Almost 400 homes approved for new west Dublin suburb of Clonburris

Social, affordable purchase and cost-rental homes approved for first phase with construction to begin next year

A computer-generated image indicating part of the Clonburris development.
A computer-generated image indicating part of the Clonburris development.

Almost 400 social, affordable purchase, and cost rental homes have been approved for the first phase of housing in the new west Dublin suburb of Clonburris.

Construction is expected to start early next year on the first of two developments recently approved by South Dublin county councillors, with homes expected to be completed within 18 to 20 months.

The two schemes, Grand Canal Extension and Kishogue, will be the first developed by the council on its landholding in the new Clonburris Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), to the east of Adamstown along the Dublin-Kildare railway line close to the Grand Canal.

More than 8,700 homes for a population exceeding 23,000 are expected to be developed in the Clonburris SDZ over the coming years, almost one-third of which will be built on land owned by the council.

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The council’s first project will see 60 affordable purchase homes and 56 social homes built on a site just south of the Grand Canal and less than 10 minutes walk from Clondalkin train station. Grand Canal extension will be a low-rise estate with a mix of houses and apartments to a maximum height of four storeys.

In the second quarter of next year, work is expected to start at Kishogue in the west of Clonburris on a larger scheme of 266 homes, 93 of which will be social housing, along with 90 affordable purchase and 83 cost rental, where rents are based on the cost of building and managing the homes instead of market rates.

The Kishogue scheme, which is expected to take 22 months to build, has been designed by Metropolitan Workshop, the architects and urban designers behind Ballymun Regeneration Masterplan as well as Herberton, built on the site of Dublin City Council’s Fatima Mansions estate.

Rail station

The homes will be close to Kishogue Station, which was built in 2008 and is eventually due to open by the end of next year following a €3.8 million refurbishment by Irish Rail. The Kishogue estate will have a mix of houses, duplexes and apartments with heights ranging from two to five storeys.

The scheme features five different “character areas” organised around three new public spaces, with higher densities accommodated along a linear park to maximise the number of homes “with expansive views” the architects said.

Clonburris was last week allocated €186 million in Government funding for the development of infrastructure such as transport, water and other utilities and a public park.

Cairn Homes, the largest private landowner in Clonburris, last December lodged its first application with the council for 569 homes. The company plans to eventually build 5,000 homes in the SDZ area.

Once fully developed the 280 hectares at Clonburris will have a population equivalent to the towns of Naas, Navan and Wexford, and Kilkenny city. Three new primary and three secondary schools will be built in phases, along with the houses and apartments.

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly is Dublin Editor of The Irish Times