Co Dublin: from €239,500 Now in its sixth phase, the Ridgewood development in north Co Dublin offers quality homes suitable for many buyers, writes Jack Fagan.

One of the most successful new housing developments in north Dublin in recent years has been the Ridgewood scheme between Swords and Dublin Airport.

First launched almost seven years ago, it has been in consistently strong demand because of the high quality of the finish and the interesting mixture of units, from large detached homes to townhouses and apartments. Each phase has sold out within days.

If that is anything to go by, then today's launch of the latest tranche of houses and apartments should also be a sell out. The MKN Group - run by the McKeon family - will have no less than eight different show units on view from today at their site on Forest Road, midway between Forest Little Golf Club and Swords village.

Agents Hooke & MacDonald and Morton & Flanagan will be staffing the show units which have been beautifully furnished by six different interior designers.

The new phase, known as The Cedars, will have a mixture of two-bed apartments, two and three-bed townhouses and large four-bedroom homes.

Prices start at €239,500 for large two-bedroom apartments, from €269,000 for two-bedroom townhouses, from €299,000 for three-bedroom townhouses, from €345,000 for three-bedroom semis, from €389,000 for four-bedroom townhouses, and from €525,000 for four-bedroom corner detached homes.

The huge mixture of homes going for sale underlines the changes that have taken place in the housing market: single people, couples and families all have different requirements and different spending power. The end result is a complementary mix of homes that allows residents to trade up and trade down within the development.

Happily for the residents, second-hand values have been particularly strong, helped by the attractive overall layout, the good landscaping and the fact that it is a harmonised, well designed development.

One of the new selling points in Ridgewood is that, like an increasing number of large new developments, it has a convenience store (run by Tesco Express) at the front of the site along with a pharmacy and a crèche.

Most of the homes in this, the sixth phase of the scheme, will be either three-bedroom semis or three-bedroom townhouses ranging in size from 91.5-106.4sq m (985-1,146sq ft).

The townhouses have a traditional hallway with a guest lavatory off. There is a flow of space from the sittingroom to the large diningroom/kitchen. The sittingroom fireplace is quite attractive and houses a mains gas fire.

Kitchen units are of cherrywood and there is a door opening out onto the patio. Two of the bedrooms are double sized - the larger homes have en suite bathrooms with the main bedroom while the smaller ones have entry to the bathroom from both the landing and the principal bedroom.

Bathrooms have a separate shower in the larger houses and some end units have an additional en suite shower. The third bedroom is a single, also with wardrobes and would make an ideal office.

For those who don't need as much space, there will be a good selection of two-bedroom townhouses which are equally stylish and comfortable.

The developers are also taking bookings for three different four-bedroom homes ranging in size from 108.5-162sq m (1,168-1,743sq ft). The larger homes offer exceptionally fine accommodation and have a livingroom, diningroom and a separate study.

The kitchen, which doubles as a dining area, comes with oak wall and floor units, polished granite worktops and a stainless steel and glass hood over the cooker. Two of the bedrooms have stylish en suite bathrooms. Most of the four-beds also come with separate garages.

There will be two styles of apartments available, both with two-beds and more space than is generally available in the city. The homes are located in three separate three-storey blocks with a clever dual aspect layout that works quite well.

This configuration by architects Fenton Simons allows the living quarters to be on one side to catch the light all the time while the double bedrooms on the other side offers a comfortable ambience.

The interiors reflect MKM's high quality fitout, particularly in the kitchen and bathroom. All the livingrooms have glass-fronted balconies. The corner apartments are somewhat bigger and have balconies wrapped around the corner of the livingroom with two separate sliding doors on either side.

Part of the extra space is taken up with an en suite off the main bedroom. The entrance halls are particularly welcoming and include storage space. All the apartments are heated by gas central heating.