London's Shard opens to the public

Fmr ca does not "see what the fuss is about building a 28-storey building in Dunedin" and thinks it would be good to have "a five star hotel built by private investors", putting these two ideas together as if they are inseparable. Is it possible, fmr ca, to envisage a 5-star hotel that is taller or shorter than 28 storeys? If so, is there any reason to suppose that in order to have one in Dunedin it has to be the extraordinarily unappealing giant cereal packet design that has been proposed?

A 28-storey building that had grace, elegance, that was a pleasure to view from the outside, for all Dunedinites who would have it plonked in front of their eyeballs, might be worth considering. Or something butt-ugly built in a gully out of the sight-lines of most people most of the time, that could work. People complain about the metal recycling pile that can be seen from the motorway. I personally like it, it represents income earned in Dunedin from overseas instead of waste costing the city money in landfill, but that is not the point - the point is that people have strong feelings about being obliged to look at things they find visually offensive. It is difficult to imagine a more visually offensive scheme than wanting to plonk an ugly building where it blocks a beautiful view, and then expecting Dunedin people to be grateful for this downgrading of their experience of living in this beautiful little city.

I don't see what the fuss is about building a 28-storey building in Dunedin.  It's not that big in world terms and it's not going to affect our heritage buildings. Some people need to accept that a city is a dynamic environment which needs new buildings every so often. The best world cities have a mix of old and new structures. And I think a five star hotel built by private investors would be a great addition to our built surroundings.  Why wouldn't we welcome additional ratepayers and jobs?

Commenting on the opening to the public of London's Shard, 25 pounds for an adult to go up to the 25m high observation deck from which they may see for 64km, GW_Scam reckons Dunedin needs a big tall building, and regrets opposition to the proposed 5-star hotel. This is the best argument I have read so far for accepting the hotel proposal. While the design proposed is unlike the Shard fully lacking in originality and though big and lumpen it is not high enough to afford such an extensive view, nor are there world-famous features like St Paul's and Buckingham Palace to see, these are minor drawbacks. The DCC should immediately declare that profits from attractions that charge punters to view anything DCC-owned/operated must pay 50% of gross income to the DCC.

I have been watching the golf in Dubai and was astounded by the hundreds of tall skyscrapers dotting the background. Why would one building that would not even equal any of these, make people sit up and take notice of Dunedin?

To imagine that a tall skyscraper is evidence that all is alive and well in a city is an obscenely materialistic view of the world. Let's look at Detroit and Chicago as prime examples of decaying cities complete with mothballed skyscrapers. Let's look at one of our own tallest buildings - the decaying Post Office building is a prime example that being a tall prominent building does not guarantee its own survival or the well-being of a city and its inhabitants.

People think that Venice, Malta, Vienna, Rome and many other great cities are wonderful places to live in and visit - none of these have these temporary glass and steel monstrosities in their midst as prominent features. Dunedin has some fine buildings and they should be our identity - not something wrung from the caverns of those depressingly ugly cities in the United States and elsewhere.

It is fine for Dubai and other temporary metropolises to copy the United States model and eternally try to better it. We need to keep our identity. It is getting increasingly annoying that whenever there is a differing of opinion, some are labelled as whingers. This is getting tiresome. We are not whingers. We are people who care about our city and do not wish it to become a diminished carbon copy of some other city elsewhere in the world. We will continue to state our opinion because that is the purpose of discussion forums.

If only investors would choose Dunedin to build a Skyline Landmark building, to make a statement that says 'Yes Dunedin is alive and thriving in the modern world'.

I know, maybe a 28 storey modern hotel would be exactly what we need!

Oh that's right, investors are tring to do that, but a handful of the 'whinging brigade' have stood up and said "No, go away".

It's a funny backward little World we live in here in Dunedin.