IN REVISED plans for Liberty Hall that Siptu has submitted to Dublin City Council, the building would be replaced by a slightly taller and more slender tower than
the one which featured in a scheme withdrawn last February.
Following what the union described as “extensive consultations”, the latest plan has the building rising to a height of 22 storeys – two floors taller than first envisaged, with 17 storeys for offices and meeting rooms and five for “public and cultural purposes”.
The latter would include a double-height entrance foyer, a theatre and conference centre and a four-storey heritage centre at the top of the tower, focusing on the history of Ireland’s labour movement with a “sky deck” offering panoramic views.
Siptu general secretary Joe O’Flynn said the decision to proceed with development was based on its view that the existing building, dating from 1965, was “dysfunctional” and “unable to meet the operational needs of the union in the 21st century”.
The union also wanted to “substantially improve the environmental performance of Liberty Hall”, both to reduce running costs and cut its carbon footprint, he said, adding that the revised scheme “will strengthen the landmark status of this site.”
Mr O’Flynn also emphasised that the proposed redevelopment process, if approved by the planning authority, “will be largely self-financing and won’t involve any major cost impositions on the union’s members”. Its construction would create up to 200 jobs.
Des McMahon of Gilroy McMahon Architects said the new design was for “a building of great visual lightness and elegance as well as a building that is wholeheartedly sustainable”.
He said the scheme had “evolved quite a bit” since the earlier version and he was happy that the right balance had been struck in terms of the “slenderness ratio” (the crucial relationship between height and bulk) of the tower that is now proposed to replace Liberty Hall.
The previous scheme, unveiled in February 2010, envisaged a somewhat bulkier tower with a circular “sky deck” on top. It would have been nearly 50 per cent taller than the existing building, which rises to 60 metres.
However, there is a significant movement in favour of preserving Liberty Hall on the basis that it constitutes a “heritage structure of national importance” that has “embedded itself in the collective consciousness of the city, even the nation”.
In a submission to the city council, Docomomo Ireland, a branch of the organisation that seeks to protect icons of the modern movement in architecture, wrote: “If Liberty Hall, Ireland’s first ‘skyscraper’ and its theatre, the physical manifestation of labour’s enduring commitment to ‘bread and roses’, does not constitute a building of cultural interest, then none does.”
