Rock band U2 are bidding to develop the tower that will carry their name on Britain Quay in Dublin's Docklands, in partnership with Ballymore Properties, The Irish Timeshas learned.
However, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which owns this pivotally-located site, has assured the rival bidders that members of the band "will not have any role or involvement, directly or indirectly" in assessing bids for the project.
After concerns were raised by other bidders about potential conflicts of interest, the authority's lawyers, A&L Goodbody, wrote to them last week saying that "neither U2 nor its representatives have had any role" in setting ground rules for the contest.
The solicitors' letter said the docklands authority would "enforce a very strict policy on conflicts of interest" in assessing the four bids and that it wished to "remind bidders that any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest should . . . be disclosed to the authority".
To "underpin the independence" of the assessment process, the authority has appointed Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Amanda Levete, of Future Systems Architects; and Michael O'Doherty, former principal architect at the Office of Public Works, to advise it.
Apart from Ballymore Properties/U2, the bidders are Mountbrook Homes, controlled by developer Seán Dunne; the Dutch-based Royal BAM Group; Treasury Holdings-Sisk; and the Riverside 2 Partnership, a consortium formed by the Kelly, McCormack, Flynn and Elliot families.
It is understood that the Ballymore/U2 group has engaged international architects Foster and Partners to design its scheme, while New York-based Argentinian architect Rafael Viñoly is acting for the Riverside consortium, and Baghdad-born Zaha Hadid for Treasury-Sisk.
All of the bidders are required to submit "compliant bids" based on the 2003 competition-winning scheme for the U2 tower by Blackrock-based architects Burdon Dunne Craig Henry. However, they may also submit "variant bids".
As originally envisaged, the tower was to be 60 metres high. The docklands authority subsequently decided that the site - at the confluence of the Grand Canal, the Dodder and the Liffey - could take a much taller building, so the height has now been raised to 130 metres.
"This site is unique in Dublin and offers an amazing opportunity to make a really strong architectural statement," said authority chief executive Paul Maloney.
He stressed that U2's involvement was strictly limited to two agreements with the authority - one covering "naming rights" and the other dealing with the provision of studios for the band at the top of the tower, to replace their former studios on Hanover Quay.
Mr Maloney said the authority was "thrilled" to attract architects of the calibre of Wilkinson, who has won two Stirling prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects, and Levete, who also won a Stirling prize, as well as O'Doherty, to give an Irish perspective.
The deadline for submitting bids for the project is June 18th.
