Going costal in Donabate
Glaslinn, Donabate, Co Dublin ASKING PRICE: €340,000-€465,000 AGENT: REA Grimes (01) 8490129
WHEN Glaslinn was built off the Portrane Road in the middle of the 20th century, Donabate was a small coastal village and as dependent on agriculture as much as the midlands and the west of Ireland.
As the century rolled on, the village became a popular destination for commuters with a hankering for the seaside and the two-storey house with its long lawn, which belonged to three generations of teachers, was eventually sandwiched by housing estates.
The location of Glaslinn’s 2.4-ac site — near the centre of Donabate, a five-minute drive from Portrane Beach, and across the road from the entrance to the Donabate Educate Together national school, with its all-weather playing pitches — made it an ideal spot for a new residential development. It was acquired last year by Moran Park Homebuilders, the company headed up by Joe Moran, a veteran developer who has gradually returned to the property market after his Manor Park Homes collapsed with debts of €170m during the crash. Moran Park is now a family company, with Moran working with his children John and Adrienne.
Glaslinn house was demolished to make way for a scheme of 31 homes that is launching this weekend. Glaslinn, named after the original house, is the second development to be launched in Donabate within a three-week period by a Celtic Tiger-era developer: at the end of January, Roxtip, a company led by Bernard McNamara, released a scheme called Kingsland in the seaside village.
There are four different house styles and a variety of internal layouts at Glaslinn, designed by McGrane & Partners Architects to appeal to everyone from first-time buyers to trader-uppers.
The first phase at Glaslinn consists of 14 houses. These include two-bed terraced homes spanning 957 sq ft and costing from €340,000. The three-bed terraced style in this tranche is unusual in that it has a car port with access to the house through the downstairs utility room: this design measures 1,400 sq ft and is priced from €395,000. The fourbed end-of-terrace house style has 1,680 sq ft of living space extending over three floors, with the top floor housing an ensuite bedroom with walk-in wardrobes. This style has a €465,000-pricetag.
The timber-framed homes are finished in a Callaway yellow brick, with concrete pre-cast windowsills and double-glazed Alu-Clad windows from Munster Joinery. To the front, there is parking for two cars, and to the rear, large Alu-Clad sliding doors open on to a garden surrounded by concrete post and panel fencing.
The bespoke kitchen inside is fitted with contemporary-style solid surface worktops with satin chrome sockets and soft-close drawers and doors, all from Fitzgerald Kitchens. The latter also supplied the fitted wardrobes in the bedrooms.
The bathrooms and ensuites come with wall tiling, walk-in showers, sanitary ware from Ideal Standard, and polished chrome heated towel rails.
The A3-rated homes are equipped with a Dimplex A-class air-to-water pump.
Donabate is 20km northeast of Dublin city centre, or a 22-minute commute to Connolly Station from Donabate railway station, which is a 10-minute walk from Glaslinn. Dublin Airport is a seven-minute drive away, while access to the M1 and M50 motorways is a five-minute drive.
The showhouses at Glaslinn will be open tomorrow and Sunday, from 2pm to 4pm.