College Green Dame Street Public Realm Project
The College Green Dame Street Public Realm Project will reimagine the heart of our city as a dynamic, inviting public space for all.
Stage 2 of an international competition to appoint a Design Team for the College Green Dame Street Public Realm Project is now complete and Dublin City Council has announced the appointment of Irish Architects, Scott Tallon Walker Architects, in partnership with OKRA, Urban Design and Landscape Architects from the Netherlands, as the joint lead designers for the Project.
Newly appointed Design Team pictured in College Green with the DCC Project Team.
The project aims to restore the historic core; delivering a safe, welcoming and vibrant pedestrian-friendly space at the heart of Dublin City, which prioritises universal accessibility, social inclusion, safety, sustainability, biodiversity and greening, while restoring and enhancing the history and heritage of this unique location.
Dublin City Council in conjunction with the newly appointed Design Team, will bring the project through the various project stages, including stakeholder engagement, design, planning and construction.
The project area extends from South Great George’s Street to Trinity College.
Under these proposals, the area from College Green to the junction with South Great George’s Street will become traffic-free, apart from timed deliveries and limited local access. The project will provide a world-class, multi-functional space, which complements some of Dublin’s most illustrious historical buildings, notably Trinity College and the Bank of Ireland, allowing more space for people to enjoy cultural and recreational events, celebrations and social activities.
The College Green Dame Street Public Realm Project objectives are:
- to provide a world-class, multi-functional public space, which complements the adjacent historical buildings
- to remove all through vehicular traffic in an east west direction while facilitating deliveries and limited local access
- to create a high-quality, pedestrian-priority space
- to support the City’s Climate Action Plan by prioritising sustainability and greening in the development of the design
- to provide a safe cycle route
- to support the local economy by enhancing footfall
- to use the principles of universal design to provide an accessible space for all to enjoy
The project will be co-funded by the National Transport Authority.
Timelines for stakeholder consultation and the development of the preliminary design will be established once the project programme has been developed.
In the summers of 2019 and 2022, Dublin City Council held a series of trial traffic-free events in College Green including ‘Summer Sundays’, ‘Culture Night’ and ‘Car Free Day’. The knowledge gained from these events has guided the Council in both reviewing the previous proposal and in preparing a revised brief for the project.
Since the original 2018 proposal, the implementation of the Bus Connects Network Redesign project, by the NTA, has commenced which will resolve key transportation concerns in this area and open up new opportunities.
This project provides an opportunity to create a safe, inclusive, accessible, public space for people of all ages to meet, relax and enjoy, and to achieve a greener and more liveable city.
Contact [email protected]