There is so much to like about Sandymount: a colourful, characterful village in Dublin 4 that’s close to the seaside and the city centre, with lots of schools, sports clubs and places to eat, drink and shop including local institutions such as Brownes, Books on the Green and Borza’s.
It’s no surprise, then, that more than half of the 25 new homes nearing completion at Sandymount Castle Court, off Gilford Road, have already sold; according to sales agent DNG they appeal to people wishing to downsize within the area, to people relocating home from London, and to young families who are renting in the area. The prices are strong, with ground-floor two-bed apartments from €825,000, four-bed duplexes from €1.025 million and three-bedroom houses “with extra drawing room” from €1.535 million.
For local comparison, the Property Price Register shows that houses on nearby Sandymount Castle Park and Drive have sold for between €910,000 and €1.22 million in the past few years, and Sherry FitzGerald has sale agreed 9 Sandymount Castle Road, a three-bed, 95 sq m house with planning permission for a two-storey extension that was on the market for €895,000.
Sandymount Castle Court is built on the 1.26-acre site of a detached house called Grey Gates that was sold, with planning permission, to B&C Developments for about €7 million in early 2019.
Distinctive touches
The entrance to the scheme is a continuation along the line of Sandymount Castle Park. It is laid out in a T, with two terraces of three-bed houses oriented east-west either side of the road, and the duplexes and apartments along the south boundary, backing on to the Windermere apartments on Gilford Road. The design, by Sandymount practice Core Architects, features a distinctive triangle that is a window in the houses and a zinc facing on the duplexes, continuing the cladding used on the roofs.
Security and own-door access have been considered in the design: at the ends and in the centre of the apartment/duplex block there will be gates, with access via fob for apartment residents to their own front doors across large south-facing patios. The front doors of the duplexes are up steps lined with glass balustrades.
Inside, the fitout is very luxurious; the solid parquet floors in the showhouses are not included but the panelled walls, quartz worktops, Kelly Design solid-wood kitchens, antique mirrored splashbacks, Neff appliances, video intercoms, wine fridges, Carlson aluclad windows, Sonas bathrooms and Cawleys wardrobes are standard.
The sophisticated interior finish, by Homes and Gardens, features satin brass door handles and smooth neutrals such as Cornforth White for the cabinetry and Eider White on the walls. Wardrobes in the main bedrooms, and in the dressing rooms, are of a dark wood from the Spanish company Finsa.
A-rated and spacious
There are clever touches in the design, from the wishbony spindles on the stairs to the glass pocket doors dividing the downstairs rooms in the three-bed houses. There is a tidy hall tucked inside the apartment doors, and the narrow window beside the floor-to-ceiling glass sliders in the duplex kitchen allows ventilation without opening the whole wall to the wide, south-facing terrace.
All the units are A-rated and feel spacious and bright, with long lightwells in the houses and duplexes casting sunlight right down to the hall. The three-bed houses with town gardens have an extra drawing room that could just as easily be a playroom, home office, or another bedroom, and the laundry is confined to a neat nook upstairs. The understairs is mostly taken up with the mechanics of the heating and ventilation system; there is underfloor heating at ground level here and in the apartments.
There are three 171 sq m (1,836 sq m) three-bed houses left, of which two are end-terrace and one is mid-terrace; there are also three 87sq m (941 sq ft) two-bedroom apartments and five 126 sq m (1,356sq ft) four-bed duplexes available.
When finished, there will be a little playground and a communal garden at the east side, bounding Durham Road. It’s very close to Sandymount Green, the Dart station and numerous buses; the houses include two parking spaces and the apartments and duplexes have one. Management fees are €1,600 for the apartments, €2,000 for the duplexes and €1,000 for the houses.
