For a man who is overseeing the opening of the biggest retail development in a country consumed by shopping, Don Nugent seems remarkably unruffled.

The centre director of the new Dundrum Town Centre, he is constantly exposed to hype and high expectations, most noticeably by the voiceover of the centre's promotional video, which he must have heard 30 times: "The day of the ordinary shopping centre has passed. We are entering a new era... the fashion district is the jewel in the crown of Dundrum Town Centre, comparable with London's Bond street, Milan's Via Sant Andrea or New York's Fifth Avenue."

The AA has issued traffic warnings, Luas is laying on extra trams to meet the demand, retail junkies are rubbing their hands in glee and Mother's Day is fast approaching, yet Nugent retains the calm of someone who has dealt with frazzled customers and January sales scrums all his working life.

His career has taken him from behind the counter at Switzers nearly 30 years ago, via Dunnes, Clerys and The Square in Tallaght to Ireland's latest hub of consumerism which, despite persistent rumours of delays and setbacks, opened for business yesterday on schedule.

The centre, backed by Crossridge Investment and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, will eventually create 4,000 jobs and provide €130 million in annual tax returns to the Exchequer.

Phase one covers 850,00 square feet, and key tenants include international brands such as H&M, House of Fraser, Hugo Boss, Virgin Megastore and Timberland, with Harvey Nichols set to open its first Irish branch in September. By the time it is completed, the centre will feature 32 restaurants and cafes and a multiplex cinema and will be served by two Luas stops.

Nugent bridles at the suggestion that this is just another shopping mall with high-profile outlets. "The centre is part of the county development plan, which is in turn part of the national development plan," he says.

"The council had earmarked Dundrum for development. Dundrum will be the second-biggest town in the area after Dún Laoghaire, and this will be a proper town centre with civic facilities, like a 200-seater theatre, which is being given back to the community, and adult education rooms.

"Call me biased, but we don't see ourselves just as a shopping centre. We have a self-contained fashion district, lots of external offers, and eventually we envisage an underground late bar and nightclub," he says.

"It's a venue in itself, and we would see no problem with people coming here for a night out or for fine dining."

"We have developed a consumer society and we need a consumer offering. We have always had a continental style of fashion here in Ireland; I should know, I worked on Grafton street for 13 years.

"I started off in 1977 as a salesperson behind the counter at Switzers and they put me on a management training course. At the time I was also doing a course at the college of marketing.

"I was appointed to the position of buyer then I was merchandising manager for 7 years before being appointed general manager.'

Mr Nugent (47) was only two years into the manager's job at Switzers before he got itchy feet in 1990. It was a time of upheaval in Irish retail; Brown Thomas sold its building to Marks and Spencers and moved across the road into Switzers, changing the commercial climate in Grafton street irrevocably, and in Tallaght the long- overdue Square was being built

"By 1990 I decided I needed some new experiences in a different sort of retail and the Tallaght Square was just starting up around then. In fact a lot of the team here were involved with the Square as well."

Mr Nugent's stay in Tallaght was short-lived, returning to the city centre in 1991 when he was headhunted by Clery's, where he spent almost six years.

"After that I was head of homeware in Dunnes, so I've had experience in different sides of the trade; chain stores, department stores,shopping centres, as a buyer, as a manager, the lot."

Such variety of experience no doubt stood to Mr Nugent when he wasappointed to the Dundrum job, given the scope of the centre'sofferings and the need to find the right balance.

"It's important to have balance in your personal life as well," he says. "I've been in retail so long now and recently I've been coming in before seven and leaving at any time up to eleven, but I'm not losing sleep thinking about the centre at night. I have a wife and two children and I like to think that I can switch off when I get home."

The idea of an organic neighbourhood, as opposed to a commercial site, is reflected in the layout of the central meeting area, aptly named Town Square (due to be completed in September).

The square"s visual showpiece is the Mill Pond, once a focal point for the community and now restored. Surrounding the pond are shops, cafes, a bandstand, a boardwalk, and, in the pond itself, a dynamic fountain system.

The square even has its own church.

Unlike the sites of the Square in Tallaght or the Blanchardstown Centre, Dundrum is a long-established community, where families have lived for generations.

Local residents may well have been expected to react adversely to all this upheaval in their back yard.

"The difference with Dundrum is that it is surrounded by chimney pots. A lot of our foreign investors were surprised with that, as they might have been expecting a greenfield site off the motorway somewhere," says Nugent.

"We expect 15 per cent of our customers to arrive by foot or on bicycle. As far as the local community goes, they were obviously to know the plans from the very start, and we went to great pains to let them know everything we were doing.

"We've spoken to them on a one-to-one basis. It wouldn't have been unusual for a developer to be chatting to someone in their home at nine o'clock at night," says Nugent.

"We haven't shied away from trying to solve any problems that may have been raised, and we have told everyone about our plans well in advance."

Nugent is also unruffled by the possibility that the Irish public's appetite for spending and short-term borrowing may spiral beyond control before the centre is completed.

"There have been a lot of reports in the press about how the total debt is over 100 per cent of gross national income - but 80 per cent of that is mortgage," he says.

"The ratio of mortgage to gross income is 30 per cent, which is comfortable by European standards.

"The SSIAs mature next year, which will pour a lot of money into the economy and also take a huge burden off the Government.

"All the indications are that the market will continue to grow, and at some point stabilise. Downturns happen in all markets at some point, but our tenants are all financially secure, and we are confident we can ride that wave when it comes."

The plans have been 10 years in the making and, even in that time, the retail landscape has changed dramatically, particularly the international perception of the Irish market.

"When we started talking to potential tenants, some of them didn't even know where Dublin was. I think one of them actually used the phrase 'a little island in the Atlantic'.

"The Irish retail market and the Dublin retail market have come a long way recently. Harvey Nichols are opening three stores this year - Dubai, Hong Kong and Dundrum - so that shows you the kind of markets that we're talking about.

"New projects like the Zara concession in Roches Stores have brought attention to the Dublin retail scene."

"One of the guys we were talking to said he had never seen such a wide mix of tenants in any European city.

"We offered good-sized units, which was important in attracting tenants, and we went for a broad spectrum between mid-market and upmarket.

"We were careful not to duplicate the same kind of offering, because they would be taking up space that could be used for something different. We had to actually turn some potential tenants away."