Capital gain: Grafton St set for major revamp

THE country’s most famous shopping area is to undergo a major revamp as Dublin City Council admitted that Grafton Street had suffered “a bit of a slide” in recent years.

Senior management of the local authority accept that there is a poor mix of retail outlets on the capital’s best-known shopping street with too many mobile phone shops and convenience stores.

However, Dublin City Planner, Dick Gleeson, yesterday confirmed that the council has plans to extend the designation of Grafton Street as an Area of Architectural Conservation to surrounding streets in order to achieve a better mix of uses as well as to protect the character of the area.

“We want to put our foot down. There has been a slide on the design front and there is a poor balance of uses,” said Mr Gleeson.

He pointed out that there was still major room for retail development within the city centre area on both sides of the River Liffey with the potential to create new squares and streets such as a planned new walkway between Grafton Street and Dawson Street.

Last month, Grafton Street emerged as the sixth-most expensive retail thoroughfare in the world with average annual rents of €4,496 per square metre.

Dublin City Council estimates that more 80,000 shoppers pass along the street every day — “the equivalent of an All-Ireland final every day,” according to new city manager, John Tierney.

Speaking as he unveiled the council’s 2007 budget, Mr Tierney said over €4 billion would be spent on regeneration housing projects, mostly apartments, over the next decade.

The city manager said €4,400 would also be spent for every citizen of Dublin next year through a combination of improved and expanded services and the council’s capital programme.

Among the planned improvements are the introduction of council-run crèches, longer opening hours for libraries and additional sports and recreational facilities.

“The aim is to have Dublin as a benchmark for quality but to still be distinctly Dublin,” said Mr Tierney, the former manager of both Galway City and Fingal County who took up his new post in September.

Despite a proposed 3.85% increase in rates and further rise in bin charges for domestic users, Mr Tierney said he anticipated the support of councillors for the budget when it is introduced at a council meeting next Monday.

The city manager also admitted that car owners will face more restrictions in future in the city centre area due to the planned linking of the two Luas lines.

However, Mr Tierney said the question of congestion charges for vehicles, such as the one introduced in London, should not be examined until there were viable public transport alternatives in place.

On the issue of high-rise buildings, Mr Tierney said the need for higher density housing was recognised.

While Dublin city had a structure which had to be respected, Mr Tierney said there were some parts of the capital which would be more suited than others for high-rise buildings.

He also announced plans to more than double waste recycling rates in the city over the next three years.

Currently, only 20% of waste in Dublin is recycled compared to the national average of 35%.