William Murphy

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 03 AT THE COLLEGE

March 27, 2023 by infomatique

27 MARCH BOLTON STREET

Today I experimented and used an adaptor to allow my Sony FX30 to use a Canon-Mount 25-105mm F4 lens and while I cannot complain about the quality of the images focusing was very slow. Also, not having an electronic viewfinder is a major issue for me, especially as I wear glasses.

Bolton Street campus has been a centre for technological education for over 100 years. The three storey neo-classical building was designed by CJ McCarthy and was built in 1908. It has since been extend in 1961 and again in 1987. Plaster representations of artisan figures decorate the hallway and corridors of this ornate building. The figures are casts from John Henry Foley’s models for figures at the base of the Albert Memorial on Leinster Lawn. Despite substantial extensions, the essential historic character of the building has been maintained and the building forms an important part of the surrounding streetscape. The campus is fully equipped with computer and electronic labs, lecture theatres with the latest audio- visual equipment and learning aids, fully equipped workshops, library, restaurants, students’ union area, and student recreation area.

Bolton Street, is just 5 minutes’ walk from O’Connell street and just six minutes’ walk to the Grangegorman campus.

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 03 AT THE COLLEGE 001

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 03 AT THE COLLEGE 002

SAINT KEVIN’S PARK FEATURING CHURCH RUINS AND OLD GRAVES

March 26, 2023 by infomatique

26 MARCH 2023

There was a St. Kevin’s Church in what is now St. Kevin’s Park, Camden Row, Dublin, Ireland at least as far as the 13th century. After the Reformation, it became an Anglican church. The original church was replaced around 1750 by a new one, closed in 1912 and now in ruins. Both churches were dedicated to Kevin of Glendalough. There is also a Catholic St. Kevin’s Church a short distance away on Harrington Street.

The church was first mentioned in historical annals in 1226. It was situated some distance from the walls of Dublin, in the Irish-speaking part of the city, but close to a monastic settlement in the region of present-day Aungier Street. From the 13th century it formed part of the Manor of St. Sepulchre, which was directly under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Dublin. An archaeological excavation carried out in 1967 uncovered some medieval graves and coins. The present ruined church, built on the foundation of the medieval one, dates to around 1750.

The church is the burial place of Archbishop Dermot O’Hurley, who was removed from a Mass grave and interred here after his summary execution on 20 June 1584 at Hoggen Green. O’Hurley, ordained Archbishop of Cashel in 1581, was arrested after his return to Ireland and tortured in Dublin Castle. His grave became a place of veneration for Roman Catholics for several hundred years. In 1609, in view of the throngs of pilgrims coming to his grave, the church was rebuilt and a new entrance was made. Along with 17 other Irish Catholic Martyrs, Archbishop O’Hurley was Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992.

In the early years of the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1649) incursions were made into the church lands surrounding St. Kevin’s by Confederate soldiers stationed in Wicklow. Trenches were dug near the church to help defend The Pale, but the Irish clans were able to raid cattle, horses, and the occasional merchant who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, all of which they carried away into the “wilds of Wicklow”. Despite cease-fires being arranged, this situation continued until the Battle of Rathmines sealed the fate of the Confederate and Cavalier forces.

In 1698, the time of the Penal Laws, the church was offered to the Huguenot community as a place of worship and cemetery. The graveyard, however, continued to be used by Catholics until the end of the 19th century.

CHARLEMONT SQUARE 26 MARCH 2023

March 26, 2023 by infomatique

CHARLEMONT STREET REGENERATION PROJECT

This was my first time to visit this new complex.

Charlemont Square is the second phase of the transformative Charlemont Street regeneration placemaking project in the heart of Dublin 2. This €210 million mixed-use development involved the reimaging of c.13,000m2 – mostly derelict – space on a logistically challenging site close to the city centre. The creation of a focal point for the local community was a key ambition of this development, which commenced in January 2018 and was completed in December 2022.

Works consisted of the demolition and site clearance of four existing residential blocks, including specialist asbestos removal, prior to the construction of six multi-storey blocks.

This phase of regeneration delivered 96 apartments, 355,000ft² of Grade A office space and 30,000ft² of retail space for the local area.

The residential portion of this project comprises a unique collection of one, two and three-bed apartments, designed and delivered to a high quality.

The office incorporates Grade 2 basement over two levels, cast in-situ RC frame with bespoke curtain walling and glazing with large areas of brick and stone cladding. Internally, the accommodation provides efficient floor plates with suspended ceilings with 650mm void, 150mm raised access floors and minimised internal columns with 12m clear spans. Roof terraces and tenant facilities including secure basement car parking and bicycle spaces, showers and drying facilities are also provided. The scheme has a WireScore rating of Platinum, LEED Gold, and an A3 BER rating.

At street level, the retail space incorporates convenience retail, food and beverage uses and an art studio, complementing the residential and office accommodation.

[March 2014] The Charlemont Street flat complex near Ranelagh was to have been redeveloped as a public-private partnership scheme including shops, restaurants, offices, as well as 260 new apartments. However, despite beginning demolition, including razing Scott’s 1944 building Ffrench Mullen House, the council had been unable to finalise a deal on the regeneration project. Independent city councillor Mannix Flynn sought to save Ffrench Mullen House, because its demolition was ethically wrong given the block was a “one-off social housing unit, designed by Michael Scott in 1944 during the Emergency”, and that it should be reused. Ffrench Mullen House was named after Madeline Ffrench Mullen who developed the nearby St Ultan’s Hospital for Women and Infants in 1919 in response to the dire socioeconomic conditions in Dublin.

AREA NEAR THE THREE SEA LOCKS

March 26, 2023 by infomatique

GRAND CANAL DOCK

Grand Canal Dock originally opened in 1796, as the terminal to the Central Line of the Grand Canal, at the time was the largest dock in the world. A group of three sea locks, Camden, Buckingham and Westmoreland were built in the same year, to connect the River Liffey to Grand Canal Dock. Camden Lock being the largest of the three could facilitate sea vessels. The three locks including two central dock platforms were constructed from tooled granite and designed to accommodate the tidal fluctuations of the River Liffey.

Within 50 years of the docks completion, the sea locks were deemed obsolete. Advances in steam power, left even Camden Lock too small for the new breed of steam ship. This along with the development of the railway led to a steady decline in the use of and necessity for Grand Canal Dock and the Sea Locks.

CAPITAL DOCK AND NEARBY – INDEED ARE LOCATED HERE

March 25, 2023 by infomatique

AT THE END OF SIR JOHN ROGERSON’S QUAY

Over 200 people at Indeed’s Irish office may be subject to layoffs, with the multinational firm announcing that 2,200 people are set to be affected worldwide.

Capital Dock is a 22-storey mixed-use development at the junction of Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Britain Quay in the Dublin docklands. Developed by Kennedy Wilson, the site was acquired in 2012 and construction finished in 2018. Upon completion, the 79-metre tower became the tallest storeyed building in the Republic of Ireland, and the third tallest on the island of Ireland.

The building was developed in a joint venture with the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) on the site of the proposed U2 Tower. Concrete foundations, as well as three floors below street level and one above level, had been completed on the original development before it was cancelled [Note: I cannot confirm this].

In 2012, Kennedy Wilson acquired the site and development started at the end of 2014. In May 2017, they sold the 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2) 200 Capital Dock building to JPMorgan on a forward funding sale agreement. In December 2017, Kennedy Wilson signed a 20-year lease with Indeed, to fully occupy buildings 100 and 300 Capital Dock.

Retail tenants include Fresh, BrewDog, Freshii and the Art of Coffee.