Cherrywood: Dublin's next planned town

Cherrywood is a suburb in Dublin 18 - wait: do we even use those postcodes anymore? Nevermind. It's an area that sprung up in the late 90s/early 00s centered around a business park which is home to Dell and a number of other large corporations. There is currently a vast swathe of green land next to the office park all reared and ready for development. In fact, the media have reported this as the creation of a new Dublin suburb. Sounds great, eh?

Roughly the location of the proposed suburb. And I stress the word 'roughly'!

Here's the site outlining the plans: http://www.cherrywooddublin.com/

Some of the lines from the site are quite poetic, to say the least:

"This will be modern urban living at its best, a positive synergy of work, rest and play, "

"Cherrywood will redefine quality of life in Dublin, integrating homes and shops, work and transport, schools and parks in a positive, sustainable society like nowhere else in the capital."

We hear the promise of a plethora of amenities: Cherrywood will provide everything under the sun that a first-time buyer/professional/family would want. Based on the description provided, it seems that one would never have to leave their town to have whatever they wanted at their disposal. In the past, Irish developers have made ambitious promises to obtain planning permission, and then deffered building all the things they have promised until an unspecified 'later date'. Often, the later date has never arrived.

Let's take you back to 1998. Dublin's population was growing rapidly and it was decided to construct a new suburb: Adamstown. The construction got underway in the mid 2000s and although the town is habited, it never lived up to what it was supposed to. The original plan for 10,000 dwellings has not yet been followed through. In fact, Wikipedia describes the town as having a population of only 3,000. The BBC's Petroc Trelawny writes about his visit to the area: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17953165

The Kilternan Hotel and Country Club

Very close to this planned Cherrywood development is a fine example of a failed development: The Kilternan Hotel and Country Club. This development was never finished. The property was seized by NAMA and sold at a massive discount to the Comer brothers. Certain parts of the development, including the leisure centre, are close to completion. It is said that the pool lacks just water and a lifeguard. You can have a closer look inside here: http://www.myhome.ie/commercial/brochure/the-kilternan-hotel-aparthotel-and-sports-complex-kilternan-south-county-dublin/2783150

There was once an idea to use the complex as dormitories for UCD students

I used to ski on the artificial slope, adjacent to the complex. In the days when construction of the complex was actually taking place, me and my friend used to point out which apartments we would like to own. Nearly a decade on, those apartments lie vacant and incomplete.

Here are some other shots of the complex: (Courtesy of Ordnance Survey Ireland and Google)

The hotel in 2000

The hotel before development in 2005

Recent overhead shots of the unfinished development. The ski club is still open and in operation.

Towards Dublin city is Sandyford's Beacon development. It is a high-rise apartment complex complete with a shopping area, a hotel and a hospital. While the complex is functioning, one of the apartment blocks remains a concrete shell.

The majority of the apartments are full and the area is habited by young families and young professionals, but can be rather lifeless. If one visits there in the evening or on Sundays, one will find that many of the cafes are closed. Hence it seems there is a lack of community spirit, but maybe this will come in time.

 "There are a few more restaurants etc. around now so it's not quite as quiet anymore at nights and weekends now." - miezekatze (Boards.ie User)

The aforementioned unfinished block

The multi-story complex provides a contrast to the low-rise 1960's housing estates located nearby in Stillorgan

The Adamstown development and the Kilternan Hotel and Country Club had similar ambitious plans to the new Cherrywood development. They had the same buzzwords in their brochures, the same promises in their planning applications. I really hope that it is a success, but at the moment am

What may alarm people is that even though Dublin is experiencing a kind of housing crisis, I don't really know how the economy i

Our economy grew substantially last year and there is a feeling in the media that things are 'on the up'. However, this development may not be built until 2020 - what will the economic climate be like then? Will the Government's plan to build more social housing be complete? Will the Dublin population continue to grow at such a rate as it is?

Those questions will be answered in the future. For now, I hope the development is a success, but I am very much a skeptic.