Shopping CentresToday sees the launch of a new €175 million shopping centre off the M50 near Finglas.
It will have 17,000sq m (182,986sq ft) of retail space, 285 apartments, 800 car-parking spaces and a 12-storey signature building.
The apartments will not go for sale until next spring.
The Bovale Developments scheme, the Charlestown Centre, is located at the N2-M50 interchange and is scheduled for completion in autumn 2007.
A high design spec has been applied to the Charlestown Centre, with double height retail units and a landscaped rooftop garden and terrace the size of Croke Park situated above the retail area.
Dunnes Stores is the anchor tenant with a 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) store. This will include a thematic food hall, clothing and homeware department, all on one level.
The development will include 24 double height retail units with ceiling heights of more than seven metres. These will range in size from about 34sq m (366sq ft) up to 1,056sq m (113,667sq ft). The joint agents, Hamilton Osborne King and NAI Mason Owen & Lyons, are quoting €592 per sq m (€55 per sq ft) for retail space at the Charlestown Centre.
The mall will have walkways more than 16 metres wide and the centre of the new Charlestown development will feature a striking glazed roof. The open space and light will help make the centre a comfortable and attractive shopping experience.
There has already been strong interest in the scheme from national and international retailers, according to Ciara Croffy of NAI Mason Owen & Lyons. The shops will be laid out along an internal T-shaped mall and two external malls fronting St Margaret's Road and the new plaza, which will form a centre-point to the next phase of the development.
Charlestown will provide a "quality retailing experience", said HOK's Stephen McCarthy.
A particular effort is going into the residential element of Charlestown Centre. The scheme's promoters say its region has one of the highest residential growth rates in the State on the basis of the most recent census figures. More than 10,000 new homes have been built there of late.
Bovale plans to build in many sustainable energy-saving features into both the commercial and the residential units in an effort to reduce energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions.
Central to this effort is the Charlestown Centre Combined Heat and Power Plant. This will generate heat and power for the site using Irish-sourced wood pellets. These are zero-rated for Kyoto Protocol carbon emissions, given it is recycled carbon from Irish timber.
This approach provides more than good environmental planning, however. The plant will provide heat and hot water to apartments in the centre at savings in excess of 10 per cent, according to Bovale.
The buildings will also be energy efficient with concrete and high efficiency thermal glazing and insulation, the company stated. This should reduce running costs across the board.
The roof garden and terrace will be a particular attraction of this development. It will provide residents with a tranquil location removed from the hustle and bustle of the retail complex.
The construction of a new distributor road by Bovale connecting St Margaret's Road to the N2 should alleviate traffic and HGV movements in the Finglas village area.
There are currently more than 800 people working on the Charlestown Centre project with an expected peak of 1,000 during construction. Once the centre opens it will provide permanent employment for more than 500 people.
Bovale is owned by brothers Michael and Tom Bailey, who have been in the construction industry for 24 years.
