Balbriggan to get €55m shopping centre

The development is expected to greatly enhance the retail and leisure facilities of a town that has failed to keep pace with its fast-growing population, writes Jack Fagan

BALBRIGGAN IN north Co Dublin is to get a major shopping centre as part of the first phase of a mixed-use development.

An Bord Pleanála has endorsed last February's decision by Fingal County Council to grant permission for the €55 million scheme which will form the key connection between the existing town centre and its expanding areas to the west. The development is expected to greatly enhance the retail and leisure facilities of a town that has failed to keep pace with its fast-growing population.

The promoters, Parkway Partnership, say that the initial phase will create up to 450 new jobs and provide the core of a much wider development on the surrounding lands including leisure, residential, office, restaurants, community uses and civic spaces.

Tesco is understood to have agreed purchase terms for the 9,500sq m (102,257sq ft) anchor store which will trade over two internal street levels. The 14,500sq m (156,077sq ft) shopping centre will also accommodate 30 retail units, a large food court, medical centre and leisure centre.

Top architects AD Wejchert has capitalised on the natural gradient of the site to create a scheme which will have both car parks and pedestrian entrances directly serving both street levels, ensuring a balanced distribution of customers across the centre.

The design also takes maximum advantage of the high natural light levels from the 110-metre long curving glazed street which will form the spine of the new centre.

The scheme will benefit from the upgrading of the adjoining road network and will have three direct access points - allowing rapid access from the town centre and nearby roads including the M1. The initial phase will include two large civic plazas which will provide a focus for the wider development of the surrounding lands.

The developers of the new centre are obviously heartened by the 2006 census findings which showed that Balbriggan was the fastest growing "large town" in Ireland with a 51 per cent increase in population in the preceding four years.

Stephen Murray of letting agent Jones Lang LaSalle attributes the rapid growth to "affordability and accessibility" - the latter because of the excellent transport links provided by the M1 and the direct rail link to Dublin. The catchment growth rate has outstripped the national average by a factor of three over the last decade and is set to increase further with population projections within the critical 20-minute drive time set to move to over 113,000 by the year 2012.

Fingal County Council's recent decision to grant planning permission for 1,057 new homes on a site adjacent to the Parkway development will help to meet future demands. Plans to develop Bremore Port immediately north of Balbriggan to provide the deepest shipping berths on the east coast will also give a major boost to the area. A plan to have a full Dart service was also promised under Transport 21 but, like many other projects, will probably be delayed because of the current economic slowdown.

Savills HOK will be joint letting agent for the Balbriggan scheme. Parkway's directors are Michael McDonald, Tom Gilligan, Timothy Keane, John McCabe and Ray McGowan.