Grand Canal Docks

Grand Canal Dock (Irish: Duga na Canálach Móire) is a Southside area near the city centre of Dublin, Ireland.

It is located on the border of eastern Dublin 2 and the westernmost part of Ringsend in Dublin 4, surrounding the Grand Canal Docks, an enclosed harbour where the Grand Canal comes to the River Liffey. The area has undergone significant redevelopment since 2000, as part of the Dublin Docklands area redevelopment project.

The area has been nicknamed "Silicon Docks" by Google and Facebook (a reference to Silicon Valley) as it has become a popular location for multinational technology firms such as Google, Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn, and Airbnb.

The area has been the subject of debate over the balance of development and gentrification as well as the subject of derision over the clichéd nature of its new nickname.

There is no precise definition of the Grand Canal Dock area, but it is generally understood to be bounded by the Liffey to the north, South Lotts Road to the east (or Barrow Street if separating South Lotts as its own area), Grand Canal Street to the south, and Macken Street to the west (although some maps show the area including as far west as the corner of Leeson Street and Fitzwilliam Place). Grand Canal Dock contains Grand Canal Dock railway station, the national Waterways Ireland Visitor Centre and a number of notable buildings.

Grand Canal Dock railway station, accessed from Barrow Street, opened in 2001 (although the line has been in use since 1834). In early 2014, five new Dublin Bikes stations were opened in the area.

The Grand Canal Docks first opened in 1796, built to a design by William Jessop. Before this development, from medieval times the area was associated with lepers, as recorded in some of the street names such as Misery Hill and Lazer Lane.

At the time they were the world's largest docks. They fell into decline within just a few decades, due mostly to reduced canal usage with the arrival of the railways.

The landscape was dominated by Dublin Gas Company's mountains of black coal, along with chemical factories, tar pits, bottle factories and iron foundries.

 However, bakers and millers maintained business along the southern edge of the inner basin. By the 1960s, the Grand Canal Docks were almost completely derelict.

Around 1987 it was decided that Hanover Quay was too toxic to sell.

 Regeneration began in 1998, when Bord Gáis sold the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) the former gasworks site located in the area between Sir John Rogerson's Quay and Hanover Quay, for €19 million.

The DDDA spent €52 million decontaminating the land, even though the likely return was estimated at just €40 million.

The decontamination took place under the supervision of the Environmental Protection Agency, between 2002 and 2006.

The process involved constructing an underground wall eight metres deep around the affected area, and the contaminated soil being dug out and removed.

By the time the decontamination was finished, an inflated property bubble and increased demand in the area (brought on, in part, by the decision by Google to set up its European headquarters nearby), allowed the authority to sell the land for €300 million. The DDDA injected some of its new funds into the area's infrastructure including seats, street lighting, and civic spaces.

A number of significant developments have happened since involving the construction of millions of euros worth of real estate, the arrival of several thousand new residents, and the establishment of what is now sometimes known as Silicon Docks.                         Thanks to wikipedia