Usher's Quay - 3D Image

Usher's Quay Residential

2003 - 2006 / €17.8m. / P. Elliott & Co. Ltd.

In 2003 Local Government Management Services Board along with Dublin City Council organised a design competition to design the new headquarters and develop the potential of the site to the rear of the existing office building. The scheme is developed around a series of landscaped courtyards. The Office building occupies the larger portion of the Liffey frontage and is accessed from Ushers Quay. This public building is five storey on the Liffey stepping down to four storey as it meets the residential separated by a landscaped courtyard and screened by a louvred wall of an atrium.

The Apartments have frontage on both the Liffey and Ushers Street and are organised around landscaped courtyard configurations. On Ushers Quay they are seven storeys with a single storey set-back at the top floor level on Usher’s Quay. They drop to five storey around inner courtyards and return to a higher scale on Usher Street of six storeys with the top storey being set-back from the street. A pedestrian circulation route meanders through the three landscaped courtyard spaces from North to South. There are 101 apartments in the proposal made up of 59 two bedroom units and 42 one bedroom units. Approximately 20% of the residential units are family sized units ( over 70sqm).

Usher's Quay - 3D ImageThe apartments are arranged in four distinct blocks all with separate lift cores and stairways. Most apartments enjoy south, south western, or south eastern aspect. The apartments facing on to Ushers Quay are afforded spectacular views up and down the Liffey. The apartments are carefully designed to ensure no overlooking from living rooms or bedrooms to adjacent properties or to the office building and vice versa. For the most part Kitchens and bathrooms are located facing north while the living areas and bedrooms enjoy the best orientation. The apartments are for the most part dual aspect.

Car parking is at basement level and is accessed by a two-way ramp from Ushers Street for both office and residential. There are 105 car spaces located in the basement accessed from Usher Street (south) to the rear of the entire site.

The apartments are afforded sufficient private open space in the form of balconies and shared courtyard and roof-garden spaces, most of which have south, south western, or south eastern aspect. The courtyards are landscaped to provide a mix of amenities such as bicycle parking, seating, soft landscaped surfaces and planting and comprehensive lighting. The landscaped courtyards are open to all the residents. This development constitutes a significant regeneration of an important Liffey frontage site.