{"id":293753,"date":"2026-02-12T07:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T07:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293753\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T07:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T07:06:09","slug":"college-green-civic-plaza-design-revealed-eight-years-on-from-last-plans-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293753\/","title":{"rendered":"College Green civic plaza design revealed eight years on from last plans \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The design of the \u20ac80 million College Green<\/a> civic plaza has been revealed by Dublin City Council<\/a>, almost eight years since the last plaza plans were rejected by An Bord Plean\u00e1la<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The council has opened public consultation on the revamped and extended traffic-free plaza scheme in advance of lodging a fresh application to An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la<\/a>, the board\u2019s successor, this summer.<\/p>\n

The new project, Grow College Green, will see traffic banned from the area west of the Luas lines in front of Trinity College<\/a>, as far as the junction with Dame Street<\/a> and South Great George\u2019s Street.<\/p>\n

The area, extending to 17,000sq m (183,000sq ft), would be a \u201cpedestrian priority\u201d public space, the council said, crossed by defined cycle paths. The new designs focus on climate resilience and \u201cgreening\u201d with 75 new trees and 1,400sq m of landscaped areas, which will increase \u201cgreening on Dame Street from 0 per cent to 30 per cent\u201d, it said. <\/p>\n

The designs also incorporate several water features, including the existing Thomas Davis statue and memorial fountain on Dame Street, a \u201crain garden\u201d, and an \u201cartistic water feature\u201d. The public space would also include a number of seating areas and space for hosting events, cultural activity or \u201cmajor civic moments\u201d, the council said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe council has extended the planned traffic-free zone from College Green to George\u2019s Street. Photograph: Dublin City Council <\/p>\n

The designs have been informed by more than 2,800 written submissions and draw together elements that \u201ccelebrate the character of the area while ensuring the new space feels distinctly and authentically Dublin\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the publication of the designs, council chief executive Richard Shakespeare<\/a> said the new scheme \u201crepresents a significant step forward in reimagining one of Dublin\u2019s most historic and important public spaces\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy opening up views to our landmark buildings and weaving in the textures and stories of the past, the design will restore a real sense of importance to this historic location.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lord Mayor Ray McAdam said there was a clear commitment to making College Green \u201cinclusive and accessible, with the input of Disabled Persons Organisations helping to shape what welcome and usable really mean in practice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Green Party councillor Janet Horner, who chairs the council\u2019s mobility and public realm committee, encouraged people to take part in the public consultation, which runs until March 11th at engage.ie. \u201cI hope as many people as possible will take part in this consultation as their feedback will play a vital role in shaping a city space that everyone can feel proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CollegeSource: Dublin City Council <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Dublin\u2019s traffic plan: The changes expected across the city this yearOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The council last submitted a planning application for the College Green plaza in May 2017. In November 2018, the planning board refused permission, citing the potential for \u201csignificantly negative impacts\u201d on bus services.<\/p>\n

The National Transport Authority<\/a> (NTA) in September 2020 published its final plans for a redesigned bus network for the city. Under BusConnects, services would be routed away from College Green and east Dame Street. <\/p>\n

With the conflict with bus services removed, the council decided to double the size of the plaza, extending it from College Green to George\u2019s Street. Under the plan, buses will still run in front of Trinity College along the same axis as the Luas line but will no longer cross the Luas line into Dame Street.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe plaza could be completed by 2030. Photograph: Dublin City Council <\/p>\n

When the council last applied for the plaza in 2017 it estimated the project\u2019s cost at \u20ac10 million. Last June the new scheme\u2019s project manager, Marie Gavin, said approval had been secured for a budget of \u201cabout \u20ac80 million\u201d that would be part-funded by the NTA. That included a \u201chuge contingency fee\u201d of \u201cabout 40 per cent\u201d but that should \u201chopefully cover everything we have to do\u201d, she said. <\/p>\n

Gavin at the time said she hoped to be on site by November 2027 \u201cwith the best will in the world, and then it could be up to a three-year construction period\u201d, meaning the plaza could be completed by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The design of the \u20ac80 million College Green civic plaza has been revealed by Dublin City Council, almost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76,75,94040,68001,615,13288,4507,61,60,43,128901,15342],"class_list":{"0":"post-293753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-bord-pleanala","9":"tag-an-coimisiun-pleanala","10":"tag-college-green","11":"tag-dame-street","12":"tag-dublin","13":"tag-dublin-city-council","14":"tag-dublin-2","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-richard-shakespeare","19":"tag-trinity-college-dublin-tcd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}