Building bridges in Limerick - Village Magazine

5 4 July 2016

“W

hat do you have against bridges, Emma?”,

a friend quipped at me, the questioning

loaded by awareness of the fact that I

actually delight in them. Bridges are integral pieces of

infrastructure making the impassable possible while

offering us a variety of views, once the boatman’s

secret joy. Growing up in Corbally, a suburban island

north of the city, bridges connected us to the outside

world.

The Limerick 2030 Economic and Spatial plan, pub-

lished in 2013, proposes a new bridge for the city.

However, the plans are wading through deep contro-

versy about the design, location, funding, timing,

public consultation process and even intent.

Limerick is a tale of three cities; Englishtown (King’s

Island), Irishtown and Georgian Newtown Pery. Medi-

eval King’s Island is where the Viking city of Limerick

began, rich in national treasures such as St Mary’s

Cathedral, Bishop’s Palace, and King John’s Castle. The

Castle has been the main focus of strategic tourism

investment and development in recent years. Coach-

loads of tourists are whisked in daily to the castle and

bussed away again. Often this is their sole experience

of the city. This area is also on the doorstep of the Lim-

erick City and County Council (LCCC) ofﬁces.

The reason that these visitors are not freed to roam

the medieval King’s Island quarter, an urban gem most

cities would cherish, is the neglected state of Nicholas

Street. Though it is the spine of the island, intermittent

incursions of dereliction punctuate Nicholas Street

belittling the remnants of its historic importance. Bear-

ing in mind the universal experience of historic cities,

even of Dublin, it is mind-boggling how this area did not

beneﬁt from a major conservation strategy during the

boom years. Even more mystifying is why it wasn’t

made a priority in the Limerick 2030 plan. This means

it may well be another two decades before this area is

even addressed.

Coinciding with the release of the 2030 Plan prepared

by consultants GVA and AECOM was the establishment

of the Limerick Economic Forum. This advisory group

consists of high-proﬁle individuals such as Denis Bro-

snan (former Head of Kerry Group); Loretta Brennan

Glucksman (former Chair of the American Ireland Fund);

John Moran (former Secretary General of the Depart-

ment of Finance); Conn Murray, CEO of LCCC; Don Barry,

President of the University of Limerick; John Herlihy,

Vice President of Google Ireland; and Paul Rellis, Vice

President of Microsoft Ireland. Though these worthies

mean well, it may be signiﬁcant that King’s Island does

not beneﬁt any of their vested interests.

LCCC realised that the King’s Island issue will take

many years to resolve. For LCCC the conundrum is

simply how to spirit visitors from the castle to the

revamped Arthur’s Quay Shopping Centre without dirty-

ing their shoes in the historic city.

They can of course walk over Thomond Bridge, down

Clancy’s Strand, and across Sarsﬁeld Bridge. But,

human nature encourages us to take the shortest route

which would mean Nicholas Street. Their solution -

bypass Nicholas Street by creating a walkway over the

river to the revamped commercial district.

In early 2014 Fáilte Ireland commissioned a 'Tourism

Proposition and Interpretation Framework for Limerick

City and County' by Sherwood Associates (working with

Denis Byrne Architects, Cleary Connolly – an artistic

partnership, and local historian, Dr John Logan). It pro-

posed the construction of a new connection along the

by Emma Gilleece

Building bridges

in Limerick

By not building a bridge

ENVIRONMENT

July 2016 5 5

river’s edge. Their associated bridge proposal

went from Shannon Rowing Club to the Battery

beside the Potato Market. This bridge would

follow the natural line where the tidal Shannon

water and the Abbey waters meet. It was this

proposal which convinced Finance Minister

Michael Noonan to pledge €6m in his October

2014 budget towards the bridge. Like some-

thing out of a soap opera cue the anonymous

philanthropic donor who has given €10m

towards this bridge. No strings attached we are

told except that he (or she) can never be named.

After much speculation the local paper outed

JP McManus as the inevitable bigwig benefac-

tor (Limerick Life, ‘We mustn't look JP's gifthorse

in the mouth’, 30 June 2016).

With funding secured, LCCC decided that the

Sherwood Associates bridge did not ﬁt in with

its primary focus - of driving tourists to the

shiny new retail areas created by the Limerick

2030 Plan. It instead bastardised this well-

researched proposal so that it would be a

bridge stretching from King John’s Castle to

Arthur’s Quay Park. It would cross the mouth of

the Abbey River to the Curragower Boat Club,

cutting off the most resonant historic views in

the city. This blatantly contravenes the Coun-

cil's own Development Plan (Section 11.3)

concerning the protection of historic linear

views and prospects, river prospects and

approach vistas of the city. It does, however,

avert the necessity for tourists to walk through

the medieval streets, offering a river route

instead.

The next stage was a tender for the Technical

Feasibility Report won by AECOM which esti-

mated the cost of the bridge at €16-18m. Its

three concept designs are huge and predictable

Calatrava-like white harps spanning the mouth

of the Abbey. As to the design process, a

spokesperson for LCCC said: “The ﬁrst thing we

will do from here is decide how we approach the

design stage, whether by way of an open com-

petition or a tender to procure a single team.

Regardless, consultation with the key stake-

holders, particularly our council members, will

be at the heart of the decision-making pro-

cess…the Council members will then have to

This is a hare-brained

proposal dreamed up

by people with a very

shallow understanding

of the city or the river,

or their heritage

One of three proposed bridge designs by AECOM

Aerial view of proposed bridge in Fáilte Ireland report

denisbyrnearchitects.ie

5 6 July 2016

ENVIRONMENT

approve the design before it can go to An Bord

Pleanála”. Limerick Councillors will be voting later this

month, with the mind-concentrating threat that if they

say no to the bridge the money is off the table. LCCC

maintains that the design process is open. However at

a presentation made by Senior Executive Planner Kieran

Reeves to the councillors on 23 June, his two examples

of ‘iconic’ bridges, Derry’s Peace Bridge and the Gates-

head Millennium Bridge, happened to be both designed

by AECOM and Wilkinson Eyre Architects.

It is hard to tell how the councillors will vote. Labour

Councillor Joe Leddin commented:

“In terms of the ongoing redevelopment of the city

the placement of a pedestrian bridge is not a priority in

the context of key strategic sites such as the Opera

Centre, Hanging Gardens, and Nicholas Street which is

an old historic street adjacent to King John’s Castle.

Above all the river views that have existed in this part

of the city that showcase the Hunt Museum, Abbey

River and marina and the old Curragower boat club, will

be lost forever”.

Little information has been released to the public in

the three years since LCCC ﬁrst mooted the idea of a

bridge. In failing to organise public information meet-

ings it has fallen to groups such as the Irish Planning

Institute in collaboration with the Royal Town Planning

Institute Ireland to hold panel discussions on the Lim-

erick 2030 Plan.

A local group of concerned citizens has set up the

‘Footbridge Folly Action Group’. Speaking on behalf of

the group, Brian Leddin, an engineer, stated: “This is a

hare-brained proposal dreamed up by people with a

very shallow understanding of the city or the river, or

their heritage”. The Limerick Association of An Taisce,

another stakeholder not consulted, expressed con-

cerns for the permanent destruction of the historic

views. The Thomond Archaeological and Historical

Society PR Ofﬁcer John Elliot said of the proposed loca-

tion: “The Limerick Main Drainage weir, breakwater

pontoon, Mathew & Sylvester O'Halloran bridges and

the marina at the Custom House already pose difﬁculty

for boat users trying to navigate the cluttered Shannon

at this point. Adding a footbridge to this would only

hinder riverine trafﬁc even further”.

The bridge itself is just symptomatic of the problem

when urban design is driven by businessmen whose

motivations are largely economic. There is no regard

for the routes to these buildings, and how people expe-

rience such in-between urban spaces. This bridge

leaves King’s Island still on the long ﬁnger. Why doesn’t

LCCC take a modest portion of the €18m and use it for

the salaries of a team of urban designers? It’s no ﬂashy

quick-ﬁx solution but it could make Limerick a more

attractive city in the long-term, especially for

residents.

Ironically the Limerick 2030 Plan opens with a quote

by the American urban activist Jane Jacobs which rings

true here and now: “Cities have the capability of provid-

ing something for everybody, only because, and only

when, they are created by everybody”.

Emma Gilleece is an associate in Declan Gilleece

Architects and a Council member of An Taisce.

Cities have the capability

of providing something for

everybody, only because,

and only when, they are

created by everybody

Proposed bridge will obstruct Curragower boat club

Bridge will lead visitors from King John's Castle to Arthur's Quay

patricklynch.ie

July 2016 5 7

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