Planning’s capacity to transform derelict and deprived urban environments into areas of exciting buildings and enterprise opportunities is exemplified by the record of Dublin Docklands.

The first round of redevelopment in the area established the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). Phase II has now been completed by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

The location comprises 10ha of land close to the city centre to the north of the River Liffey that exhibited multiple social and physical deprivation. The plan provides for 70,000ms of offices, a 50 per cent increase in IFSC floorspace. Around 10,700 people already work in the IFSC. There are also 800 homes, a fifth of which are affordable but visually indistinguishable from their neighbours, and room for nearly 400 students.

The key challenges were to maintain the momentum of change arising from the first phase and to reverse the process of decline. Planners have succeeded in providing the intellectual leadership for the project by bringing together social, economic and physical planning.

“One of the most important aspects of the project was its consensus approach,” says Terry Durney, Director of Planning with the Docklands Authority.

“The planning documents used as the blueprints for the scheme truly reflected the objectives of local residents, the development industry and the authority in an agreed format.”

The mix of uses includes a hotel with restaurant, bar and fitness club, a third level educational establishment and 30 retail units along the main route. A supermarket, cafes and other local services have also been established. The physical transformation all this involves flows from a general design vision to which individual architects conform.

The results have addressed many problems. The site is fully developed, transforming the image of the area from failure to success. Educational standards have risen and unemployment has halved. Requirements for office accommodation and housing have been met. The working and living populations have risen and are more mixed socially. Crime, once a major problem in the area, has dropped back to average city-wide levels.