Small scheme launches at Castleknock Cross

Castleknock Cross is a small scheme situated on the Old Navan Road across the road from Brady’s Mercedes garage. When complete it will comprise 34 houses, a mix of semis, detached and terraced properties. The scheme launches with six houses, five semis and one detached property.

The development is built on lands belonging to John Scrivener whose family farm machinery business Farmhand was situated on this site – a green field when his father purchased it in 1972. The business moved from this location to its current one in Damastown eight years ago.

“My plan had been to sell it to a developer but this was 2008 and any who were interested couldn’t get the money and those that did have money wouldn’t give me anything like what I wanted,” he recalls.

So, semi-retired from selling farm machinery, he set up an investment fund Fontwood Investments and decided to do it himself.

A Castleknock resident, he says he wanted a high-spec finish so that the owners of the new homes could “greet him with a smile on their faces”.

The properties have been well considered and at over 5m wide feel roomy from the minute you cross the threshold. Most of the fixtures and fittings in the show house, designed by Jennifer Grace of Malahide-based The Good Room, are included in the price. Underfloor heating downstairs keeps the walls radiator free and there are smart cobalt blue and grey painted cabinets by Arena Kitchens which comes with white quartz countertops.

There’s a six-ring range cooker by AEG, a fridge freezer and dishwasher, both Electrolux, as well as a utility hidden behind a set of floor-length cupboard doors. The underfloor heating means the utility will also work as a drying room.

The flooring throughout, a travertine-style tile in the kitchen and parquet wood floors elsewhere are included in the price, a feature that is often no longer standard with developers offering less and less to new home buyers as the market improves.

The spec is generous throughout.

On the first floor there are three bedrooms, a spacious single, a decent double to the rear and a large double to the front that has a large ensuite shower room, all Villeroy and Boch sanitaryware, bathed in natural light. The black surround on the recessed niches to each side of the bed can be ordered in another colourway that might be less dominant.

On the second floor is another big double with a small balcony with French window access . There are views to the Educate Together school across the street, and St Brigid’s National School is at the end of the road.

To the rear is a small slant-roofed room, set up as a lounge but it could be another bedroom or study.

Designed by Paul Byrne Architects, the properties have side windows bringing light into the hall and kitchen, making it dual aspect. Box bay window in style, the sitting room in the semis is to the front of the house and features an inset electric fire.

Phase one comprises five semi-detached five-bedroom houses, averaging 215sq m/2330sq ft in size and asking from €820,000 through agents SherryFitzGerald.

The gardens of these homes face east and will be set out in lawn.