Point Depot (now the 3Arena) fronting on to the river Liffey and Dublin port. As of 2021, it is the tallest office building in the Republic of Ireland at 73 metres tall. The name Exo is in reference to its exoskeleton which reflects the traditional industrial crane and gantry landscape of the port area.

State owned postal services and delivery company An Post have signed a lease in 2021 to become the anchor tenant of the building. As of 2023, An Post intended to occupy 6 floors of the building with around 900 of its staff.

The building was constructed on a site which was previously earmarked for a Harry Crosbie Celtic Tiger era 40-storey residential skyscraper named The Watchtower. The building was later revised down to 32 stories before planning was granted by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority in 2006. While construction began on the building soon after with excavations being completed in full and foundations and a 3-storey underground basement nearing completion, following the collapse of the Irish property market, the scheme was ultimately mothballed.

A succession of one off amusements and instalments including the underground Harry’s bar and the Wheel of Dublin operated in and over the filled-in space for a period owing to its location adjacent to the 3 Arena. Crosbie’s loans ultimately transferred to NAMA in 2013 and soon after Grant Thornton were appointed receivers with the development officially ceasing.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF SIR JOHN ROGERSON’S QUAY IN DUBLIN

June 2, 2023 by infomatique

PHOTOGRAPHED IN MAY 2023

In 1713, Dublin Corporation leased lands on the Liffey to Sir John Rogerson, who was a developer and had been Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1693 to 1694. The lease of 133 acres (54 ha) on the south bank of the river (described as ‘betwixt Lazy Hill and Ringsend’) was conditional on Rogerson constructing a quay on the land. As part of the privately funded development, a quay wall was built facing the river, with a second wall built further inland. The gap between these walls was filled with sand and gravel dredged from the Liffey. The project commenced in 1716, with the initial phase completed by the early 1720s.

John Rocque’s 1756 map of Dublin shows Rogerson’s quay as largely developed by the mid-18th century. During the early 19th century, the quay serviced larger freight vessels, including colliers which brought coal (from ports like Whitehaven in England) to feed the coal and gas works at nearby Hanover Quay. By the 20th century, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay was home to a number of shipbuilding and shipping companies, as well as several storehouse types, including cold stores and ‘campshire’ sheds. At the beginning of the “Lotus-Eaters” episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses, set in 1904, Leopold Bloom, one of the novel’s protagonists, walks along Rogerson’s Quay. Joyce describes it at the time as busy with lorry traffic, and notes some of the businesses along it—a linseed crusher, the postal telegraph office, and a sailor’s home.

As of the early 21st century, the previously functional maritime buildings and features of Sir John Rogerson’s Quay have been redeveloped for heritage tourism, and newer office buildings built on the quay. This has included redevelopment of the quay’s ‘campshire’ warehouses (associated with the historical use of the quay as a military ‘camp’), and the renovation of a mid-19th century diving bell made by Grendons of Drogheda. The diving bell has been a feature of the quays since the 1870s, and was used to build and maintain many of the walls of Dublin’s quays.

MV NAOMH ÉANNA IS AN ABANDONED DECOMMISSIONED FERRY

May 27, 2023 by infomatique

I SUSPECT THAT THERE IS NO POSSIBILITY OF SAVING IT

Naomh Éanna, Ireland’s oldest remaining merchant ship, completed in Liffey Dockyard in 1958. It is moored in the number 2 graving dock in Grand Canal Dock, Dublin Port.

MV Naomh Éanna is a decommissioned ferry which historically operated as the primary connection on the Galway to Aran Islands route for Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) replacing the SS Dun Aengus.

The vessel featured in the 1996 film Michael Collins.

Despite plans to salvage the ship being mooted over the years, including making it part of a Maritime Quarter in Dublin, it has been left to languish in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock.

Back in June 2017 I commented as follows: “The bad news is that this ship is due to be scrapped because the location is to be redeveloped and thus the ship must be removed.” As you can se the ship is still visible but its condition is getting worse by the day.

In August of 1958, three months after entering service, she was among the ships to respond to the loss of KLM Flight 607-E.

KLM Flight 607-E, a Lockheed Super Constellation named Hugo de Groot and registered PH-LKM, was an international scheduled flight that crashed 180 kilometres (110 mi) northwest of Shannon Airport, Ireland on 14 August 1958. All ninety-one passengers and eight crew died in the accident, including six members of the Egyptian fencing team. The “E” in the flight number stood for the designation of being an extra economy class flight to match the increased seasonal tourist demand.

Flight 607-E departed Shannon at 03:05 UTC on the second leg of a transatlantic trip from Amsterdam to New York City with intermediate stops in Shannon and Gander, Newfoundland. Radio contact with the aircraft was lost at approximately 03:40 UTC; a rescue operation was launched which found light debris on the surface of the ocean approximately 180 kilometres (110 mi) west of Shannon. The remains of thirty-four of those on board were also recovered.

Due to the lack of evidence, Irish and Dutch investigators could not pinpoint a probable cause for the accident. They examined the possibility of a bomb, electrical failure, or pilot error, but believed that the most likely possibility was a catastrophic mechanical failure. The investigating Board believed the most likely cause of the accident to be a malfunctioning over-speeding outboard propeller caused by metal particles obstructing oil feed line regulator valves. The particles may have been formed by a gear that was damaged when the supercharger of the corresponding engine was accelerated (gear ratio shifted). The malfunctions of the propeller pitch might have provoked a flight disturbance and as a consequence the propeller may have sheared off.

MV NAOMH ÉANNA IS AN ABANDONED DECOMMISSIONED FERRY