Dublin industrial site set to be redeveloped for thousands of homes 3km from city centre

Plans for the redevelopment of the largest industrial land bank in Dublin since the Dublin docklands, facilitating the construction of thousands of homes serviced by rail and Luas lines, will be completed this year.

Dublin City Council will this month begin meeting major landowners and other stakeholders in the Dublin Industrial Estate in Glasnevin to seek their input into the Ballyboggan local area plan (LAP) which will govern the regeneration of 75 hectares of vacant or underused industrial lands, located just 3km from the city centre.

Several large industrial landowners in the vast estate, to the west of Glasnevin Cemetery, have already signalled their intention to relocate and developers are anxious to have sites rezoned rapidly to allow for the construction of new high-density homes on their lands.

However, in submissions to the council, local residents have raised concerns about the level of development planned and have threatened to “oppose any attempt to build high-rise developments” near their homes.

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The estate stretches from the Finglas Road opposite Glasnevin Cemetery to the east, Ratoath Road at Ashtown to the west, Cabra to the south and Tolka Valley Park, which separates Cabra and Finglas, to the north.

The Maynooth rail line and the Royal Canal run east-west through the site, while the Luas green line starts services at Broombridge and runs south towards this city. This station to the west of the land bank also has a stop on the Maynooth line, and will see a significant increase in services in the coming years with the extension of the Luas from Broombridge to Finglas and the planned Dart+ West line.

The LAP lands, named Ballyboggan after the road which runs along the Tolka Valley Park, are also less than 15 minutes’ walk from Phibsborough at their eastern edge.

While the focus will be on the residential potential of the lands, the council is keen that employment uses would be retained, and that there would be room for new jobs growth within the zone, to foster a “15-minute city” community, where residents can work, shop and have access to facilities such as health and cultural amenities close to where they live.

“Employment provision will be a cornerstone of the LAP proposals and will be essential to deliver on the 15-minute city concept,” the council said. “As part of the development of a mixed-use development framework, the proposed draft LAP will seek to provide the opportunity for existing businesses to remain in the area and/or to relocate or cluster within the LAP lands where appropriate.”

A number of sites in the estate have already been purchased by well-known property development companies such as Richard Barrett’s Bartra and Blacklion Real Estate Fund.

Applications for large-scale residential schemes were previously submitted, but refused on the grounds the lands are not yet zoned for residential development. Some of these applications have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála and decisions are pending.

While the planned lands are currently largely in industrial use, with some retail and cafes, the area to the west already has substantial high-density apartment schemes next to the Ratoath Road and heading into Pelletsown.

The south and east are dominated by the largely two-storey housing developments of Cabra and Glasnevin, however. Residents, mostly in Glasnevin, have raised concerns any new development “could negatively impact the security, privacy, noise levels and sunlight of their homes,” the council said.

“Residents feel that any residential areas in the LAP must be low-rise (two-storey max) where they are being developed near current residential areas on the boundary or perimeter.”

The council said any development framework would conform with the city development plan in terms of height and density and would be subject to further public consultation on detailed proposals and measures to protect established residential amenities.

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