Should we consider building massive apartment blocks here, like this one in Hong Kong, to help with the housing crisis?

48 comments

  1. Here we go again, 24 hours of “if we build one of these we could solve the housing crisis” joke posts.

    [For example](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/zfzu2d/if_ireland_could_build_one_of_these_it_would/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)

    Serious Edit: We need a variety of types of homes in various places. There is no “one size fits all” solution. We need to build in concert with public transport, jobs and facilities. And we needed to start 10 years ago.

  5. I lived for a long time in a top flat in Ballymun.

    I genuinely miss my old flat even after all these years after them getting demolished.
    I miss the views, could see the planes landing in the airport, could see all over Dublin and down to Wicklow, the bay, the beaches, the mountains.

    Many pros and cons of course but if properly managed and maintained with mixed tenancy and a hard-line always taken against anti social behaviour, this is more than possible.

    I was thinking an ideal place would be Dún Laoghaire, the whole town is dead anyway since the holyhead route was taken away, something like this would massively liven up the wider area and would already have many facilities and so on available.

    You could see Wales on a good day and the views over Dublin and Wicklow would be fantastic too.

    Edit: For what it’s worth mentioning, I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting one of the original builders who worked on the flats in Ballymun when they went up, while on holiday in Kerry.
    He had around 10 houses he built himself down there in Sheep’s Head since.

    He was telling me the flats themselves were bought secondhand from Czechezlovakia at the time, all in units, shipped over, craned up and bolted together and they cost a pittance compared to having to build them all from scratch.

    Probably similar could be considered again to cut down on costs?

    I mean maybe not as high as in Hong Kong but we’re safe enough here with lack of Earthquakes for example.

  6. Is there anything to be said for nice apartment blocks with parking underneath and amenities in it like a gym etc? Apartments don’t need to be grim.

  12. No need for that. Just replace 1 floor huts in middle of Dublin with proper 4-8 floor apartment buildings.

  17. There *is* a happy medium between endless four-bed-semi-d-with-private-garden suburban sprawl and towering blocks of coffin apartments, you know.

  18. We need to build housing where there’s already public services installed – transport, health care and schools mainly. Building a fuck load of housing in the middle of no where isn’t going to benefit anyone.

  20. Man in the Nordics it’s done soo well. Greens is es with picnic area and bbq included, often a basement storage room, social room that can be rented (very low and pretty much covers the roar of the cleaner and electric)and a room that can rented if you’ve visitors staying.

  27. if a billionaire cant gouge money out of it, itll never happen, ireland these days is paralysed by talking-points spouted by talking heads. actions is needed

    anyone who owns a house is happy with the status quo and wants no change

    anyone with a mortgage is stuck, likely with a someone in their box room

    anyone looking down the barrel of this crisis wants a drastic ramp up in builds in a country with many corrupt and enept developers and a rabbble of corrupt and enept politicans beholdent to the wealthy

    and the landlords gouge

  28. Cork’s Elysian is the only example of a modern city centre residential tower I can think of in Ireland. 17 stories tall – entirely residential above a layer of retail, office space and even a major health clinic with MRI facilities, and it all works perfectly well.

    The debate in Dublin always seems to revolve around photos of dystopian tower blocks or discussion about the Ballymun Flats which were a social disaster for reasons that had nothing to do with their height.

    Plenty of scope for tasteful mid height developments. They just need to be done right.

  29. No , because here everyone aspires to a detached house with a triple garage and 3 acres of land

  30. They’ll be vandalised into the ground, the lifts will break and the drains will clog and flood the ground floor apartments with shite and someone slipping on the stairs will annihilate this years maintenance budget in legal fees.

    Good ideas come to Ireland to die.

  31. I saw how the cork student accom apartment was being build and I would never let my kids live there. I wouldn’t trust the cowboy builders to build such big appsrtmentd to last here.

  32. not hong kong is a pretty extreme example, its easily the densest city in the world. not really necessary in ireland, more mid rise for the inner city

  33. Ireland needs to absolutely get out of its ass and start building more apartment blocks than houses, but jesus fuck maybe not a behemoth that has its own gravity well.

  34. Born in hk, and I can tell you they’re not nice inside or to look at. Tiny apartment that should barely house 2 people. Also incidents where AC units fall and crush people below. No thanks

  35. up not out is a viable solution in city centres but your image is what peoples minds jump to any time you present it.

  37. Hong Kong is kind of an exception due to it’s small size, the buildings are literally built on top of each other. Here in mainland China, most people (who live in the cities that is) live in apartment ‘communities’. Basically gated communities with a number of apartment buildings inside. There are some standalone apartment blocks, but at least where I live they are becoming less prevalent.

    The community I live in has about 18 buildings, most of them with 30 plus floors. Seems like a lot, but the community is large so it doesn’t feel cramped. The grounds are really nicely decorated and maintained (that’s what property fee’s are for), we even have a small lake in the middle of it. Great for walking the dog. Playgrounds, badminton courts, basketball courts, gym with a pool (not free), 2 grocery stores etc. The apartments vary in size, but mine is 120 sqm, some are bigger and some are smaller. Not that it’s really needed here, but every community has security guards on the gates. I’d hazard I about 4000 people live in it.

    Truth is there are ten’s of thousands of apartments available to rent in this city. Way too many in fact. Chinese government are mostly a bunch of cunts, but at least they make an effort to improve infrastructure. Of course, can’t really compare it to Ireland, but reading a lot of the threads here is depressing. I won’t be coming back any time soon unfortunately.

  38. No need even for that. Just sack entire an bord pleanala and replace them with people who are not corrupt. There, problem solved.

  41. I’m all for taller apparent building, think the biggest issue is that most politicians are also home investors and landlords, so that would devalue their investments therefore the current status quo feels better for them than the alternative that would benefit the masses.

  46. Only if they’re state owned. I don’t fancy letting some private corporation run a mega block like that

  47. I lived in Hong Kong, and those huge apartment blocks were nice, with shops, gyms, BBQ areas, etc. However, that picture (if not a fake) is likely of the social housing, which is a bit grimmer.

    I say fake because even the worst social housing in Mong Kok would not have blocks welded together like that.

    [Edit: there are huge estates with very close tower blocks but a lot of those photos are taken from the angle that makes them look like a single monolith. Not saying that they are not horrible but this video gives you a bit more of a rounded view:

    [https://petapixel.com/2019/01/19/capturing-the-eye-popping-density-of-hong-kongs-tower-blocks/](https://petapixel.com/2019/01/19/capturing-the-eye-popping-density-of-hong-kongs-tower-blocks/)

    There are 7 million people crammed into a tiny island that is, from memory, something like 65% natural park (mountainous with no housing). They reclaim land by making islands and extending the coastline but the only other way to build is up.]

  48. I’m currently staying in one right now in HK. A local shopping center is attached below. Has supermarkets, bakery, restaurant, etc. The apartment has a common area for residents that has a small playground and has crèche. There’s also a swimming pool area. Bus terminal is also part of the shopping center.

    It would be nice to see more apartments like these in Ireland.

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