ABSTRACT
In June 2005, An Bord Pleanála, the Irish Planning Appeals Board, approved the Heuston Gate Tower planning application after it was appealed by a number of heritage organisations. This 32-storey tower, which would be the tallest in Ireland, was part of a building boom taking place within the country, fuelled by the “Celtic Tiger” economy, which came to an abrupt end in 2008 due to the global financial crisis. Up to 2008, the fifteen years prior to the recession had seen Ireland transform from a predominantly low wage agrarian economy into one of the richest countries in Europe. This was mainly due to huge levels of investment from the European Union under Objective 1 status, and to the adoption of the Euro in Ireland, which released massive amounts of capital into the economy (McDonald and Nix, 2005). The Heuston Gate Tower proposals galvanised heritage organisations into seeking a wider debate about the need for tall buildings in the city, both to combat sprawl across the Irish countryside and, more specifically, to lessen the impact of the tower on particular built heritage assets.
