Clean, cool - and a stream runs though it

Malahide: from €369,000A mix of apartments, three and four-bed semis and detached houses are being launched at a development midway between Swords and Malahide, writes Kate McMorrow

A new launch at Malahide this weekend is likely to draw the crowds at afternoon viewings. Cannon Kirk New Homes is opening showhouses and apartments for the first time at Waterside, well-located off Swords Road and adjacent to the M1 motorway. A water rill feature is planned as a central focus at the new scheme.

Prices start at €369,000 for 16 three-bedroom semis of just over 93 sq m (1,000 sq ft). Four-bedroom semis - 20 of these - cost from €489,000 for 112 sq m (1,200 sq ft) of accommodation.

There are also eight four-bedroom detached houses of 112 sq m (1,200 sq ft), priced from €570,000. A total of 550 units will be built on the site when completed.

While a fair walk from the village of Malahide, the Waterside site has the advantage of being almost equidistant between Swords and Malahide, close to the airport and well placed for road and rail transport options. Parts of the established Seabury estate are across the road.

Architects ID Partnership have designed Waterside along clean contemporary lines, with varying brick and render facings, the use of wood and glass and a good choice of house-types.

A water rill feature running the depth of the site and a commissioned sculpture piece by Anne Cooney will create an impressive entrance.

This will be lined by deciduous tree-planting, with seating incorporated into the raised waterway sides as it flows along.

A typical three-bedroom semi will have a sittingroom to the front with tall windows providing plenty of natural light. Ash doors open to an open-plan kitchen/diningroom which spans the width of the house to the rear.

Upstairs are two double and one single bedrooms, with an en suite off the largest room. Wardrobes are fitted in all bedrooms.

Four-bedroom semis have a separate sittingroom and a larger L-shaped kitchen/diningroom with an extra family sitting area opening to a rear terrace and the garden. Four-bedroom detached houses include en suites off two bedrooms.

Apartments and duplexes are also available at Waterside. Ground floor one-bedroom units have a combined sitting/dining and kitchen area, with one double bedroom and a full bathroom to the rear.

Above this are three-bedroom duplex units, with a sittingroom and kitchen/diningroom on the first floor, opening to a balcony.

Two double bedrooms, one en suite, one single room and a bathroom are on the upper level. The main bedroom includes a small viewing balcony.

Another duplex design has an open-plan sitting/diningroom/kitchen with a separate formal sittingroom and three bedrooms upstairs. Beneath this are one and two-bedroom apartments.

A separate working entrance means ongoing construction disturbance will be kept at a minimum for early residents.

Previous Cannon Kirk developments include Aiken's Village in Sandyford and Grange Hall, Dublin.

The units sold in this phase will be ready to move into before winter sets in according to the selling agent.

Viewing is on Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.