Wynyard Learning from Dublin Docklands

I visited Dublin Docklands Development in April and managed to spend some time with the lead planner working for the Dublin Dockland Development Agency.

They've been going at their Dockland project for more than 10 years now. They had a big push in the hey days before the GFC, but since then the pace has been measured. The Grand Canal Docks precinct is a like a cross between Auckland's Viaduct development and Wynyard Quarter....

This map shows some of the uses the land was put to before the redevelopment. My summary (in the slide) raise some of the important matters that planners had to take account of - like the fact there are some existing leaseholders using parts of the land, that there are some heritage structures. All familiar stuff.

The blue lines on this map show the street network that was in place. before the proposed development. As you'd expect for a light industrial maritime docks environment, the streets were wide apart, very large block sizes to accommodate large scale buildings and warehouses. Roads largely used to get heavy materials to and from the docks.

One of the first planning activities of the DDDA was to impose the "structuring elements" of a new street network on the land. Their key objective was to establish a "permeable urban area". This is short-hand for walkable, human scale, pedestrian friendly. All those good words. Their planning was to ensure that new streets and routes link into the outside network (from inside the development). 

And crucially "the resulting fine network of routes of the new street network reduces travel distances, which in turn encourages walking and cycling to local facilities..." Their objectives were supported by this rationale: "...the presence of more people (in the streets) means streets are safer..."
 

When I was there, much of the development had been completed. This Google aerial shows part of the developed Docklands area.

I was particularly interested in the new street network that had been planned, and how it had been delivered on the ground. These distance measures are the size of the new city blocks that have resulted. Thus a typical block for this permeable and walkable piece of redeveloped Dublin Docklands, is about 70 metres by 94 metres between intersections.

This image is taken from one of the newly developed blocks (just to the left of the 70 metre arrow above - you can see the diagonal walkway clearly in the aerial shot). As a matter of interest the building to the left is residential, while the building block to the right is commercial - the shop fronts on the right are to be activated. (You notice another thing in Dublin - no huge branded names on buildings! No blaring signage.)

Now I am aware that some finer grain design is going on for Wynyard Quarter, especially in the lead up to the start of the Central Precinct (whose block length is marked here as 157 metres).  The block length of 124 metres is from the front of Sanfords, to the street behind.

These Wynyard Quarter block sizes are of the same scale as old Dublin Docklands. It is important that attention is applied at an early stage - before building lots get sold - so that a finer grain walkable street network is delivered on Wynyard Quarter. It won't be possible to build new streets after lots are sold and building development begins....

For comparison purposes I have measured other city blocks in Auckland CBD. These are listed here. You can see that the block length from Queen Street to High Street  (73 metres) is comparable to the urban form adopted for Dublin Docklands.

This slide shows how Auckland's shared street environment compares with its equivalent in Dublin, and which is the most prevalent street form in the Docklands area. The Auckland picture is of the shared street environment around Fort Street - the shared street environment in Dublin is about the same scale. And as successful. Buildings heights are similar also.

This slide looks at Hobson Street Auckland (wide, car oriented, relatively narrow footpaths). The bottom picture is of Beaumont Street, Wynyard Quarter - as it is today. The graphic to the right shows the street space plan for Dublin Docklands streets - in particular it shows what proportion of the street space is allocated to pedestrian and cycling (shared) and general traffic. Auckland's emphasis on general traffic is evident (70%), compared with 56% in Dublin.

This matter is very important when considering how Wynyard Quarter Streets should be designed to support the 70 / 30 split in travel demand that is called for by the District Plan for the area. ie that only 30% of all trips are to be by private motor vehicles - the rest are to be by walking, cycling and public transport. To achieve that mode split the street network, and street space allocation, needs appropriate design and planning - well ahead of the construction of buildings.