Dublin’s historic graving docks could become a community facility, with a floating lido, saunas, food trucks and a “pocket forest”, under plans developed by docklands residents.
The Grand Canal Dock Residents Association is urging Waterways Ireland to implement its plan for the temporary use of the old dry docks, once a hub of shipbuilding and maintenance, that have been left a “wasteland” in the city’s east end.
The graving docks sit immediately east of the Grand Canal basin, which has been transformed over recent decades into a residential, restaurant and recreational district, and a focal point for the high-tech office zone nicknamed Silicon Docks. Graving docks were enclosed basins into which ships were taken for underwater cleaning or repair.
Despite their prominent location and their status as protected structures, however, the graving docks remain derelict, overgrown and, although surrounded by hoardings and fencing, subject to frequent dumping.
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The site is owned by Waterways Ireland, a cross-Border body which said it is, along with Fáilte Ireland, undertaking a “joint strategic asset development strategy for our infrastructural and natural assets in the Greater Dublin Area”.
It said it did not expect to complete this strategy until “late 2025″.
Michael Ingle, who chairs the Grand Canal Dock Residents Association, said the community should not have to wait that long for the facility to be brought into use.
“If Waterways Ireland are saying they are going to produce a strategy at the end of 2025, then realistically nothing is actually going to happen with the docks until 2027 or 2028 at the earliest,” he said.
“What we are suggesting is to introduce an interim or ‘meanwhile’ use to get something creative and recreational going. It would be implementable in phases. For a few hundred grand you could have it cleared and landscaped to a certain extent, to allow people to access it.”
The proposal is divided into six phases. The first phase features a large open grass area with two saunas and a cold plunge pool, along with seating and space for a food truck and games area. The second focuses on increasing the footprint, transforming the concreted area for play and sports facilities.
Phase three includes a “vibrant pocket forest” which would “enhance the area’s beauty” and serve as an outdoor classroom for schools to explore biodiversity and sustainability. The fourth phase would involve reopening the lock-keeper’s house as a community space or cafe. The fifth phase would include a floating sauna, while the sixth would focus on the floating lido, inspired by Berlin’s Badeschiff.
The proposals, which have been delivered to Waterways Ireland, would be reversible if they did not fit in with the body’s long-term plans, Mr Ingle said.
[ Waterways Ireland plans to sell Grand Canal graving docksOpens in new window ]
In response to queries Waterways Ireland said it did “very much appreciate, welcome and understand the interest in the site” and was “committed to engagement with local people, communities and all stakeholders”. It would undertake an “extensive public consultation process” after it published its strategy in late 2025.
“In the short to medium term, Waterways Ireland has operational requirements for the land,” to facilitate works including repairs to the sea lock gates. “Waterways Ireland will need full control and access to the graving dock site in preparation for and during these works.”
Mr Ingle said he was disappointed by the lack of urgency in regenerating this key docklands site.
“For too long this has been a wasteland. All the proposals we’ve seen in the past involve privatisation of the graving docks. What we’re looking for is public access.
“This could be a great news story for a Dublin that is getting continuous bad press; our city has not had a big, bold and beautiful idea executed for a long time.”
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