“There’s a dearth of modern bungalows aimed at the trader-down market,” says Pascal Conroy, who through his former company Albion Properties, built hundreds of homes in the capital.
Conroy has teamed with Suzanne Cashin, of investment management company Brewin Dolphin, as a project manager to Marketside, a boutique development company. A year ago it acquired the 0.33-acre site just off Eaton Brae with planning and has now constructed Ard na Gréine, three customisable, single-storey houses.
The leafy cul de sac is just off Orwell Road and within walking distance of several schools, beautiful Dartry Park and Rathgar village. The buff-granite fronted bungalows were designed by PA Architects, in the grounds of a two-storey over garden detached Victorian house. The grounds have been landscaped by award-winning Paul Martin Designs – his first scheme in 10 years.
All three units boast lofty ceiling heights of 2.9m and extra tall 2.6m doors. Light pools into every corner thanks to engineered triple-glazed windows, roof lights and large-format sliding doors.
Accessed via electronic security gates, number 10, the 143sq m/1,550sq ft two-bed showhouse, has been smartly fitted out by Helen Kilmartin of Minima to give an idea of how the finished properties might look.
There’s a smart kitchen by The Design Yard. It also fitted the double-hanging wardrobes in the bedrooms. Ideal Bathrooms supplied the sanitaryware while the herringbone timber underfoot is by Trunk Flooring.
The open-plan kitchen steps down into a bright livingroom facing an internal courtyard with a southeast aspect that could become a winter garden with some retractable glass roofing.
To the rear and accessed from the master bedroom is a second outdoor space, a decent-sized lawned garden, with a granite patio. Also southeasterly, it borders the grounds of the Russian Embassy.
The other two houses are bigger in size and come to market in what the agent is calling a “shell and core” state, so without any kitchen, flooring, bathrooms or tiling. The developer is offering a €30,000 allowance to buyers towards the installation of these elements or they can opt to have their homes fitted out as per the showhouse.
“Not everyone likes the same style of kitchen or bathroom fit-out,” Conroy explains, recounting building homes a decade ago where brand new, high-end kitchens were installed and then ripped out by the new owners in favour of something else.
Buyers can also change the custom door finishes from the walnut veneer in the showhouse and/or reconfigure the layout, for an additional cost.
Number nine, a three-bed plus study of 171sq m/1,850sq ft with five bathrooms, is seeking €1.45 million. Number 11, a four-bed, five-bath house of 195sq m/ 2,100sq ft, is seeking €1.5 million through agent Knight Frank.
