Dublin's most expensive new housing development comes on the market today in Clonskeagh, Dublin 14, when eight large detached houses are expected to exceed guideline prices of between £1 million and £1.5 million. Two smaller houses are likely to be sold well above the guide prices of £600,000 and £700,000.

This is only the second time that a development of new houses has come on the market with prices pitched above the £1 million mark. Last April, 15 houses at Carrickmines Wood, in Carrickmines, Dublin 18, were sold for between £950,000 and £1.25 million.

Cosgrave Developments is building only 10 houses in the latest scheme, Ardilea Wood, which is located off Roebuck Road in Clonskeagh. Access to the new homes is via Louvain and Salzburg, two leafy avenues which form part of the fashionable Ardilea development from the 1960s.

Because of the large number of buyers looking for one of the new homes, agents Hooke and MacDonald are to sell them by sealed bids after giving guideline prices in each case.

Ardilea Wood is unashamedly aimed at well-heeled couples who prefer large and luxurious ultra-modern homes rather than rambling period houses in need of refurbishment and modernisation. While the new houses are certainly expensive, they are particularly well laid out, offering a mixture of formality and elegance.

The most expensive homes in Ardilea Wood come with all the fittings one could expect in a smart Fifth Avenue pad - a rich marble entrance hall, cherry-wood floors and doors, US-style electrical appliances down to a tall wine-cooler, air ventilation, fitted office with work station, Jacuzzis and even a fully equipped gymnasium.

"Ardilea is the first turn-key operation in Dublin for house-buyers," says Joe Cosgrave of Cosgrave Developments. True to his word, buyers will get almost everything they need including carpets, curtains and light fittings.

They will also get sophisticated security systems. There are high security gates outside the new residential enclave, a long, narrow site that falls away from the entrance with all the houses but one along one side. The grounds have been landscaped in the Italianate-style, with paving bricks and cobble sets, water fountain, trees and shrubs and climbing plants that will cover the trellis fixed to a high wall on the opposite side of the new asphalt road.

The five largest houses going for sale are more than three times the size of the typical Dublin semi, with floor areas of 3,575 sq. ft. The guide prices for these five-bedroom units are £1.25 million to £1.5 million.

For that kind of money you get three outstanding reception rooms and a spacious kitchen and utility room with all the electrical equipment you are ever likely to need. Off the kitchen there is also a fine sunroom that will probably be used as a breakfast-room. The three reception rooms are particularly well proportioned, with 9 ft 2 in high ceilings, Georgian-style cornices, rose centre-pieces, attractive fireplaces and cherry-wood doors. Executives will be particularly impressed by the stylish fit-out of the home-office off the hall.

Upstairs, there are no less than five double bedrooms and four bathrooms. The main bedroom has a stunning en suite with marble floor and walls, a Jacuzzi bath surrounded by Roman-style fluted columns and a separate shower. The entire top floor is given over to a recreational suite.

The rear gardens are beautifully laid out complete with summer house, sandstone patios, outdoor light socket, as well as water and gas supplies.

Though some of the 10 houses in the development look identical from the outside, they all have different features and fit-outs. Three are somewhat smaller than the rest, with a floor area of 2,700 sq. ft but with the same high-specification. The guide price for these five-bedroom houses is £1 million-plus. Like the bigger house type, these come with an entire range of electrical appliances, a home office and, on a top floor, a gym with its own bathroom. Two of the four double bedrooms have en suite bathrooms.

Cosgraves has also built two smaller four-bedroom detached houses, one with 1,500 sq. ft and a guide price of £600,000-plus and another with 1,700 sq. ft, which is expected to make over £700,000.

Ken MacDonald, of the selling agents, says families buying one of the new houses as opposed to a second-hand home will be able to save on stamp duty. A second-hand home costing, say, £1.3 million would normally incur stamp duty of £117,000 whereas a similarly priced new house would involve a sum of only £22,750.