Dublin City Council has launched plans for a €450 million new town scheme to rejuvenate one of the capital's most deprived areas, Cherry Orchard.
The plan to develop a town over the next five years on a 25-acre derelict site alongside the M50 is one of the most ambitious urban regeneration projects undertaken in Ireland.
There will be 1,723 residential units in the scheme, one third of which will be social and affordable homes. Another 550 affordable homes will be built on a series of open spaces in Cherry Orchard, which have become notorious black spots in terms of anti-social behaviour.
As well as offices and shops, there will be community facilities including a railway station, cinema, swimming pool and sports amenities.
To ensure local support for the redevelopment plan, the city council and the developers have created a consultative forum, which will be chaired by Dr Tom Collins, president of Dundalk Institute of Technology, and an expert on social deprivation and community development.
At the publication of the blueprint yesterday, Dublin's Lord Mayor, Mr Michael Conaghan, said he hoped the development would not "turn into an island of privilege" but become a vibrant economic and social centre for Cherry Orchard.
Dr Collins said such areas had failed to benefit significantly from the economic boom. He hoped the forum would ensure that the development benefited the entire community.
"It has such a beautiful name, yet when you drive through it you don't see a tree," he said.
"The grimness of the landscape is sort of a bad joke on the name."
Architects outlined plans for a new town of up to 8,000 people beside the existing Cherry Orchard area.
The development will revolve around a main street, to be called Central Park Avenue, with a market place at one end. A large plaza is planned for a new railway station on the Kildare line, which will be dominated by a 40-storey glass tower.
Large grass dunes are planned to insulate the site from the noise of the nearby M50 motorway.
The 25-acre site is to be developed by Bennett Durkan, a consortium of private developers who won a tender from the council.
Some 21,000 square metres of commercial space is planned for the site, including supermarkets, shops and offices.
The plans have been drawn up by eight different architect and town planning firms.
Mr Tony Reddy, one of the leading planners, said it "will make Cherry Orchard and place it on the map in Dublin. I can see the day when when this will be a model for other European countries."
The new town will connect directly with the older parts of Cherry Orchard, built mainly during the 1960s and 1970s.
It will also link into Park West, a private office and residential development, most of which has been completed.
The council is also finalising the purchase of a 25-acre site beside Cherry Orchard Hospital from the Eastern Regional Health Authority, for a second stage of the development. Seven acres of the site will provide new sporting facilities for Cherry Orchard United.
Mr Michael Stubbs, south central manager for Dublin City Council, said the new town would cost €450 million, which was being financed entirely by the developers.
The council has spent €25 million to date on building roads and other services.
It will also receive a percentage of the sale price of each private apartment.