​Mixed Development, Terenure

Client:  DTW
Main Contractor:   DTW   Construction
Civil & Structural Engineers:  Denanny Reidy Associates
PSDP:  Denanny Reidy Associates

Our Terenure project, granted permission by An Bord Pleanala in December 2010, involved small scale urban design resolving difficult vehicular access and creating a new semi private square. The Dublin City Development Plan allows a certain amount of latitude with minimum standards on infill sites subject to agreement with the planning department. We achieved twice the previously permitted amount of development on this site following lengthy negotiations with the planning department.

This proposal is for 6 houses and 300m2 of office over restaurant accommodation. The housing forms a new courtyard to end Elm Park Terrace, with the central unit designed to terminate both existing laneways and to provide a focus to the new courtyard. The elevations are treated in a modern manner but using the traditional materials of their neighbours. Flat roofs were chosen to minimise the impact of the 5 two storey houses. A pitched roof was chosen for the single storey unit to match its’ neighbours and ‘round off’ the terrace.

Units 1 & 2 have been designed in elevation as a single plane. This is both a design statement but also an acknowledgment of the dimensional tightness of the site. The buildings continue the building line but do not protrude beyond it to facilitate emergency vehicle access. In contrast units 4, 5 & 6 are modelled in elevation reflecting the fact that they adjoin a pedestrian access only and thus provide a variety of facade treatments.

The scheme creates a new square in the heart of Terenure. It is treated as a shared surface for pedestrians and vehicles in line with current thinking on optimum safety design. The shared surface or ‘homezone’ concept has been shown to slow traffic and increase safety. The surface is uniformly cobbled to maximise its’ apparent size.

The project was completed  July 2016.