The former Bank of Ireland sports grounds at Mount Anneville Road in Mount Merrion, Dublin 14, is to be used for a major housing development. A planning application is to be lodged this week for 526 apartments, 43 houses and a gymnasium. It will be the largest residential scheme in the area for decades.

The project is being handled by Michael Roden's Merrion Property Group which bought the 24-acre grounds at the end of 1999 for around £20 million. About eight acres of the site are to be set aside for part of the South Eastern Motorway.

The Merrion Group plans to retain as many of the trees as possible on the Knockrabo site which has views over Dublin bay on one side and Dublin city on another. The apartments and houses are to be provided in a mixture of contemporary styles including courtyard houses, five-bedroom crescent houses, atrium buildings and a circular building.

Landscaping, which will be a key element of the scheme, will be handled by Camlin Lonsdale. The open spaces are being designed as a series of parkland, village green and terraced settings that maximise the features of the site and the views.

The Merrion group has plenty of experience of apartment developments. Its most recent Dublin sceme involved the conversion of a 1950s clothing warehouse on Clonbrassil Street into an apartment complex. The 41 loft-style apartments and penthouses fetched top prices.

The company is currently involved in the redevelopment of The Four Corners, a range of period buildings in the Cathedral quarter of Belfast. When completed, the scheme will have hotel, restaurants, bars and apartments.

Merrion's extensive property portfolio also includes shopping centres in Belfast and commercial investments in the UK.