The Irish Times

Hickeys

Scott Tallon Walker's design for a landmark development at Hickeys Fabrics headquarters on Parkgate Street, Dublin 8, has been criticised by An Taisce. The leading architectural firm's design for a mixed-use scheme at the 0.7-hectare site at the junction of Parkgate Street and Seán Heuston Bridge has been branded "substandard" and "excessive in scale" by the environmental group. Hickeys plans for the site include 139 apartments in two nine-storey blocks, a public plaza overhanging the River Liffey, a six-storey glazed office block and a new pedestrianised street connecting Parkgate Street to the river. While An Taisce has welcomed in principle the development of a contemporary, mixed-use scheme on the strategic Liffey-front site, it has expressed concern about the scale and design of the scheme. The design has a "corporate appearance" more suited to the IFSC, says Kevin Duff from An Taisce.