Not since the building of Belarmine in Stepaside has South Dublin seen a new town built on the scale to transform an area from green fields into bustling new town. Since the last boom, new development has been slow and piecemeal, with few large developments especially on Dublin’s south side, while 100s of acres of North County Dublin, Kildare and Meath are being transformed into new suburbs.
But now, a new development is offering to combine a new residential suburb, a new shopping district, a business park and a series of new national parks into one masterplanned new town, just on the fringes of South Dublin’s existing suburbs.
Welcome to Cherrywood!
Where is Cherrywood?
Cherrywood is a 388 acre site in South Dublin, squeezed between the southern end of the M50, before it becomes the M11, and the suburbs of Cabinteely, Carrickmines and Loughlinstown. This former agricultural and woodland sits at the picturesque foothills of the Dublin Mountains, and is already well connected to the rest of Dublin and beyond. The M50 runs close by, as does the N11, connected by a link road taking people in and out of Cherrywood to wherever you would want to go.
Better still, the Luas was constructed running directly through the site. Currently there is a stop at Bride’s Glen, next to the existing Cherrywood Business Park, but soon there will be three more stations throughout the scheme which will provide direct public access to the residential and retail areas of the New Cherrywood Town Centre.
From here it’s less than 30 minutes into St. Stephen’s Green and onwards to the Red Line and perhaps one day even Dublin Airport!
What is Cherrywood?
A New Town Centre
The landmark centrepiece of the new Cherrywood is a new town centre, with 585,000 sq ft of retail space. That’s approximately the size of the Jervis & Ilac shopping centres combined!
These new shops and department stores will be arranged in an authentic pedestrianised streetscape with open squares and abundant food, beverage and leisure areas.
This is a transformative proposal which will see Cherrywood become a real destination for shopping and entertainment, quite unlike other shopping locations in the vicinity such as Dundrum or The Park Carrickmines.
A New Residential District
Overall, Cherrywood offers to provide over 7,500 new residential units with the possibility of housing up to 25,000 people. That’s only just slightly smaller than the population of Bray.
Hines, the owners of the development will themselves develop up to 4,000 units in a combination of 1,150 houses and nearly 3,000 multi-family apartments. Some other sites within the Cherrywood zone have been parcelled and sold to individual developers, such as Cairn Homes who will be developing 300 homes of their own.
Parks, Schools & Sports Pitches
Perhaps the most exciting part about Cherrywood is not the new homes, shops and offices – but what is being created in between them. Almost 150 acres of land within the Cherrywood zone is being turned into open green spaces, public parks and sports pitches.
82 acres will be used to create three new public parks, planted with over 3,000 mature trees and containing beautiful walking paths, cycle routes, play areas and sports facilities.
- Tully Park is the centrepiece of the development, set on 22 acres around the historic Tully Church. Four different zones will bring somthign for everyone. A Historic Zone around the old church and graveyard. A Biodiversity Zone with native wildflowers and casual paths. A Play zone with large play area, skate park and open air amphitheatre. A Passive Zone, with shaded woodland paths and seating areas.
- Ticknick Park provides more formal recreational facilities, with 5 pitches for field sports, perimeter paths for jogging and cycle tracks. There is also space for an urban farm, allotments, orchards and woodland areas. Views from the park will take in the Dublin Mountains, Ballycorus Lead Mines, Dublin Bay and Killiney Bay, from Poolbeg to Bray Head and as far as Howth.
- Beckett Park is a multi-use space mixing formal and informal recreation, enclosed for use by Cherrywood’s two new schools. Facilities will include all-weather sports pitches, tennis courts, jogging tracks, boules courts, outdoor gym, playground and sports pavilion with cafe & terraces.
Schools: The masterplan also includes four designated sites for new schools within the development. These sites will be given to the Department of Education free of charge for school developments.
At least two are planned so far while the remainder will be linked to the delivery of residential apartments and houses.
When will Cherrywood be completed?
Hines the lead developer in charge of the whole Cherrywood development zone has already built out all the roads, parks and major infrastructure for Cherrywood. Now they are starting work on the Town Centre while other development partners are preparing individual sites for housing developments.
Don’t hold your breathe for shopping trips to this new retail centre yet though. The Town Centre is planned to open in 2021 and most of the residential apartments won’t be ready until 2021 – 2022.
To Find Out More Visit www.CherrywoodDublin.com
