Bray, Co Wicklow, is getting a new heart. A £40 million civic centre will, according to agents Hamilton Osborne King, become the commercial, community and cultural heart of the town. It is due for completion by Christmas 2000.
Newlyn Developments has secured planning permission for the showpiece scheme on a five-acre site at St Cronan's, adjoining Emmet Park. It will include three office blocks totalling 80,000 sq ft; civic offices including a health centre; 71 townhouses and maisonettes; a 44-bedroom hotel and three restaurants; a landscaped linear park and sculptured gardens and an Italian-style piazza. There are also plans for a theatre.
Pat Nolan of HOK thinks it will boost the business and leisure potential of the town. "These three office blocks will be right in the town centre while the hotel, restaurants and the theatre should bring many additional visitors."
He says too that the scheme should win approval from the environmentally-minded. Parking is planned for 400 vehicles but there will be little or no visual impact because virtually all the parking is underground. Environmentalists should also be heartened by the provision of 650 bicycle parking spaces.
The townhouses, apartments and maisonettes will be grouped in clusters around a series of attractive courtyards.
The directors of Newlyn Developments are Ken Malone, Sean Murphy and local Bray man George McGarry. The Southern Cross Business Park in the town is one of their previous schemes, which was also handled by HOK. Project architects are Colum O'Broin and Associates of The Maltings, Bray.
