This summer should see the start of a new era for Temple Bar when it will begin life as a fully developed cultural, residential and commercial quarter. The grand finale of the nine-year redevelopment will be the sale of 38 apartments on Scarlet Row, followed by the official opening of Cow's Lane, a pedestrian thoroughfare linking Lord Edward Street and Essex Street.

This is likely to be greeted with a huge sigh of relief from the business community and the 1,500 residents who have been working and living with the constant drone of drills and jackhammers for some time now. "That has been very difficult," says Sheila Byrne, press officer for Temple Bar Properties, "but most of the building work is completed, so that constant noise has receded."

In 1998 stag and hen parties were banned from the area when a report found that rowdy behaviour on the streets was costing the city an annual net loss in tourism revenue of £57 million. That problem has since abated but only last year a survey found that a third of visitors still regarded rowdiness as a problem in the area.

According to Sheila Byrne, Temple Bar Properties has an "on-going dialogue" with the local community. "Temple Bar hadn't a big residential population before, so noise, security and lighting have been issues. But these problems have largely settled down in the last two years."

Demand for apartments in Temple Bar far outweighs supply. Priority has been given to owner-occupiers in the Old City development in the west end of the area. Most of these units have been bought by single people. However, Sheila Byrne says, "there are a few families in the area. I know a couple who traded up their smaller apartment for a larger one in the Book End development when they had children, so they could stay in the area."

From this point of view the crΦche facility is very important to us. It will be interesting to see what happens as the community develops."

In 1998, the social housing scheme in Smock Alley won a Construction Industry Federation award. Another acclaimed scheme, the eight-apartment Green Building, built in 1994, has eco-friendly solar panels, wind turbines and a roof that opens in warm weather. When first built, the three-bed penthouse sold for £120,000. It is now worth £290,000£300,000. Rental incomes are generally 15 per cent higher than in other parts of the inner city.

Temple Bar is largely an amalgam of Victorian and Georgian buildings. Its narrow alleys and cobbled streets are full of second-hand book shops, galleries, record stores, restaurants and cafes, pubs and quirky retail stores. Cultural centres include Design Yard, Art House, The Ark and Meeting House Square. The area is archaeologically rich with 11 sites excavated so far by Temple Bar Properties.

Part of its success, says Sheila Byrne, was that the 1991 development model for the area was not rigid: "It has been a growing, changing, moving thing and, because of that, whatever difficulties there have been we have been able to respond to."

For information on Temple Bar visit www.temple-bar.ie