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Leading property development company Castlethorn
Construction has publicly showcased Adamstown Central
- the €1.2 billion town centre at the heart of
Adamstown - Ireland's first 21st century town.
At 154,000 sq m, Adamstown Central is one of the largest
ever mixed-use developments.
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It will provide a full range of community, civic, residential,
retail and commercial facilities for the award-winning town's
expected population of 30,000 by 2015 - equivalent in size
to other major towns such as Drogheda and Dundalk. It will
also lead to the creation of over 2,500 new jobs within the
Town Centre and its immediate environs.
The plan was created over a three-year period by a design
team of unprecedented scale, lead by seven architectural practices
and supported by 55 professional consultancies, including
- movement consultants, colourists, lighting designers, wind
consultants, landscape architects and engineers. The team's
brief was to reconcile the social, environmental and commercial
considerations of 21st-century urban living, while creating
a unique place of distinction in the European built environment.
Castlethorn Construction's plan for a large cluster of integrated
community infrastructure in Adamstown Central is designed
to foster a strong civic ethos and facilitate the natural
development of the town's community. Amongst the planned facilities
are a Primary Healthcare Centre, an Inter-Church Place of
Worship, a leisure centre and swimming pool, a Library (Idea
Store), Enterprise Centre and several civic squares.
| The 20-acre town centre will be located
beside Adamstown train station and the town's schools
- all of which were opened in 2007. The town centre will
also incorporate 60 retail units - including restaurants,
cafés and bars, an 8-screen cinema and 900 apartments.
Car parking will be entirely underground on one level,
facilitating a pedestrian-friendly, traffic-free environment.
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Castlethorn Construction's goal of creating a unique urban
setting was underscored by the appointment of no less than
seven architectural practices, namely - Duffy Mitchell O'Donoghue,
Grafton Architects, HKR, Henry J Lyons, Metropolitan Workshop,
O'Donnell & Tuomey and OMP.
The diversity of the design team has lead to a plan of co-ordinated
variety. The urban design masterplan for Adamstown Central
draws its influences from across Europe - some of them historical
- including the intimate street patterns and public spaces
of the 12th century French Bastides settlements. The design
is comprised of a network of new public squares and numerous,
intimately-planned primary and secondary streets. The new
heart for Adamstown will provide a high quality contemporary
built environment that will have its own unique and memorable
'sense of place'.
Sustainability
Adamstown has been designed from the beginning as a sustainable
community, with low-energy buildings as part of the vision.
The buildings have been designed to achieve in excess of a
40% energy saving compared to current standards of the Building
Regulations. The Community Heating System will use 30% renewable
energy sources.
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In the design and construction of the buildings, a
significant reduction in the amount of Carbon Diioxide
(CO2) emissions has been achieved
through design,use and specification of materials.
Once built, the reduction in CO2
emissions is estimated to be about 1,750 tonnes per
year - equivalent to the energy required to heat 1000
homes.
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During the construction stage it is estimated that Castlethorn
will save another 7,300 tonnes of CO2
through the use of low-carbon concrete.
Healthcare
The Health Services Executive (HSE) is developing a new Primary
Care Centre in Adamstown Central to facilitate the provision
of a comprehensive range of services to the new population
of Adamstown and the existing population in South Lucan.
With the development of the new Primary Care Centre, the
public will be provided with the full range of HSE services,
including inter alia - Public Health Nursing, Area
Medical Officer services, Community Welfare, Dental, Speech
Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Social Work.
Providing Primary Care Infrastructure in the District Centre
of Adamstown will facilitate an integrated approach to care
delivery involving the local community, General Practitioners,
Health Service Professionals and other service providers.
Library & 'Ideas Store'
South Dublin County Council's new library in Adamstown Central
will represent a new era in 21st century information exchange
and learning. The Library will be the main component of the
new town Civic Centre, which will also house a Community Exhibition
Centre, community meeting rooms and a youth café.
One of the inspirations behind the new Civic Centre is the
'Ideas Store' concept - pioneered by Tower Hamlets Council
in London, where its library building is more than just a
library or a place of learning. The new library concept also
offers a wide range of adult education classes, career support,
training, a crèche, meeting areas and arts and
leisure pursuits.
Inter-Church Place of Worship
The Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland and Methodist
Churches of the Lucan area and Castlethorn Construction are
at an advanced stage of planning for a shared place of worship
where the Churches will minister alongside each other. The
Churches see great potential in bringing a spiritual dimension
and presence to the heart of such a bustling town centre location.
Architects O'Donnell & Tuomey have worked with the various
Church representatives and Castlethorn Construction to design
a facility that would incorporate a chapel, oratory, assembly
area, meeting rooms and an office. The place of worship would
open onto an urban park area.
Transport
It is an aim of the wider Adamstown Masterplanning Scheme
to create a sustainable community through a holistic approach
that integrates land-use and transportation planning. Adamstown
Central is fully integrated with Adamstown's transport hub
being adjacent to the new train station, Park & Ride facility,
the QBC bus service and bicycle parking facilities. A new
station concourse building will physically link the train
station building with the town centre itself.
The main transport focus is to reduce private car dependency
and to maximise public transport usage by incentivising those
who choose not to own or use a private car. This is being
achieved through a number of innovative programmes including
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- Early delivery of public transport - and
- Multi-function car parking (MCFP).
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Adamstown is Ireland's first Strategic Development
Zone (SDZ).
The crucial component of legislation governing the
development of Adamstown and other SDZs is the requirement
to phase the construction of housing, so that all the
necessary services and facilities for the new town are
delivered in tandem to the development of houses.
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The promoters of Adamstown - Castlethorn Construction, Maplewood
Developments and Tierra Ltd. - formed a joint-venture company,
Chartridge Developments, to undertake the development
of infrastructure at Adamstown in conjunction with South Dublin
County Council and the relevant Government Departments and
statutory transportation and infrastructure providers.
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