Dunloe Ewart may take stake in national freight park

The property group Dunloe Ewart is involved in talks which may lead to it taking a 50 per cent stake in the development of the proposed national distribution park at Clondalkin in west Dublin. It is planned to link the £100 million park by an existing railway line to Dublin Port. A consortium led by the international businessman Harry Dobson, which owns the 186-acre site in a key location in Clondalkin, had always planned to bring in a partner because of the immense size of the project.

As well as a freight handling facility, the plans provide for the installation of a major warehousing, light industry and high tech office scheme on the site with a total floor area of 2.5 million sq ft, all set in landscaped grounds between the Dublin-Cork railway line and the Grand Canal. A planning application and an environmental impact study for the project was lodged with South Dublin Co Council 18 months ago. Council officials have recommended that provision should be made for a distribution park and its rail link but have suggested that this should be done by way of material contravention of the development plan rather than by rezoning the site under the new draft development plan.

Mr Dobson's site is probably valued at around £20 million and if terms are agreed with Dunloe Ewart, it is likely to be developed on a joint venture basis. CIE may also have a stake in the project.

The site is strategically located close to the M50 C-ring road, making it convenient for freight operators to deliver containers to Dublin Port by rail, via the Phoenix Park tunnel, without having to enter the congested inner city. The Clondalkin site also lies between the N4 Galway road and the N7, which leads to Cork and Limerick. The overall plan for the site is based on the successful Daventry rail freight terminal on the M1 motorway in England.

The ancillary development proposed for the Clondalkin site would provide 1.94 million sq ft of warehousing in five large high bay buildings beside the railway and numerous others of varying sizes, as well as 538,000 sq ft of office-type buildings and 26,000 sq ft of light industrial units.

Mr Dobson has proposed two large gantries, each over 135 ft high, which would load and unload the containers. There would be seven rail sidings on the site, running parallel with the DublinCork line, and provision is also being made for a commuter railway station.