Planning madness - symptomatic of the way this country doesn't work!

[Dinarius]

A friend is a director of a national organisation based in Dublin.

Their headquarters is a splendid Victorian building in Dublin 4.

In typical 1970's fashion (tastelessness), the old windows were replaced with double glazed aluminium windows.

The organisation in question commissioned an architect to reseach the building and find out how it looked originally.

They then applied for planning permission to have the aluminium windows replaced with wooden sash windows identical to the original 19th century windows.

They were granted permission on one condition...........

......that the windows are single glazed.

I kid you not.

What a sad little country this is.

D.

 

[bankrupt]

It's actually not all that ridiculous, double glazed sash windows have a different appearance due to the need to be sturdier to support the extra weight of glass. They won't look exactly right from the outside and if this is a historically important building it would be better to do things properly if possible. Anything would be better than plastic windows though, this thread on archiseek has many examples of the type: [broken link removed]

 

[Dinarius]

Thanks for the link.

On the issue of sturdiness, I would have thought that any additional support, if required would be biased towards the inside of the windows.

D.

 

[S.L.F]

Thanks for the link.

On the issue of sturdiness, I would have thought that any additional support, if required would be biased towards the inside of the windows.

D.

The mid rail of old sash windows is about 40mm max double glazed sashes have to be 50 to 60mm in thickness to take the extra weight of the double glazing.

The other thing is they just don't look the same as single glaze.

Also just the draught proofing works very well, double glazing doesn't make an enormous difference afterwards.

 

[ajapale]

It amazes me that from one single technical planning determination you can draw a conclusion regarding how the entire country doesnt work!

 

[Dinarius]

The mid rail of old sash windows is about 40mm max double glazed sashes have to be 50 to 60mm in thickness to take the extra weight of the double glazing.

The other thing is they just don't look the same as single glaze.

Also just the draught proofing works very well, double glazing doesn't make an enormous difference afterwards.

Not sure what you mean by them not looking the same.

In any event, you seem to imply that if the windows were single glazed they would look different. Maybe so, but that's not the point.

The planners said yes to everything *except* the double glazing. So, presumbaly they had no issue with the faithfulness of the window design to the original Victorian design or I imagine they would have said so.

D.

 

[S.L.F]

Hi Dinarius, double glazing units are very heavy and in order to take the weight of them the bottom rail of the top sash must be a good deal bigger than for a sash designed for single glazing.

Basically the frames look out of place because they look too bulky.

 

[TarfHead]

A friend .. to reseach the building and find out how it looked originally .. replaced with wooden sash windows identical to the original 19th century windows .. that the windows are single glazed.

I kid you not.

What a sad little country this is.

D.

It's not clear why you have such a strong opinion

It's not your property, nor (presumably) your place of work. The original windows would not have been double glazed. Based on the information you provided, the planners would seem to have made an appropriate decision.

So why do you make this your stick with which to beat this 'sad little country' ?

 

[Guest116]

What a sad little country this is.

D.

You know where the airport is?

 

[shnaek]

You know where the airport is?

Personally I dislike this argument - like Bertie telling the 'doomsayers' to go hang themselves by the neck until they are dead. Better for the country if the people who say 'If you don't like it, get out' leave the country themselves, so the rest of us can get on with making this country great

 

[Guest116]

No doubt we have to improve planning. But it doesn't warrant a statement that we are a "sad little country".

 

[Caveat]

Personally I dislike this argument...

Me too. Nearly as bad as chinese whispers/misquoting.

...like Bertie telling the 'doomsayers' to go hang themselves by the neck until they are dead.

Though I feel utter contempt for the man and everything he stands for, and maybe I am mistaken, but when, pray tell, did he ever say this?



Are you maybe thinking of "I don't know how they don't commit suicide" ?

If so, quite different.