SOUTH DUBLIN County Council has approved plans for the development of a €1.2 billion town centre for Adamstown, south of Lucan, which is billed by developers Castlethorn Construction as "Ireland's first 21st century town".
At 154,000 sq metres (1.66 million sq ft), Adamstown Central is one of the largest mixed-use schemes in the history of the State, with a full range of retail, com-munity, civic and commercial facilities for an anticipated population of 30,000.
The new town centre would have 60 retail units including restaurants, cafes and bars, a nine-screen cinema, health centre, inter-church place of worship, leisure centre and swimming pool, as well as a library, enterprise centre and several civic squares.
The scheme, which also includes 600 apartments, has been designed by seven architectural practices supported by 55 other consultants, including landscape architects, engineers, colourists, lighting designers and wind and movement consultants.
The seven architectural practices involved are DMOD, Grafton Architects, Henry J Lyons, HKR, O'Donnell + Tuomey, OMP and London-based Metropolitan Workshop. The idea behind having so many was to give the town centre real diversity.
Once the tendering process is complete, Castlethorn estimates that up to 1,000 jobs would be created during the construction of Adamstown Central, and that it would also lead to the creation of more than 2,500 new jobs in and around the town centre.
The developers said leasing of the retail element of the scheme was "bucking current market trends", with anchor retail and leisure tenants lined up two years in advance of scheduled completion dates.
Details of tenant contracts are to be announced later.
The proposed town centre is a key element of South Dublin County Council's Adamstown Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) masterplan, which laid the guidelines for the neighbourhood infrastructure and is on schedule for completion ahead of time.
Jude Byrne, Castlethorn's senior project manager, said the council's decision to grant planning permission was "an important milestone" for Adamstown. "Our focus is on delivering the long-term vision for Adamstown as a complete community, not just a town.
"We will soon see the one-thousandth home occupied and have already delivered key facilities, such as the train station, QBC bus service, schools and creche ahead of schedule. The first local centre shops will also open this autumn," Mr Byrne added.
Castlethorn, controlled by Joe O'Reilly, is one of the most successful property companies in Ireland. Its developments include housing schemes all over Dublin including Ashtown, Blackrock, Stepaside and Castleknock, as well as Dundrum Town Centre.
A scale model of Adamstown Central is among the architectural projects on display at this summer's Royal Academy exhibition in London. It is also featured in the Evolving Norms of Housing exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects. Having already won a number of accolades, Adamstown has now been shortlisted for this year's prestigious Royal Town Planning Institute awards along with leading British retail-led, mixed-use town centre developments such as Princesshay in Exeter.
