Four tonne Time Ball-inspired steel installation unveiled as part of Port Centre project

Dublin Port's project to open up the Port Centre to the public has moved closer to completion with the installation of a four tonne stainless steel ball.

The ball is inspired by the Time Ball which previously stood on the roof of the Ballast Office at the corner of Aston Quay and Westmoreland Street.

Conceived by Darmody Architecture, the new installation will go on display to the public when the project officially opens later this year.

The time ball dropped at 1pm Greenwich Mean Time every day, so that sailors could set the clocks for navigation calculations.

Announced last November, Dublin Port's plan to soften its boundaries into Dublin city will be the first time the area has had public access in 35 years.

Wills Bros Civil Engineering are currently carrying out the development of the area which includes removing a section of the existing old boundary wall to create new pedestrian entry points at Alexandra Road and East Wall Road.

A landscaped maritime garden with distributed seating, accessible from a new footbridge, located south of Port Centre is also included in the scheme.

NCAD graduate and upcoming Irish artist Eimear Murphy’s new sculpture ‘The Drop’ will feature in the garden.  

The Dublin City Council approved new three kilometre stretch of internal road network will give pedestrians and cyclists access to the port estate for recreational use for the first time.

This is the largest physical intervention by Dublin Port to reintegrate the Port with the City, as committed to in the company’s Masterplan.