Ahead of the curve
Downsize in style in a two-bed apartment right at the heart of Clonskeagh
DURING the late 1960s, when Clonskeagh was mostly made up of one-off houses and large tracts of private open land owned by the Catholic Church, the first residential estates sprung up at Ardilea. Ardilea’s proximity to the nearby newly-transferred UCD campus in Belfield served as the inspiration for a plethora of university-themed names for its cul-de-sac enclaves, such as Harvard, Yale and Louvain. One of those cul-desacs is called Heidelberg and tucked away off this enclave is Ardilea Crescent, one of the few new developments in Clonskeagh.
After building and selling 19 three-storey, yellow-brick houses on the five-acre site, which launched in 2016, the developer, Galway-based O’Malley Construction, switched its focus towards building 48 apartments at Ardilea Crescent. The first 15 units were released in the autumn, and a new release, consisting of ten twobed apartments, is going on the market today.
Sizes range from 936 sq ft to 958 sq ft and prices start at €495,000 — they were designed with the upper end of the south Dublin residential market in mind, especially downsizers keen to remain within the leafy suburb.
The apartments, designed by award-winning architects McCrossan O’Rourke Manning, overlook a landscaped green space that includes terraced lawns with seating, pergolas, and a fenced natural playground.
A walnut-veneered entrance door to each apartment leads to an open-plan living/dining/ kitchen area that is flooded with natural light by floor-to-ceiling double-glazed PVC windows from Wrights Windows. Glass doors open out from this area to a paved balcony or terrace.
In the living area, a decorative feature ceiling with LED cove lighting forms a nice centrepiece and is complemented by architrave and skirting throughout each unit. There is also plenty of storage space for residents who have accumulated a lifetime of belongings, while underfloor heating negates the need for radiators to take up valuable floor space. The kitchen, supplied by QK Living, has a matt finish, marbled quartz worktops, LED lighting, integrated handles, and a full suite of Neff appliances, including a stainless-steel gas hob, a built-in microwave and multi-function oven, a fridge-freezer, and a dishwasher. There is also a Neff washer-dryer in the utility room, which is fitted with grey porcelain floor tiles and a countertop.
The sanitary ware and floor and wall tiling in the bathrooms and ensuites come from Villeroy & Boch, while the ensuites are fitted with showers and chrome heated towel rails as standard.
Each of the two-bed apartments comes with an allocated parking space, and there is additional visitor parking available, too. Access to each unit is via an audio phone system connected to the intercom at the main entrance door.
The apartments come with either an A2 or A3 BER. A mechanical ventilation heat recovery system recovers the heat energy in the exhaust air leaving each apartment and uses it to warm up the incoming fresh air, thereby reducing heating bills and ensuring the apartment is kept well ventilated. PV solar panels on the roof of the building generate electricity during daylight hours, while a gas-fired central heating with an A-rated condensing boiler provides cheap and energy-efficient heating and hot water.
Residents can use the Luas stop at Kilmacud — a short drive away — to reach St Stephen’s Green.
Viewings at Ardilea Crescent take place today, from 1pm to 2pm, and continue tomorrow and Sunday, between 11:30am and 12:30pm.
There is plenty of storage for residents with a lifetime of belongings