Off St Stephen’s Green, RCSI puts forward big vision for future of York Street

Green traffic cones and plastic road barriers cordoned off bits of the footpath outside the entrance to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RSCI) on York Street on Monday.

Opposite them, on the other side of the thin street, three of these barriers surrounded a tree pit.

Students just walked around them to get in and out of the college. The pavement hadn’t been dug up.

They didn’t appear to tie in with the road works happening to the west, at the Aungier Street end of York Street outside the Glovers Court flats.

But they did seem to mark off a portion of the street where the RCSI intends to add a pedestrian crossing, says a presentation that was shown by the college at the council’s South-East Area Committee that same day.

The crossing would be the first move in the college’s broader ambition to redesign York Street, the RCSI’s director of estates Rowan Baxter told local councillors at the meeting.

Traffic calming measures would be rolled out along with greenery and street furniture at first as part of the college’s much bigger desire to eventually turn this area into a pedestrianised plaza, he said.

The RCSI had a long ongoing relationship with the local community, Baxter said at the meeting. “We see this as building on that engagement.”

Only, their vision seemed to catch a few councillors off guard.

It was confusing because this document announcing the RCSI’s plans to regenerate York Street initially looked as if it was a part of the council’s retrofit of the Glover’s Court flats, said independent councillor Mannix Flynn on Tuesday morning. “When I went through the document, I realised it wasn’t.”

Councillors and locals didn’t have any input in this proposal, he said. “If you look at these plans, it’s all a fait accompli.”

It was a peculiar situation to be in because the final designs were good, said Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey at Monday’s meeting. “But I don’t like how we got there.”

Michelle Robinson, the council’s south-east area manager, said that while the RCSI is already getting started on some works, like the new pedestrian crossing, the proposal before councillors was a vision and not an agreed plan.

There are various stages to RCSI’s medium and long-term goals, she said. “This isn’t something that is going to be delivered as set out here. It has to go through a process as set out by Dublin City Council.”

Phases of excitement

In December 2023, the RCSI had put in a submission to the council’s draft transport plan which proposed the pedestrianisation of York Street, said Baxter, the RCSI’s director of estates at the outset of Monday’s meeting.

The college began to engage with the council again this year to see how best to go about a phased approach, he said.

The area lacks greenery, he said. “It’s quite a hostile environment.”

The college campus had grown over the years too and York Street had seen a lot of traffic – most of which passes through the area without stopping, he said. “It’s a bit of a shortcut.”

A lot of pedestrians used it too, he said, with the presentation shown to councillors noting that the RCSI had recorded more than 5,000 “pedestrian movements” per day on the street at its peak times.

RSCI is soon to open its new education and research building at 118 St Stephen’s Green, he said, noting it was the first new building on the green since 1804. “So very exciting times.”

It is set to unveil, within that new facility, a new public gallery and exhibition space, the Humanarium, he said.

To bring York Street along with this, the college was proposing a three-staged approach to its regeneration beginning this month, he said.

The first phase – lasting about six months – would see more greenery, seating and rest areas, tree pruning, removing excess street furniture and bollards, and traffic calming with pedestrian crossings, the RCSI presentation shows.

RCSI had consulted with “various” departments in the council, Baxter said. “And we would like to conclude that work, or have that work completed to align with the opening of our new building.”

In the medium term – which is between one and five years away – they want to upgrade Proud’s Lane nearby and add further traffic restrictions along York Street, he said.

And later, the long-term aspiration of pedestrianising the street, he said. “That links in with RCSI’s vision, I suppose, as a world-leading university to create an RCSI medical quarter.”

For the first stage, the RCSI recruited a firm of architects and were working with the council, he said. 

Need for consultation

Flynn, the independent councillor, said the presentation was interesting.

But as someone who grew up in the area, it also “flabbergasted” him, he said. “Did you engage with me? You didn’t engage with me on any particular level.”

He didn’t see any notices to speak with the community, he said. And “there’s no input from the councillors.”

He wished them luck, he said, but would be totally opposed to the plan unless there is “proper democracy, proper engagement with us the local councillors and proper engagement with businesses in the local community”.

Baxter, the RCSI’s director of estates, said he disagreed with Flynn. 

RCSI had invested a lot in the street and were hoping through the public realm to provide a “greener, more friendly” place, Baxter said. “We have a huge amount of engagement with the local community.”

They have outreach programmes and events through the year, he said.

Right to Change Councillor Pat Dunne said nearby public realm improvements, like the council-led upgrades at South Anne Street, had to go through consultation. “I don’t think there’s a shortcut to that.”

Community engagement needs to be taken on board, said Lacey, the Labour councillor. “But if you end up, after all that consultation with what’s on the table here, I’d like it.”

RSCI had engaged with the council since it submitted to the council’s transport plan in December 2023, Baxter said.

These are small interventions on the street and they were working with the council’s traffic department among others, he said. 

“So in terms of that engagement, that’s been happening for the last two years. In particular, the last seven months in terms of what we’re talking about today,” he said.

Any wider plans for pedestrianisation, they would be happy to engage with the local community, he said.

Sinn Féin Councillor Kourtney Kenny said she wanted to know if the council was funding any of this.

RCSI was spending about €100,000 on this, Baxter said, while the council would cover painting the pedestrian crossings and tactile pavings.

Robinson, the council’s area manager, said it was welcome that councillors acknowledged it as a positive addition to the area. But the proposal was also a “vision”, she said.

The medium-term and long-term goals will need to go through a process of consultation and approval, she said.

There are already plans afoot with the first stage, she said. But the council and RCSI could certainly convene a meeting to discuss those, she said.