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New toolkit by Dublin City Council and Turley will help property developers create new cultural and community spaces

Dublin City Council has launched a ‘Cultural Toolkit’ and guidance for property developers on delivering new cultural and community spaces within the city.

Our Strategic Communications team produced the new guidance and toolkit on behalf of Dublin City Council, alongside ARROW who wrote the schematics. The initiative was developed to provide practical assistance to developers to meet the obligations under the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-28, which places a requirement to provide 5% of floorspace of large-scale developments for arts, cultural and community uses.

It aims to encourage partnerships with cultural operators and artform resource organisations to ensure new spaces created under this policy thrive and contribute to the cultural life of the city. The new resources highlight the key building blocks, and provide a guide to the process of delivering cultural infrastructure, through identifying and responding to a real need, designing for a clear cultural use and selecting a delivery model that is sustainable for both the developer and operator.

As well as a step-by-step guide to delivering cultural space as part of a development process, it provides signposting to help build links between developers, cultural operators, and arts organisations. It also provides design specifications for the needs of different artforms and guidance on how to evaluate cultural and community need in any area of the city. 

John Davison, Head of Strategic Communications and lead on cultural regeneration, said:

“It has been a privilege to collaborate with Dublin City Council to create this transformative resource. The new guidance and toolkit represents an investment in Dublin’s future and will cultivate – with more certainty – vibrant cultural infrastructure that is impactful, meaningful and reflective of community wants and needs. With a clearly defined process and practical framework, developers can confidently integrate quality cultural initiatives that boost the integrity and longevity of new developments whilst enhancing Dublin’s communities for generations to come. 

“The process has been immensely rewarding and I look forward to seeing how this guidance and toolkit will shape the development of Dublin’s cultural landscape, delivering authentic experiences that are central to the city’s character.”

Ray Yeates, City Arts Officer at Dublin City Council said:

“As we build new housing and offices in a growing Dublin we must create spaces for artists to create work, new studios and workspaces that sit alongside new venues, theatres and galleries that bring vibrancy to our city. Property Developers, Dublin City Council and Cultural Operators have an opportunity to deliver the critical infrastructure for artists and their communities, and the new toolkit is designed to enable these partnerships and provide a clearer process.  

When developing the toolkit, we’ve engaged extensively with developers, the majority of whom understood that embedding culture is a way to ensure vibrant and successful places. We think this toolkit will be a superb tool, helping them and our city to reap the benefits of this ambitious policy.”

Deirdre Scully, City Planner at Dublin City Council said:

“We’re thrilled to see this toolkit and guidance being brought forward as a key action of the City Development Plan. The new requirements created a fresh impetus to the delivery of cultural spaces within Dublin, and this toolkit will further help giving the planning and development sector a positive and useful source to demystify the process.   Developers and planners are not always accustomed to speaking the language of arts and culture. This toolkit will help to build a shared understanding and will ultimately deliver more and better-quality arts and cultural spaces, as well as a more vibrant and exciting city.”

Ulrik Raysse, Founder at ARROW said:

"We are pleased to have delivered the Cultural Infrastructure Toolkit in close collaboration with DCC & Turley, which provides the building blocks for the implementation of Cultural Infrastructure for developers investing in the future of Dublin."

Casper Lindskog, Design Director at ARROW said:

"We developed the toolkit as an initial framework for dialogue and to inspire future cultural investments. It should be viewed as the starting point for initiating discussions on how to support and enhance the cultural scene and wider community of Dublin."

20 June 2024