Works planned to upgrade Grand Canal Harbour, council report says

The torrential downpour on Tuesday afternoon had sent everybody indoors, save for one unfortunate woman who sprinted down the plaza at Grand Canal Quay with two large pink balloons in the shape of the number 40.

The pedestrian walkway from Pearse Street to the Grand Canal Square was strewn with litter, and debris from construction work on Gallery Quay, the apartment complex that looked out onto the canal’s basin and graving docks.

A pile of unassembled metal scaffolding poles were lying in an orderly pile in the middle of the walkway surrounded by fencing.

The area is in need of a lot of maintenance, with the streets around the square in a dire condition, says Michael Ingle of the Grand Canal Residents Association. “At Forbes Street, there are holes in the road, and they’ve been there for ages.”

Upgrades are scheduled on the square over the next nine months, according to a council report provided to local councillors at the South East Area Committee on 9 March.

Those include continued lighting upgrades, mending pavements, fixing drainage issues, and bulking up security in the area, the report says.

The works are scheduled to be carried out by Apleona, a property agent that manages the public realm on behalf of its owner, the council-owned Grand Canal Harbour Designated Activity Company.

The major works were highlighted following consultation with the council and local “stakeholders”, the report says.

But the news caught Ingle off guard, he said on Tuesday evening.

While the Grand Canal Residents Association regularly engages with the property agent managing the area, they weren’t consulted on this, he says. “Who are these stakeholders that they are referring to?”

Square stakeholders

The outline of the planned public-realm works in the area by the council’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, was prompted by queries from Green Party Councillor Claire Byrne and Fine Gael Councillor Danny Byrne.

The latter Byrne had included in his question a letter to the council from an unnamed resident, writing that the square had noticeably deteriorated.

“The paving is in poor condition,” they said, “and many repairs appear patchwork in nature, resulting in uneven surfaces that detract from both safety and visual quality.”

A lot of road markings are fading too, Ingle of the Grand Canal Residents Association says. “And we’ve been pleading to please do something about this, but nothing gets done because it’s not normal Dublin City Council.”

The streets and squares in this part of town are managed by Apleona Real Estate, a property management agent, on behalf of Grand Canal Harbour Management Company Designated Activity Company (DAC), according to the chief executive’s report submitted at the March area committee meeting.

The DAC was a subsidiary of Dublin Docklands Development Authority until the central government wound that authority up in May 2012, and transferred all of its functions to Dublin City Council, according to the company’s financial statement for 2024.

According to the chief executive’s report to the March area committee, ongoing maintenance is required within the estate because it is roughly 26 years old.

Apleona is set to continue to switch in new lights after an initial phase of light upgrades was carried out in 2023, the report says. It’s being done bit by bit, as the total works are estimated to cost €3 million.

Meanwhile, maintenance has been ongoing to fix trip hazards in the paving, while larger areas need to be replaced, and the area around the square and Chimney View are being looked at first, the report says.

The paving improvements are also scheduled to occur in the third quarter of the year, after a contractor is appointed, the report says.

Drainage works were carried out in the square last year due to significant water pooling and water ingress to properties in the area, the report says.

But, after a review, more drainage issues were identified, with works scheduled to commence in the second quarter of the year, it adds.

Finally, the report says the company intends to appoint more security services within the area, with these being mobilised in the second half of the year, subject to appointment.

Ingle said this is all news to him.

Grand Canal stakeholders are contracted to contribute an annual service charge fee for the operation of the management company, Apleona, which includes financial operations and maintenance of common areas, Shakespeare’s report says.

But it doesn’t specify who those stakeholders are, Ingle says. “Who are they referring to? I’m a stakeholder because I pay a fee every month for the privilege of living in that area.”

Each building that falls within the remit of the Grand Canal Harbour Management Company has to pay a fee, he says. “So one would imagine that makes my building a stakeholder. But we haven’t been engaged.”

The kids are already shaving

On the other end of Hanover Quay, the council is also set to deliver on its almost decade-long plan for a park on Benson Street.

It’s the “imaginary park” behind some colourful hoardings, Ingle says. “They designed that before my children were born. Now my children are nearly shaving and we still don’t have a park.”

Councillors approved a Part 8 planning application for the proposed open space at Benson Street, known otherwise as Chocolate Park, in July 2016.

Although the council is supposed to deliver the park, they didn’t own the site, and its handover from the developer was delayed by legal issues relating to that transfer.

In the Docklands, the site where the council plans to build Chocolate Park is still just a fenced-off vacant lot - Dublin Inquirer

“If you put up a goal post kids could use it. Or just open it and people would sit there at lunch,” says Phil Bustard, who works in the area.

Dublin InQuirerSam Tranum

On 12 January, councillors on the South East Area Committee were informed that the legal transfer of ownership to the council of Benson Park was expected to be completed that month, according to a report by Shelly O’Riordan, the council’s Docklands manager

All of the issues regarding the transfer had been resolved, she said. “The closing transfer documents are at present with the transferor for execution.”

The following month, when Fine Gael Councillor Danny Byrne requested an update on Chocolate Park from the Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare at the 9 February area committee meeting, the timeline had changed slightly.

The council anticipated that the legal issues around the ownership of lands would be resolved during the second quarter of 2026, the report says.

According to the report, the 2016 Part 8 planning approval will also require a reassessment and an agreement with the neighbouring building owners and management companies of the Butler’s Court and Benson Street complexes because the proposed park is to be constructed above their car parks. 

But, once an agreement is reached, the council will proceed to procure a design team to prepare the contractor tender documentation, with a more detailed timeframe being available before the middle of the year, the report says.

The council is fully committed to ensure its delivery in the capital programme for 2025 to 2027, the report says.