Papers of James Meenan – Move of UCD to Belfield

V. A STUDY OF ADJACENT SITES Page A. The Commission's Rejection of Adjacent Sites 44 B. A Reconsideration of these and other Adjacent Sites 45 C. Long-term Expansion 48

VI. SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS A SOLUTION ON PRESENT AND ADJACENT SITES 51

SUMMARY AND GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 54

POSTSCRIPT 57

APPENDICES A. A Note on the College's Efforts to Expand 60 B. Comments on the Views of the College Authorities on the Science Buildings, Merrion Street 61 C. A Note on Alternative Uses for the Stillorgan Road Estates 62 D. A List of Cultural, Educational, and Professional Bodies, Schools and Hostels in the General University Area 64 E. A List of Government and Semi-State Offices in the Area 65 F. Details of the Harcourt Street Station Site 66 G. Sir Eric Ashby's Comments on 'Inefficient Utilisation of Plant' 67 H. Leading Article from 'The Irish Independent' 68 I. An Article from 'Irish Builder and Engineer' 70 J. Some other Views: (i) An Article from 'The Tablet', 72 (ii) Professor Stanford's Views 73 MAP: The Vicinity of Earlsfort Terrace

INTRODUCTION

The essential thesis presented in regard to U.C.D. by the Report of the Commission on Accommodation Needs of the Constituent Colleges of the National University of Ireland is that, while it is desirable to seek a solution for the urgent accommodation needs of the College by expansion from the present sites, such a solution is impracticable.

We accept the basic fact that U.C.D.'s accommodation needs are urgent and must be met without delay. We differ emphatically from the Commission in its belief that those needs cannot be met except by moving to Stillorgan Road.

The cost of a complete new College must be borne in mind, but this is not the only factor involved; we believe and hope to establish, that the move would have grave consequences, both for the College and for the City. The future of higher education in Dublin would be radically affected and the cultural and educational centre of the Capital would be disintegrated.

The Commission by devoting its attention primarily and almost entirely to matters of space and sites, and by not fully investigating all the other very important factors involved, recommended a move to the suburbs. Having done that, it did not even thne fully consider and give due weight to all the consequences of the proposal.

We are convinced that the Commission is in fact wrong in its belief that expansion is impracticable from the present sites: it follows that the decision to move to the Stillorgan Road must be considered in the light of the consequences to which we have referred.

In short, the Stillorgan Road project is, in our view, both unnecessary and undesirable.

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in such a proposal is the capital cost involved (but see Section III D below). However, it costs nothing to take a decision and to make a plan which could be gradually implemented enabling other interests to formulate long-term plans.

One might consider in turn various possibilities for U.C.D. if any one of the following Government offices were to be moved:

(a) External Affairs from St. Stephen's Green, South (b) The Office of Public Works from St. Stephen's Green, East, and Earlsfort Terrace. (c) The Department of Agriculture from Upper Merrion Street. (d) The Land Commission and adjacent offices from Upper Merrion Street.

(a) External Affairs: These buildings adjoin property already held by the College on St. Stephen's Green and might become the administrative centre for the College. Iveagh House might provide an official residence for the President of U.C.D.

(b) Office of Public Works: Nos. 50 & 51 St. Stephen's Green (once the home of the College of Science, before the Merrion Street block was built) might form a fine administrative centre for the College and act as a link between Merrion Street and Earlsfort Terrace. The houses occupied by the Office of Public Works in Earlsfort Terrace would prove a welcome addition to the College property, presenting a frontage of 220' along Hatch Street.

(c) Department of Agriculture: The removal of certain Government offices from the main Merrion Street block would go a long way to providing for all needs of the science departments already housed there. The removal of all Government offices and the transfer of the Engineering faculty to a new site would provide more than enough space for all the needs of Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Geology at present located in that building.

(d) The Land Commission and Adjacent Offices: The Land Commission and the offices of the Comptroller and Auditor General occupy a number of Georgian houses in Upper Merrion Street. On the west side they have a total frontage of 450', the depth ranging from 85' through 140' to 300'. The evacuation of these houses would also help the College. The existing Government and Science buildings on the west side of Merrion Street were built on the site of a similar Georgian terrace acquired for the purpose by compulsion about 1903.

We understand that the work of the Land Commission is gradually decreasing. Could not these houses be made available to the College as the Land Commission staff gradually shrinks?

Further there are grounds for believing that many of the Georgian houses are drawing towards the end of their useful lives. Some are so far gone as to be in need of extensive repair amounting to complete reconstruction, or replacement - witness the fact that two Georgian houses occupied by Government offices in Kildare Place had to be pulled down in recent years because of their dangerous condition. Much of Georgian Dublin in this general area must, sooner or later, be completely reconstructed or replaced, irrespective of any plans for U.C.D.

Dublin's University Area 11

A Comprehensive Plan Needed

We urge that serious consideration be given to the idea that any reconstruction or replacement in the area should take place in the interests of higher education, and of the universities in particular, in the furtherance of a plan to preserve the general area for cultural and educational purposes.

The question of U.C.D. requirements, whether they are to be fulfilled by expansion from the present site or by complete removal to ouside the central city area cannot be considered in isolation. The question involves essentially a problem of town planning in a most important area of the capital.

An overall detailed development plan for the area should be prepared without delay by a suitable planning authority, armed with the necessary powers to see that the plan is implemented as circumstances and the degree of national prosperity permit.

As a minimum there should be retained in this area the universities, the Institute for Advanced Studies, the College of Art, the National Library, and the National Museum, or at least its Division of Irish Antiquities and the botanical, zoological and geological collections. To remove any one of these collections from the area to, say, Kilmainham, whilst transferring U.C.D. to the Stillorgan Road, would be unjustifiable.

The alternative to a long-term plan is the gradual disintegration of the area. The conflicting pressures within it will lead in time to many of the institutions concerned leaving the district one by one. If the ideal of the planners of this complex of cultural and educational buildings is to be preserved, action now is imperative.

Mr. de Valera's Views

We are happy to note that His Ecellency, President de Valera, speaking as Chancellor of the National University, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations a year ago and some six months after the Commission had presented its first interim Report (which contained their recommendations in respect of U.C.D.) expressed himself in the following terms (we quote from the "Irish Press," 4th December, 1958);

"Once he had had the idea that the portion of the city running from Hatch Street and Earlsfort Terrace down to Pearse Street, including Kildare Street and Merrion Street, might become the cultural centre of the city.

They had there the great libraries -- the National Library; the library in Kildare Street of the Academy, and the National Gallery of Art, and the National Museum.

As a temporary measure the Parliament was brought into that area. It was intended to be temporary at the time, and he had the hope that with the College of Science at hand they might be able to use that area to meet some of the pressing needs of U.C.D., so that the whole area, including Trinity College, with its magnificent library, would become the cultural centre of the city. Financial and other difficulties arose and that had become an impossible dream.

12 U.C.D. and the Future

Mr. de Valera said that the accommodation needs of the colleges were such now that he was afraid that to think of reviving any such project would mean further delay. His view had been that if they took the Parliament buildings to another site, they could make room there for the necessary extension of the cultural institiutions.

'In fifty years time,' he added, 'I hope the National University will have a suitable home in Leinster House.'"

We do not agree that the dream is impossible. Given that the Government is willing to spend sums of the order of those recommended by the Commission and that, if these, some millions are in fact to be spent on acquiring new premises for Government use, we submit that the general reshuffling of buildings and sites that is to take place in any event can be made in such a way as to keep U.C.D. in the central area. We note that despite Mr. de Valera's doubts about the possibilities in the immediate future, he nonetheless feels that within fifty years (and that is the foreseeable future for the younger generation) the House of the Oireachtas may have to depart from Merrion Street. And if they must depart, so will many of the Government departments. There will be little point in then handing over the Merrion Street area to the N.U.I. for purely administrative and ceremonial functions.

We maintain that incalculable damage will be done by not reviving the scheme now. We cannot believe that U.C.D., or any group, would be so shortsighted as to hinder the development of the logical plan - which would ultimately redound to the lasting benefit not only of the College, but of our whole cultural and educational future.

The consideration of such a long-term plan need not at all delay the relief of the overcrowded conditions under which the College labours. As we indicate later in Sections IV- VI, the sites at present held by the College are sufficient for all the present needs as estimated by the Commission and in addition we believe that adjacent sites could also be acquired, and that these would be sufficient for the estimated future 20% expansion.

It is not yet too late for the great ideal as expressed in Mr. de Valera's speech to be realised. But it is the eleventh hour. Once large-scale building operations for U.C.D. are commenced on the Stillorgan site, the opportunity may be gone forever.

III. PROBLEM INVOLVED IN THE PROPOSED MOVE OF U.C.D.

A. THE EFFECTS ON THE VARIOUS FACULTIES

It is obvious that the proposed move of U.C.D. to the Stillorgan Road site will present problems, some of them serious to both staff and students. Even if, and when, halls of residence are built there to house all the students from outside Dublin, 37% (the 1953 - 54 figure) of the students will have their homes in Dublin. Unless these students happen to live in the immediate vicinity, or near the Bray Road, attendance at the College would usually involve travelling to near the city centre and then out again if they rely on public transport. The same problems of inconvenience and waste of time will also face even the whole-time staff of the College to at least some extent.

Problems in the Proposed Move 13

When detailed consideration is given to the effect of the move on the various faculties, particularly those which are essentially engaged in professional training, it will be seen that the problems are far greater than those outlined above.

Medicine

The effects of removal on students and the weakening of ties with the teaching hospitals and other medical schools, etc., will be dealt with in Section III B of this Memorandum. But the effects on the teaching staff which in many departments of the faculty is largely, if not entirely, parttime, and is also engaged in the professional practice of medicine, must be considered.

Apart from the staffs of the preclinical departments a high proportion of the professors and virtually all of the lecturers are part-time. Even some professors who are full-time are allowed a limited amount of private professional practice. The 'Clinical Tutors' are also full-time, but confine their activities to the hospitals and have no duties on the College premises.

The College Calendar lists a large number of these part-time teachers, the great majority of whom are clinical teachers at the recognised hospitals and do not attend at the College buildings. Approximately forty of them, however, do teach on the College premises and it will certainly prove inconvenient for these busy practitioners, who have both hospital duties and private consulting rooms in the city, often close to Earlsfort Terrace, to have to travel in and out to Stillorgan Road to give their one-hour lectures or demonstrations.

Architecture

All but one of the College staff in this faculty are part-time and engaged in professional practice. The students take a considerable part of their course in the first, second and fourth years at the College of Art in Kildare Street. Both students and staff make considerable use of the excellent library of the R.I.A.I. in Merrion Square, and will want to make frequent use of the Building Centre in Baggott Street. All of these important activities would be disrupted by a move to Stillorgan Road. Our views on architectural teaching in the city are outlined in Section III E of this Memorandum.

Law, Commerce, Economics

Here again the College has to rely almost entirely on part-time teachers from the professions. Barristers, bankers, accountants and similar part-time teachers from the professional and commercial world with heavy demands on their time obviously would find it more convenient to lecture at Earlsfort Terrace than at Stillorgan Road. Law students are compelled by the regulations of their profession to attend at the King's Inns or the Four Courts or the offices to which they are apprenticed, for lectures or other duties in addition to their attendance at the College. At present there is considerable difficulty in arranging suitable lecture hours for these students. Removal to Stillorgan Road would seem to necessitate the employment of full-time university teachers in these

20 U.C.D. and the Future

The Report gives no indication that the Commission gave serious thought to any of the above considerations. This failure is a major defect.

D. THE COST OF U.C.D. EXPANSION

1. THE CAPITAL COST, INCLUDING COST OF EQUIPMENT

The total estimated cost of building the whole new College on Stillorgan Road is £6,700,000 (exclusive of the cost of purchasing the site and of its maintenance to date). This figure was arrived at by accepting the College's estimate of £5,812,000 calculated in 1952 and allowing for a 15% increase in building costs since then.

The original estimate includes a provision of only £123,000 for furniture and equipment. The Commission states (Report, p. 125) that the final estimate is exclusive of the cost of 'furniture and additional equipment.' Hence we must assume that the Commission regarded the original provision as negligible compared with the real cost. The sum estimated for 'furniture and equipment' in 1952 for Science (£30,000) was specifically stated to be 'exclusive of special scientific equipment,' but no such reservation was then made in the case of the other faculties. The sum then proposed in the case of the 'Engineering and Architecture' building was £10,000 which would hardly provide for the requirements of the architectural section alone.

Obviously in the case of the faculty of Engineering there is a need to prepare an estimate of the cost of the required equipment. It is highly improbable that the equipment at present in Merrion Street — the lathes and other workshop machines, the demonstration generators, motors, engines, etc. — will suffice. We believe that extensive re-equipment of the faculty will be necessary by the time the move takes place and that the cost will be very considerable. The total floor space at the disposal of the faculty is to be increased more than three-fold; and the faculty must be equipped for teaching and research in at least four major fields, viz. civil, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering. At least £126,000 has been estimated for equipment for the new engineering department at the Institute of Technology in Bolton Street, which is concerned mainly with mechanical engineering.

The faculties of Science and Medicine will also need considerable further equipment if their greater floorspace is to be utilised adequately. It must further be remembered that the need, hitherto confined to science and technology, for equipment and apparatus is spreading to the Arts faculty, and that several expanding subjects will need specialised equipment not possessed before. Even in this faculty, and in the Library and Administrative Buildings, there is little point in estimating for the buildings if the furniture and equipment which are needed to enable the extended departments to function are not allowed for. It must be remembered that the total floor space to be furnished and equipped in the proposed new College is about three times the floor space at present in use.

All these considerations suggest that Mr. Aodhogan O'Rahilly may not be unreasonable in saying in his Minority Report (Report p. 48): 'The cost of the new University, if it is properly equipped, will be nearer to £10 million than £5 million.' For the purpose of the table which we give below, we have been

Problems in the Proposed Move 21

extremely conservative and have set the cost of equipment and furnishings at £1,000,000.

We urge that the College authorities be requested to prepare detailed estimates of the equipment requirements of all the faculties on the assumption that the complete set of new buildings is to be provided.

Whatever such detailed estimates would reveal, it is noted that the total capital cost of the Stillorgan Road project is to be offset by an allowance of approximately £1,500,000 for premises surrendered. It is intimated in the Commission's Report that the premises might be acquired for use as Government offices. A most important consideration arises out of this. In effect the Report recommends to the Government an expenditure of £5,200,000 on new university buildings and a further expenditure of £1,500,000, plus the cost of adaptation, on the acquisition of additional Government offices. The Commission state (Report, p. 37):

'The Commissioners of Public Works have informed the Commission that both the College of Science and the Earlsfort Terrace buildings are suitable generally for purposes of Government departments, but in each case extensive alterations would be needed; and at this stage the Commissioners were not in a position to hazard a guess what the cost of these alterations might be.'

We will be a little bolder and hazard a guess. Information is provided by the Commission in relation to the conversion to new uses of existing buildings at Galway. They write (Report, p. 120):

It is commonly recognised that estimation of the cost of adapting old buildings is difficult and that actual cost may prove as high as the cost of providing an equal amount of accommodation in new buildings. For this reason we are of the opinion that the rate of £3.10s. (per sq. ft.) now estimated is as good as can now be furnished.'

If U.C.D. moves out of town the floor area to be surrendered to the Government, for a consideration of £1,500,000 is approximately 150,000 sq. ft. nett in sound buildings. This approximates to 200,000 sq. ft. gross. At £3.10s. per sq. ft. the cost of conversion would therefore be £700,000. Of course it may be said that the unit cost of converting Earlsfort Terrace to Government use would be very much lower than this estimate — but conversely the unit cost of converting the Science Buildings would certainly be very much more.

The total sum therefore that the Government is prepared to spend on acquiring new premises is approximately £2,200,000. This makes no provision for the furnishing and equipment of such new Government premises and it takes no account of the future fate of the unsound buildings at Earlsfort Terrace, which will have to be adapted, or demolished and replaced.

It is clear that the capital expenditure involved in acquiring, adapting and furnishing for Government use the premises vacated by the College is well in excess of £2,000,000. We hold that, given the decision to spend even £2,000,000 on new Government premises, it can be decided to move some Government departments from their present offices to new blocks, elsewhere, thus releasing property of inestimable value to the College. Then, given about

28 U.C.D. and the Future

courses can be run without such duplication. Also they are reported as stating that the Vocational Education Committee had in Kevin Street and Bolton Bolton Street a building problem which would cost 'up to £1,000,000 in the long run.'* They were interested in the Commission's Report from the point of view of knowing what accommodation would be provided by the University, to enable them to form their plans.

The problem involved is not peculiar to our circumstances. It has arisen years ago in the more advanced countries. In many countries it has been solved by integrating the technological courses in the institutes with their counterparts in the universities. We have in mind the kind of collaboration or integration that exists in various forms at Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and elsewhere. Some of these examples we outline below.

The Belfast College of Technology. Part of the teaching for the degree in Engineering of Queen's University is done at the College of Technology by staff recognised by the University. The whole of the teaching for university degrees in Chemical Technology, Pharmaceutics, Textile Industries and Naval Architecture is done there by recognised teachers.

The College of Technology and Commerce, Cardiff. Through its affiliation to the University of Wales this College offers courses leading to the degrees of B.Arch. and B.Pharm.

The Royal Technical College, Glasgow. In 1913 this College became affiliated to the University of Glasgow and in 1919 it was recognised as a University College and became eligible for grants from the University Grants Committee. The College has an independent Board of Governors and comes directly under the Scottish Education Department. Through its affiliation with the University of Glasgow the College offers courses of study leading to the Degree of B.Sc. in a variety of subjects. It also offers courses leading to its own Associateship (A.R.T.C.).

The Manchester College of Science and Technology. The Faculty of Technology of the University of Manchester was instituted within the above College in 1905. The Principal of the College is Dean of the University Faculty and heads of departments are professors of the University. The College offers courses which lead either to the University Degrees of Bachelor or Master of Technical Science or to its own Associateship (A.M.C.T.). The M.Sc. Tech. and the Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees of the University may be conferred on those who have pursued research in the College.

In passing it is well to remember that until 1926 the Royal College of Science for Ireland, an independent non-university institution, offered courses

* In point of fact we understand that the cost of the Bolton Street project is approx. £350,000 and that the sum required for Kevin Street alone will not be less than £1,000,000. These are building costs and do not include furniture or equipment. We understand that the extra equipment for Engineering and Architecture at Bolton Street will cost over two hundred thousand pounds. For Kevin Street it will cost considerably more.

Problems in the Proposed Move 29

that led to its own Associateship (A.R.C.Sc.I.). It co-operated with the University by permitting U.C.D. students to take their workshop courses in Merrion Street. A previous Irish Government, rather than finance the duplication of expensive faculties, compelled its amalgamation with the University. It was handed over to U.C.D. by the University Education (Agriculture and Dairy Science) Act, 1926. University College, Dublin, which has already absorbed the College of Science, might well consider at least co-operation with the newer expanding institutes of technology.

Elsewhere, when technological institutes have grown up in a university city, the time came when they had developed in status and in standards to the stage of providing courses to full professional level. At that point co-ordination with, and even integration into, the technological faculties of the university followed as a natural course. We believe that the same course should be followed in Dublin and indeed that eventually it will follow, but we are concerned that meanwhile U.C.D. may have been transferred to Stillorgan Road instead of remaining on its present sites which are more conveniently situated for cooperation with the institutes.

We urge that serious consideration be given to the above point of view. Apart from the economic advantages of such collaboration we believe that in this way the best interests of higher technological education would be served.

Further, we believe that in view of the continued growth of heavy industry in Cork (steel, shipbuilding, oil refining) a very good case can be made for siting an advanced technological faculty or college in that city and that the establishment of a multiplicity of such faculties in Dublin will militate against adequate provision being made for the needs of the south.

As an example of the position that is arising because of the lack of cooperation between the institutes and the universities, we deal below in some detail with the provision of professional training in Architecture.

The Dublin Schools of Architecture

The Commission's Report accepts the College authorities' estimate of space required for the new school of Architecture: 22,000 sq. ft. nett or 29,730 sq. ft. gross to be built at a cost of approximately £250,000. It is to be noted that this estimate was prepared in 1952 when the numbers in the school were at an abnormal maximum, and the requirements would seem to be excessive for what might be taken to be the average number of students. The records of recent years show a decline in numbers from 150 to 110 (a 27% decrease). The reason for this decline is undoubtedly a 'settling down' of the profession to 'normal' conditions following the post-war building boom when the profession offered very attractive prospects.

If we take the average student number at 110, then the estimate of approx. £250,000 would provide for the ecertion of a first-class school with all facilities. Such a provision is very desirable and would we fully justified were it not for the fact that a second school of Architecture with first-class standards of accommodation is already nearing completion in Dublin. We refer to the school of Architecture at the College of Technology, Bolton Street. When complete (September 1960) this school will have the great advantage of being associated