The area around Heuston Station in Dublin has been identified as a suitable location for high-rise buildings in the first draft of a long-awaited study of the city's skyline.
According to sources, the draft prepared by London-based firm of architects and urban designers DEGW has also - more predictably - identified the Docklands area as having the potential to absorb higher buildings.
The draft study, which was submitted to Dublin Corporation last week, divides the city into a number of "character areas" based on a detailed visual analysis and recommends against high-rise in its historic core.
Entitled "Building Height in Dublin: A Strategy for Managing Intensification and Change", the 51-page draft is described by sources as "a complex multi-layered document rather than a high-rise hit list".
The five "character areas" it identifies are: the city's core, including Georgian Dublin; the Docklands; the north-west inner city; the south-west inner city; and the low-rise inner suburbs beyond the canals.
Overseen by Prof John Worthington, the study analyses each area and puts forward development control options, based on what building heights would "make sense" in this context.
It also examines the experience of comparable cities such as Copenhagen and Lyon, and stresses the need for a proper public transport system to support higher density development.
The draft closely follows the brief given to the consultants in November which asked them to consider where "landmark buildings" might be located, bearing in mind "ritical views across the city skyline".
It noted that Dublin's low-rise skyline was "part of its charm as a European capital" and emphasised that any change "can only be allowed to take place within a well-directed and controlled framework".
DEGW was also asked to examine the arguments of the development lobby that high-rise buildings were necessary to meet the needs of inward investors and maximise the potential of urban land.
Originally promised by the City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, in January 1999, three months before the current city plan was adopted, the study was to have been considered by the city council this month.
It is now expected that DEGW's findings will be considered and refined by senior corporation officials with a view to presenting the final policy to the city council in the autumn, some three months behind schedule.
As a result, it will be too late to have any impact on the decision by An Bord Pleanala on appeals against the plan for a high-rise complex at Spencer Dock. This is due to be made by July 17th.
