The £400 million Cherrywood Science and Technology Park in Cabinteely, Co Dublin, should have its own LUAS stop and transport hub if it is to realise its full potential and cater for its forecasted 7,000-plus workforce.
This is the view of the park's developers, Dunloe Ewart and the British Land Company and of the manager of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Derek Brady, who wants the LUAS extended to meet with the DART in Shankill. The local authority are joint venture partners in the development of the park's first phase.
The developers have already opened discussions with CIE on the matter and their reaction is reported to have been "most positive". The park's designers and planners have also been instructed to incorporate the appropriate set backs to provide for an extension of the LUAS.
It is expected that any extension of the LUAS from Sandyford to Cherrywood - a distance of around 3 kms - would follow the route of the old Harcourt Street railway line which runs through the Cherrywood site. The old Harcourt Street railway line is expected to form much of the proposed LUAS line from the city centre to Sandyford.
A spokesman for the developers said: "We plan to pressurise central and local government in order to get the LUAS extension built by 2005 when the Cherrywood development should be completed." Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is also drawing up a draft action plan for the area and this may call for LUAS to be extended, at least to Cherrywood.
The proposed transport hub at Cherrywood should also include park and ride facilities, bus stops and helicopter pads so that visiting chief executives can fly in from Dublin Airport.
Cherrywood, which is located between the N11 and the proposed South Eastern Motorway (due for completion in 2003), also benefits from its proximity to Dun Laoghaire. According to Noel Smyth, chairman of Dunloe Ewart, the developers are anxious to see the development of the proposed South Eastern Motorway and also the completion of the Wyattville Interchange.
He says: "These are two developments over which we, as developers, have no direct control but are reliant on their arrival to maximise the full potential of the entire site." Mr Smyth also confirmed recently that a planning application for the next 250,000 sq. ft of office space at Cherrywood would be lodged shortly with the local authority.
Around 30 of Cherrywood's 400 acres are to be allocated for a district centre, which will be developed to include retail uses, a business park, leisure and other related facilities. A championship 18-hole golf course is also an integral part of the development.
The district centre will include a central services building with a management and information office, a cafe and restaurant overlooking Cherrywood's "eastern valley and lake with open views". Further central facilities are being considered within future phases with well-planned pedestrian connections.
When complete, Cherrywood Science and Technology Park will occupy almost 100 acres of the site and will have 1.5 million sq. ft of prime office space with state-of-the-art telecommunications systems in a setting designed to encourage the growth of knowledge-based industries within a campus-style environment.
