Ten years ago, what we now refer to as the International Financial Services Centre, the largest concentrated zone of global financial heavyweights in Ireland, was still largely dockside wasteland north of the Liffey.
Driven by tax incentives, millions were spent to develop an international centre that could compare with The City in London or La Defense in Paris. And so Dublin got a shiny new financial complex with glass office blocks and landscaped communal zones.
How have the buildings weathered the decade - and do architects feel it's time for a big facelift operation?
"A benchmark for Irish office building design" is how Tony Reddy of Anthony Reddy & Associates, the architects responsible for the design of the ABM-AMRO building in the former Sheriff Street Sorting Office, the recent Custom House Plaza and the Custom House Square apartment complex, describes the IFSC. "When built, these were the first of what we call third generation office buildings in Ireland, more spacious, with taller floor-to-floors, air-conditioning as standard and sophisticated curtain wall facades. Overall, the IFSC buildings were well built and set high standards," he explains.
Architect Joan O'Connor, of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and Interactive Project Managers, says that the buildings have worn well and are well-maintained, but are easily dated by their 1990s palette of materials - brick, re-constituted stone, coloured glazing frames, and so on.
"The buildings in IFSC Phase 1 - with the exception of the north, south and west blocks - were standard high-spec office buildings of their time. The north, south and west blocks were bespoke commissions and this is reflected in their enhanced quality, particularly the west - AIB - block, which was a welcome addition to the urban set-piece formed by the Customs House and Busarus."
One striking difference between IFSC Phase 1 and other financial services centres, according to Joan O'Connor, is the height of the buildings and the almost uniform skyline. "Also, and regrettably, IFSC Phase 1 is still deficient in leisure and retail facilities, although IFSC Phase 2 has in part redressed the balance. Hopefully, the development of Stack A will remedy the shortfall in IFSC Phase 1," she says.
Burke Kennedy Doyle were the original architects of the IFSC, with the Custom House Docks Company. The objective was to develop a high quality financial area while also injecting a civic amenity into what was a rundown area. The scheme was designed around the canal locks and an inner water basin, with the quayside buildings fronting on to the River Liffey as the prime sites. The transformation and re-population of the area also played an important role in the original development, and Burke Kennedy Doyle regard the overall development as a significant coup.
Both Joan O'Connor and Tony Reddy agree that the quality of office fit-outs in the IFSC is generally good, and according to Joan O'Connor "significant changes are probably only necessitated by a radical change in work practices - the recent move towards `hotelling' in some management consultancies is a case in point."
"Fashion will sometimes dictate a refit, but such trend-led refits are more prevalent in advertising and design practices than in the legal, accounting and financial services in the IFSC," she says.
HOWEVER, Joan O'Connor questions can these IFSC buildings be regarded as the contemporary paradigm for office accommodation, when compared to the recently completed Fingal County Council headquarters in Swords.
Back in the early 1990s, air conditioning was installed in the majority of new buildings in response to market demand. Tony Reddy explains that a greener or more environmentally sustainable approach to new buildings is the norm today. "Double skin glazed walls and natural ventilation are more popular now; Dublin Corporation's Civic Offices at Wood Quay are a good example of this," he says.
"Surely the knee-jerk demand for air-conditioning should be queried in the era of sustainablity? Low energy solutions require greater ceiling heights - a distinct plus in aesthetic terms - and individual control of the local environment with a committment by the client or developer to lead the way in defining new parameters for our working space," says O'Connor.
According to O'Connor the key issues in future office design will be flexibility and sustainability - light-weight, mobile components, natural materials, an atmosphere of collaboration, not hierarchy. She believes the need to attract and retain staff should lead to improved space standards and better back-up facilities, with staff being consulted about the design of their working environment - within reasonable financial constraints.
