"We need to see our capital as an asset"

After the boom, Dublin City Council is establishing planning principles for the next upturn, says its head, John Tierney

When John Tierney became the city manager, six years ago, Dublin was a very different place. The boom times, to quote the taoiseach of the day, were “getting even more boomier”, and the city was on the up, in more ways than one.

Shortly after starting the job, Tierney said the council was to take the lead in developing high-density housing and in identifying suitable areas for private-sector, high-rise development.

Housing estates were out, apartment complexes were in. There was talk of landmark buildings and high-rise “clusters”. Dilapidated council flats were soon to be regenerated using public-private partnerships (PPPs) with property developers, and major transport projects were to transform the city.

Circumstances surrounding the subsequent collapse of the construction industry, the failure of the housing regeneration PPPs and the shelving of the metro and the Dart interconnector have been well documented.

Tierney has faced criticism for having his head turned by developers and grand schemes. However, while current circumstances are not conducive to the return of cranes, the principles for development laid down in 2006 remain sound, he says.

“It is important, in planning for the future of the city, that we take a long-term view rather than following an extreme boom-bust approach in our policy for height,” he says.

In a low-rise city the prospect of skyscrapers dominating the streets grabbed attention, but it was never a real threat, he says. “There is no doubt that the issue of taller became a media storm and became a very polarised debate when it didn’t need to be, because the number of areas we were talking about for tall buildings is [confined to] locations such as Heuston and the Docklands.”

Confusion persists, he says, between the need to consolidate the city and the development of high rise. “Tall buildings and densification are not the same thing, and they should not be confused. A quality, more dense city is about making the best use of urban land to prevent sprawl, or ghost estates, in the future.”

The council did support some developments that now seem more than a little grandiose – Seán Dunne’s high-rise plan for the former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels in Ballsbridge is a frequently cited case – but Tierney says the capital needs to show it can handle world-class development. “There’s no doubt that in relation to some developments, the opportunity to make a statement about the future of the city certainly was a consideration from the point of view of the ability to do world-class developments in Dublin.”

The need for any large-scale development seems hard to justify, but he says the Dublin region does not have much vacant space, either residential or commercial, and is especially lacking in large office blocks. Canny investors are already snapping up potential development sites, particularly disused or brownfield sites, he says, and now is the time to ensure the future of these sites is properly planned. That is a job not only for the council but for the National Asset Management Agency.

“I think Nama can play a very important role in ensuring the release of sites at the appropriate time and also ensuring coherent development on sites where there might have been a multiplicity of owners previously. They can also ensure that brownfield sites are prioritised.”

The council has an opportunity and an obligation to set down principles at a time when its planning department is not overburdened with applications.

“We are taking the opportunity now when there is less development pressure to create planning frameworks, such as local-area plans for George’s Quay and the Docklands, to make sure that those plans are ready for when the upturn comes, because then the need for development will become apparent very quickly.”

With the powers of the now defunct Dublin Docklands Development Authority expected to transfer to the council soon, planning for what was always intended to be one of the prime economic drivers in the city is becoming a priority.

“In the city council we would be very cognisant of the fact that there is something unique about the Docklands and the way it has developed. We are also conscious of coming up with a new governance model that has the support of the community and the city council.”

There have been “justified complaints” from Docklands communities about the level of social housing that has been provided, he says, overshadowed by the debacle of the authority’s involvement in the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend. But the authority did “a lot of good work,” he says.

“There has been fantastic work done here over the years. There’s huge controversy over a single site, but that shouldn’t diminish the work that was done and the jobs that have been created.

The city’s capacity to thrive will be determined by its ability to raise finance. With a decent commercial rates base, the city council is less reliant than other local authorities on central government. However it’s the application of domestic charges in the form of a property tax that could mean a real step forward for the council in the running of the city. Much will depend on whether the council is given the power to increase the charge and whether the money raised in Dublin stays in Dublin.

“Obviously I would like to see local discretion in terms of increasing the charge. There is an argument about some level of equalisation based on needs and resources; however, it’s important that the maximum amount of resources are retained locally to deal with service requirements locally. There are a lot of demands in Dublin, the demands of a capital city.”

On balance he believes the city has reason to be confident about its future. “If you look at the benchmarks as to how Dublin is performing internationally . . . in relation to quality of life or a whole range of economic indicators, it punches far above its weight. We are one of the smaller cities ranked by the OECD, but we outperform many other cities in the rankings. The quality of living Dublin is still ranked 26th in the world. Educational and demographic factors are all very positive and we produce the most employable graduates.”

However, the city needs to be the focus of national investment if it is to capitalise on its potential, however. “Dublin is the only place in Ireland that will be able to compete for certain projects, so we need to see Dublin as an asset. The point I always make is this: better that your children are working in Dublin than in far-flung places such as Australia and Canada, if that’s the choice. My motto would be, let’s try and bring them back home.”