Landmark bank buildings would suit variety of uses

The gradual phasing out of retail banking in Ireland means this year will see several landmark bank buildings coming on the market.

By their very nature they tend to be big important spaces, full of interesting architectural details and steeped in history; from a commercial point of view, they are in prime locations. The big question is - what will become of them?

"Pubs," says Hugh Wallace of Douglas Wallace, an architectural firm with extensive experience of the commercial sector. "They'd make great pubs or restaurants, given their sheer volume." If they did become pubs, he adds, they would at least retain their public access, which he feels is important.

Mr Wallace has already redesigned one of the first banks to come on the market: he was responsible for the transformation of the Ulster Bank on the corner of Dawson Street into Eason Hanna's bookshop. His experience there showed the very specific problems that come with old bank buildings - it took nearly eight weeks just to get the safe out. Removing the safe can cost between £50,000 and £100,000, but the real challenge is the fact that the interiors as well as the exteriors of these buildings tend to be listed.

"Changing the use of the buildings involves basic work to comply with building regulations and installing such things as air conditioning," he says "but that can become a real problem if, for example, the ceiling and walls are listed and can't be touched". He advocates that instead of a blanket listing on all interior details in all old buildings there should be a qualitative approach to decide what is really architecturally important and what is simply just old.

There are currently two banks for sale on O'Connell Street, one a National Irish Bank (NIB) branch near the junction with Henry Street, the other an AIB branch at the corner of Abbey Street. NIB is also selling its magnificently appointed branch on College Green.

With such important buildings coming on the market at the same time, it is unsurprising that both The Dublin Civic Trust and An Taisce are taking an active interest in what happens. Geraldine Walsh of the Dublin Civic Trust points out that in Paris and New York, planning laws make it unlikely that such buildings would change use even though they might change hands. She cites London, where defunct bank branches have become coffee shops and bars, as an example of what is undesirable here.

"Bank buildings are a significant statement of the wealth of a nation," she says pointing to the irony of these branches closing at a time when the economy is bouyant. "It should be in the planning laws that these buildings retain their usage," she says.

Ian Lumley of An Taisce says conversion to public houses is undesirable, and his organisation is adamant that strict controls have to be adhered to in terms of the range of uses open to these buildings. "Retail use involving the enlargement of windows would not be desirable," he says. "Exhibition type space is the best alternative to banking hall use. Banks should consider accommodating civic and cultural uses rather than selling off if retention of banking use is not possible."

Architect Roisin Murphy of Warren Architects echoes Lumley's point about the buildings' potential as exhibition spaces. "We don't have a design centre in this country which could showcase good and emerging design and I think a building such as NIB's one on College Green would be ideal for that."

She further suggests that the eventual use of AIB's building should be part of the rejuvenation of O'Connell Street. "I think that it would make a great retail space but that for the sake of the street it should be something that is family oriented," she says, remarking that Habitat was a strong attraction on the street when it was part of the old BHS shop.

"The ideal situation would be if these buildings were used as non-commercial spaces to which the public still had access," says Ms Murphy.

With the transfer of country pub licences to Dublin now a possibility and given the seemingly endless appetite for superpubs, it would seem that at least one of these old bank buildings is likely to become a pub or, at the very least, a large restaurant. Unless, of course, an overwhelming sense of cultural philanthropy overtakes the banks and they are given over as public spaces.