Architects Metropolitan Workshop have won a major commission to develop a masterplan for Ireland’s Dún Laoghaire Harbour. The harbour is a 200-year old heritage site 12km south of Dublin and a major port of entry for Ireland. At 125 hectares it is the largest man-made harbour in Western Europe and holds the largest marina in Ireland. It attracts over 1 million visitors and 500,000 ferry passengers every year.
The masterplan, to be completed by the summer, will realise the potential for the harbour and its environment as a major marine, leisure and tourism destination. It will examine new tourist developments, heritage conservation, transport planning, marine facilities and propose major new cultural attractions to generate a more sustainable future for the harbour.
A key aim of the scheme is to establish the feasibility of providing new facilities for cruise liners carrying 100,000 passengers a year. Access to the harbour from Dún Laoghaire town centre will be improved by upgrading and making more attractive the existing network of public spaces which link the centre to the waterfront. This will supplement the work already completed by the county council which has terraced over sections of the railway separating the town centre and the harbour.
