Way cleared for major Swords town centre

DEVELOPMENT work is to begin next September on a major town centre at Swords in north Dublin. The first phase of the project, costing in excess of £30 million, will include a shopping centre, multiplex cinema complex and a multi-storey car-park.

An Bord Pleanala has cleared the way for the development following a public inquiry. One of Dublin's largest housebuilders, Flynn and O'Flaherty Properties, will be developing the new centre on a site of over 20 acres between Main Street and the Swords bypass.

The shopping centre will be the largest and most important new development in Swords since Fingal County Council decided to develop it as the principal town of the new council district. As the site adjoins the Superquinn department store, the scheme will extend the existing commercial and recreational facilities and provide a new focus for one of the fastest growing areas of the country.

Jimmy Flynn of Flynn and O'Flaherty Properties said the layout and style of the centre would comply with a carefully structured plan drawn up by the council. It was designed for an urban setting and would be built to a particularly high specification.

The marketing strategy adopted by the promoters is also designed to give it the edge over other suburban shopping centres.

The joint letting agents, Hamilton Osborne King and Lambert Smith Hampton, will be pitching for the very best multiples and other traders.

Companies already over represented in shopping centres in the greater Dublin may find it difficult to acquire space in Swords.

It is thought likely that many of the major UK multiples looking for new trading opportunities in the Dublin area will opt for Swords because of its strategic location in north Dublin. The extension of the M50 from Santry to Malahide will bring Swords within a short commuting distance of the high-spending families living along the coast.

Designed by architects & Muiri Smyth, the new centre will have a total area of 440,000 square feet, including the car-park. The shopping centre will have a nett retail area of 195,000 square feet, of which 115,000 square feet will go to three anchors. The largest will have 60,000 square feet while the two others will have 30,000 and 25,000 square feet.

Around 80,000 square feet will be set aside for unit shopping with about three of the shops ranging in size from 10,000 to 15,000 square feet. There will be retail space on two levels overlooking a curved mall.

The overall plan provides for a new system of streets linking the existing town centre with a pedestrian court which will house a variety of leisure, recreational, office and shopping facilities. There will be several cafes and restaurants in this area along with a bar, oratory and creche.

The five-storey car-park will accommodate 720 cars and a surface car-park will hold a further 800 vehicles. There will be eight cinemas including one that can be used as a concert hall.

The promoters say that the provision of open streets and courts, which will be open to the public through the day and night, would maintain the vibrancy of the town centre and ensure a real expansion of existing facilities.

The second phase of the scheme will include a 150-bedroom hotel and several other commercial projects.

Flynn and O'Flaherty paid £3.2 million for the 23-acre Swords site about three years ago.