The Point Village Square
Planning Permission Received for Point Village Square
Dublin's Newest Civic Space Gets Green Light
Here it is - we're now calling it the Point Village Square.
Friday, 12th February 2010
Dublin City Council today confirmed that planning permission has been granted for The Point Village Square. The outcome has been welcomed by Harry Crosbie, Chairman of The Point Village.
"This is great news and means we will have the Point Village Square for the Summer," stated Crosbie. "The clever, modular design from LiD Architecture means that we can build the Square very quickly and inexpensively with containers and get on with booking the acts that will be performing out there every lunchtime."
Dublin City Council are partners with Crosbie Property in this venture and will use the facilities for community activity, meetings and games of all types.
The Point Village Square will include Dublin's newest market, the Aiken Promotions stage, the World Tourist Attraction Big Wheel, the giant screen for movies and many boutique cafes & restaurants. The Square is a temporary and low cost solution allowing The Point Village to share its assets with the public rather than let them lie idle during the present recession.
"We are planning, between the Point Village Square and The O2 and the Big Wheel to have 7 million people a year visiting the area," explained Crosbie. "This will be a site that will combine the attractions of the world's busiest concert venue of its size, a market to rival Covent Garden and a unique tourist attraction in the Big Wheel."
"With our new Luas station and new bridge and river taxi the Point Village is easier to get to than ever," continued Crosbie. "We hope to build on the spectacular success of The O2 and we and our partners Live Nation are also working flat out to deliver the Grand Canal Theatre as part of a whole new range of attractions in Dublin Docklands."
Every weekend throughout the summer Dublin's first open air general market will take place at The Point Village Square.
"This market will have bargains and fun for everyone," explained Vanessa Clark of VSC. "We'll have over a hundred stalls and each week will be different as we will be introducing themes, rotating traders, adding street performers and much, much more."
The market will be programmed with various interactive elements to add life, noise and colour; live music acts, fashion shows, graffiti walls, art exhibitions, product launches and urban sports demonstrations.
The design of the Point Village Square is the result of a design competition undertaken in cooperation with the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland along with Dick Gleeson, Chief Planning Officer, Dublin City Council, who are partners in the venture. It was won by Berlin-based LiD Architecture in August 2009.
Supporting local economy and start up business, a further 15 stalls will be dedicated to art & design students showcasing and selling their wares. The regular core stalls encompassing the remaining seventy units will be hand picked by VSC events, exercising a high level of quality control in programming a market that is sustainable, affordable, high quality, entertaining, three dimensional and colourful. Like Covent Garden in London, the Market envisaged is modern and vibrant, while recreating the charm of an old fashioned market place. Encompassing elements from the traditional Farmers' market to crafts and household goods, the market will be strategically themed to some weeks take on an Italian flair, or to be a smorgasbord of garden accessories and plants the next.
For further information, please contact:
Ger Kenny - 087 2488393
Kate Fitzgerald - 01 2375424