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Shock as harbour plan suddenly sinks

Tuesday, 29 April 2008

The developers who were awarded the contract for the proposed multi million-euro Carlisle Pier development in Dún Laoghaire have pulled out of the project citing deteriorating economic conditions and the “uncertainty” of the planning process as reasons for their withdrawal.
The sudden announcement by development company Sisk means that it is unclear whether the existing redevelopment proposals for the derelict old mail boat pier can be resurrected.
In April 2004, Heneghan Peng Associates beat world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind in an international competition to redevelop the Carlisle Pier in Dún Laoghaire harbour.
Its partners in the project comprised a joint venture between Sisk and Park Developments, which are two of the biggest development companies in the country.
Speaking to Southside People, the finance director of Sisk, Colm Whooley, said the company’s decision to pull out of the project was due to a combination of factors including the projected financial return on the development, current economic conditions and the planning process.
“There has been a lot of work put into the project over the last nine months,” he said. “Our decision to withdraw is a combination of the uncertain economic market conditions and the planning risks associated with a project of that nature.
“The whole project had to be approved by the local authority and then by An Bord Pleanála and it is the uncertainty as to what’s going to happen during the planning process and how long it was going to take.”
He added: “It was a combination of a number of factors and certainly financial payback on the project was one of those factors.”
Shih-Fu Peng of Heneghan Peng Associates said he did not know whether the current design proposal could now go ahead. He added that it was a matter for the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to decide.
The 10-storey Carlisle Pier development was selected by the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company following a public consultation and a tender process in 2004.
However, a major campaign against the development was spearheaded by Richard Boyd Barrett of the Save our Seafront Campaign, which successfully opposed the county council's highly contentious proposals for the Dún Laoghaire baths site.
Bidder
Mr Boyd Barrett pledged to fight the Carlisle Pier plan because of what he described as a “part privatisation" of the harbour.
The pier development stalled in 2005 when the harbour company withdrew preferred bidder status from Urban Capital – a consortium made up of the joint venture between Sisk and Park and Heneghan Peng.
However, last year the harbour company announced that it was in pre-planning discussions with the council in relation to the project.
The proposed development included a 127-bedroom hotel, 229 apartments, shops and leisure uses, a proposed aquarium - billed as a "marine life centre" - as well as extensive public spaces.
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council had set down a series of rigorous objectives for redeveloping the pier, which included a requirement for landmark architecture, a major national cultural attraction and significant permanent public access to the pier.
Last year, while he was announcing proposals to treble the size of the marina in Dún Laoghaire, the chief executive of the harbour company, Michael Hanahoe, said the requirements made the project “very expensive to build".
According to Richard Boyd Barrett of SOS, who welcomed the news, the development would have made a major section of the harbour the “exclusive property of the super-wealthy and utterly ruined its unique character”.
“The decision to abandon this plan is a major victory for people power and the Save Our Seafront campaign to prevent the creeping privatisation of our harbour and public seafront,” he said.
He urged the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to engage with the public and the Save Our Seafront group to come up with what he described as an “acceptable plan” for the pier.
“The Carlisle Pier should be developed to provide public amenities that are available to all,” Mr Boyd Barrett said. “It is an ideal site to locate sea related and other amenities that will enhance public access to the harbour.”

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