An ugly overpriced cluttered space, or a fresh amenity, offering a big increase in pedestrian space? Whatever you think of Eyre Square, which officially reopens today, Galway needs a city architect, argues Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Few civic improvement projects in Ireland have raised so many hackles or been so jinxed as the renewal of Eyre Square in Galway. The plan itself was controversial, the first contractor walked off the job and the whole thing has ended up costing nearly €10 million - double the original (2002) contract price.
But it's done now, so the only real issue is whether it works. If you were to believe ardent local critics, the European-style plaza envisaged by former city manager Joe Gavin is cluttered and even ugly in parts, while some cynical Galwegians maintain that there's not much to show for all the public money spent.
This jaundiced view overlooks a quite creditable achievement by Dublin-based landscape architects Mitchell and Associates. And though their original concept was refined by the need to retain many of the existing trees, in response to public pressure, it has been substantially realised in the completed work.
The Eyre Square "enhancement project" was not confined to the central area alone. All of the surrounding footpaths have been renewed and traffic-signalled pedestrian crossings provided - some of them ramped - as well as a whole new set of street lamps, done in a restrained, minimalist style.
A notoriously chaotic car-parking zone at the northern end of the square has been replaced by a line of bus stops on one side of a tree-planted median and a taxi rank on the other. There is also a set of standard Adshel bus shelters here and a few more on the east side, where further bus stops are located.
The once traffic-choked west side, in front of the Skeffington Arms Hotel, has been turned into a pedestrian zone. This has been re-paved wall-to-wall, with dark limestone gullies flanking a carriageway finished in beige concrete paviors. At either end, stainless-steel bicycle stands have been provided.
A thickly-planted beech hedge marks the southern boundary of the square, in front of the Great Southern Hotel, with the retained mature trees held in raised beds surrounded by dwarf limestone walls. Much of this lower end of the square is a field of grass and seems rather dull compared to the upper level.
But anyone arriving at Ceannt Station would be in no doubt what route to take through Eyre Square. A broad walkway paved in fine aggregate, which has been resin-coated for durability, rises from the southeast corner of the square towards Galway's main retail area on Shop Street, at its northwestern corner.
All "desire lines" - the way people walk through parks - have been catered for in the design. Apart from the main route, there is a narrower walkway through the grassed area from the northwest to the southeast and another one running straight across. Externally, stainless-steel bollards protect the footpaths.
The main walkway is flanked on one side by newly planted lime trees, which will ultimately reach quite a height, and on the other by a very broad flight of granite steps leading to the more formal paved plaza. Handrails are all in stainless steel and there is a limestone-walled ramp alongside to provide for universal access.
Beside it is a railed area enclosing a small children's playground - a sort of park within a park. It has a limited range of futuristic-looking equipment, obviously made to withstand wear-and-tear, and its softer areas are planted with silver birch - a long-standing favourite among architects because it's so insubstantial.
In front of the playground is a memorial plaque commemorating the place where US president John F Kennedy was made a Freeman of Galway in June 1963.
Behind it is a replacement ESB sub- station, which has also been clad in limestone to match the adjoining disabled access ramp; it is an unfortunate intrusion.
The plaza would be much cleaner without this stone box forming the backdrop to Eamon O'Doherty's relocated Galway Hooker fountain. Now standing on a low square base, its jets of water and the uplighters that go with them weren't working on Wednesday, though no doubt this snag will be sorted for the opening.
The walls of the ramp have unwittingly provided a nocturnal pissoir for beer-swillers who couldn't be bothered to spend 20 cent to avail of the three push-button toilets on the opposite side of the plaza. The new toilet block, incidentally, is clad in pre-patinated copper, which has become something of an architectural cliche.
So is the oval-shaped tourist information kiosk nearby, with its off-side rectangular canopy. The projecting box in front was firmly shuttered on Wednesday, making the kiosk look rather forlorn, but the peak tourist season in Galway hasn't got under way yet and it should look a bit more lively in the summer months.
The triangular plaza is paved in a mix of dark limestone and grey granite, with diagonal strips of rose-coloured Spanish granite running through it.
The space is lined on its north side by 14 steel poles to hold banners featuring the family crests of Galway's 14 "Tribes", after the fashion of the Rambla in Barcelona.
This all makes the Browne Doorway, long the oddest feature of Eyre Square, look even more out of place. Dating from 1627, it was rescued from the ruins of a rich merchant's house in Abbeygate Street and placed at the head of the square in 1904. Now in a state of decay, it should be removed as soon as possible.
A plan to relocate the disembodied two-storey structure to a new Civic Museum beside the Spanish Arch was vetoed by An Bord Pleanála when it granted conditional approval for the renovation of Eyre Square in November 2002. The board felt that its removal would be "injurious to the cultural heritage of the square".
Another feature of the square, a seated statue of Galway writer Padraic Ó Conaire, has already gone. Restored after being decapitated by vandals in 1999, the limestone sculpture - which made him look like a lepreachaun - was relocated in front of the new city hall and it, too, is destined for the Civic Museum.
There is no sign of a "sculpture park" that was supposed to be in the new-look square, apart from plinth-like limestone monoliths. Local people complain that the stone surfaces can be very slippy on wet days. They are also scarred by chewing gum residue - but that's not the fault of the architects who designed it.
No thought seems to have been given to providing standard litter bins, judging by the motley collection dotted around the square. But it now has plenty of places for people to sit, mainly oblong stone benches topped by slatted seats in untreated oak which have been designed to discourage skateboarding.
Overall, there has been an increase of 66 per cent in pedestrian space in and around Eyre Square - a "huge planning gain", said the embattled Gerry Mitchell, of Mitchell and Associates. He also attributed much of the cost to unseen works, such as the renewal of drainage, sewerage, electricity and telecom trunk lines.
However, what the whole saga underlines is the need for Galway to have its own city architect to supervise the intricacies of major civic projects.
Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford city councils all have posts of this stature and it is both shocking and inexcusable that a city as important as Galway doesn't have one too.
Celebrations to mark the re-opening of Eyre Square will begin at noon today with music on the square that will run to 8pm. There will also be a Children's Festival from 2pm to 4 pm