Village feel to Citywest starter homes scheme

Liadan Hynes at the launch of an Edwardian-style red-brick development in Citywest

DAVY Hickey Properties have been building in West Dublin for over 25 years — they are the builders responsible for the Citywest Business Campus. So while it might be an exaggeration to say the homes of Citywest Village have been a quarter of a century in the planning, Simon Walsh of the property developer acknowledges: “We have been master planning this site for a long time. A lot of thinking went into it.”

Citywest Village, which launched yesterday, will eventually number approximately 339 houses in total. Completion should be reached roughly five years from now.

The development sits just at the perimeter of the business park and these are the nearest houses to the offices which are now the workplace of roughly 8,000 workers, and which were built by the same developer.

This first phase sees the release of 40 units, mostly three bedrooms, with a small number of four-bed homes. There are three three-bed house types, with a show house for each on view as of yesterday, with show house interiors by Ventura.

The overall plan was to design something based on traditional, established Dublin villages such as Drumcondra, Sandymount and Ranelagh. As such, these houses, inspired by Edwardian-style homes, feature full red-brick frontages, granite sills, traditional brick arches above the windows and front doors, proper covered porches with granite paving, slate roofs and higher than average windows, 1.8m high rather than the usual 1.5m. Amongst previous developments by this same builder, Ailesbury Wood off Ailesbury Road featured the same high-spec red-brick frontages.

All units here are two storey and have two parking spaces. Most units in this development will be three-bedroom town houses or three-bedroom semi-detached, with four four-bedroom semi-detached units as part of this launch. Fifteen units have so far been completed.

The three-bedroom houses range from town houses, 109sqm-116sqm, from €295,000, and three-bed semi-detached, 110-124sqm, from €317,500. The four bedrooms are 131sqm from €380,000. All units have a BER rating of A3.

In terms of living space, there is an option of a separate kitchen and living room, in the bookend unit (a double-fronted style, with less depth), and a living room with double doors opening to the open plan kitchen/ dining area with glass doors overlooking the garden.

Most bathrooms include both a bath and a separate shower unit. All bedrooms bar the box rooms come with fitted wardrobes. Rear gardens are seeded with block rear walls and timber post and panel fencing.

The choice of the site location, given they have been building in the area for 25 years now, came down in the end to proximity to the Luas; the nearest stop is just seconds’ walk from the front door of these first houses.

An exact replica of Sandymount Green will eventually sit in the scheme, just beside the Luas stop, and there are plans for a retail unit at some stage.

A Topaz station with a good newsagent is less than five minutes’ walk across the road, and Citywest Shopping Centre is located nearby. Landscaping has been a priority all along on this project, says Walsh, since the inception of the business park. This development features spacious pathways and this first release sits around a wide green area — separate to the planned park — that includes 15-year-old redwood trees moved from elsewhere within the site.

The developer expects interest largely from first-time buyers, both those working in the area, or those from the area who work in the city and will make use of the Luas. Viewing: Today, 2-4pm Agent: Sherry FitzGerald New Homes (01) 677 1888 Price: Three-bedroom townhouses, from €295,00; three-bedroom semi-detached units from €317,500; four-bedroom semi-detached units from €380,000