GRAND DESIGNS FOR DUBLIN

: The move to high-rise developments is inevitable, but the engineering sector faces a steep learning curve to meet the challenge , writes

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While there are no high-rise developments in Dublin, proposals have been tabled to make Dublin Bay resemble the Manhattan skyline. The most radical plan, proposed by the Progressive Democrats last year, would have seen Dublin Port relocate to Bremore in Co Dublin, with the port area being used for high-rise residential developments.

Whether the PDs will be around to see the glistening new horizon is in question, but what is not in doubt is that buildings in Ireland increasingly will go up rather than out.

The move to higher-density cities will pose inevitable challenges for the civil engineering sector and is a journey into largely uncharted waters. But does the sector have the knowledge to cope with the challenge?

"It is not ubiquitous," says Chris Bakkala, from engineering firm Buro Happold's Dublin office. "It is not as if we have an engineering culture that is steeped in the principles of high-rise design. There is a learning curve, as with anything. I should say there is a learning curve to do things well. Anyone can do high-rise buildings. They're done all over the planet and are much taller than we are building in Ireland. The main difference is that in places like New York you would have a dozen or two dozen design offices with a high-rise capability and regularly doing this sort of work."

That is not an indictment of Irish engineering firms, but more a statement on a planning process which tends to stymie innovation in design and engineering of buildings, he says.

"One of the things that is dysfunctional about Ireland - and the same holds true for the UK - is the planning process," says Bakkala.

"With buildings of height, what you really need to do from the beginning is design them, but the way the planning process is structured it sort of mitigates against design because it is all at the developer's risk. People would be loath to invest too much in design ahead of planning certainty. And that is true of any height of building. It is not just for tall buildings, and it is unfortunate because I think what it results in is less innovation and more of the sure bet."

Nevertheless, he remains sanguine about the ability to deal with what many consider is the inevitable move to high rise in our cities.

"This is a nation of bright, energetic and capable individuals that no longer suffers the brain drain that it did in the past, so there is a lot of young talent here that is able and available to do this sort of stuff," he says.

"We will be figuring out how to bring water up to the 30th floor without bursting pipes and fittings and how to control comfort on top floors. These things will need to be learned over the course of a number of years, and it is not just down to the engineers, it is down to the architects and developers who would value this sort of expertise."

Civil engineering has already proven itself in the delivery of infrastructure, he says. A decade or more of boom has seen rapid infrastructural development in roads, rail and bridges. The Boyne Cable Bridge is often cited as an example of our modern engineering capabilities, but its scale and span pale when compared to the engineering prowess and architectural grace of the Millau Viaduct in France, the tallest and longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge in the world.

Padraic O'Donoghue, head of engineering at University College Galway, says that Irish civil engineering does not lack the ambition, vision or innovation seen abroad, but such comparisons are unfair because they ignore the local circumstances - be they geographical, financial or time-driven - under which civil engineers work at home.

"The scale of our projects doesn't match up and I don't say that in a negative sense. It's just the nature of the size of the country. The physical challenges in Ireland may not be as great as they are in other countries," he says.

Projects like the Millau Viaduct, which is 1,122 feet high and 1.6 miles long, bring their own non-engineering problems. The issue of the planning system is a common theme.

"The other thing is that when you do go for structures that are as visible as that, you're going to run into a massive number of local objections," he says.

The infrastructure that is built also depends on the funding provided by Government or private investors and on the timescale - and the engineering sector has to work within those limits.

"Are you are going to build the most spectacular bridge of all time or are you going to do a good job moving traffic from A to B? I would say they are probably looking at the latter," explains O'Donoghue.

That is not to say that engineers here are not delivering world-class solutions ahead of schedule and on budget, says John Egan, a director at civil engineering specialist Project Management Group.

"All over the country there have been major improvements in our transport and environmental infrastructure, all the work of civil engineers who are not afraid to bring creative and innovative techniques and skills to the design and project delivery," he says.

"In many cases, the skills learned abroad in the hard times are now being honed and applied here in the design and delivery of major infrastructure and building projects. Even in recent years the scale and complexity of major infrastructure projects has increased substantially and the delivery time has become much shorter."