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Adamstown

Baile Adaim
Suburb
Adamstown is located in Ireland
Adamstown
Adamstown
Location in Ireland
Country Ireland
Province Leinster
Traditional county County Dublin
County South Dublin
Elevation
54 m (177 ft)
Population
 (2012)
 • Urban
3,000
Time zone UTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-1 (IST (WEST))

Adamstown (Irish: [Baile Adaim] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), meaning Town of Adam) is a planned suburban development, the first new town in Ireland since Shannon Town in the 1960s. Located circa 16 km from Dublin city centre, the development-in-progress is based on a 220 hectare Strategic Development Zone site south of the N4 road and Lucan, west of Liffey tributary the Griffeen River and north of the Grand Canal. No date has been set for the official granting of any specific long-term official status (as of 2020 the local authority terms it an "emerging new town") but development is underway since 2005 and as of 2015, perhaps 4,500 of a planned population of 25,000 were resident. The planned scale of development is 9,000 to 10,000 dwellings, with aligned supporting infrastructure including public transport links. Adamstown is in the jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council.

Location and access

Adamstown, Dublin (2808716889)
A train approaches Adamstown railway station, 2008

Adamstown is beside the Dublin-Kildare railway line The new and privately funded railway station opened on 10 April 2007, provisioned with 5 platforms.

The settlement is beside the N4 national primary route. Weston Airport is nearby.

History

Adamstown originated with the South Dublin County Development Plan of 1998, which envisaged the creation of several "new towns" - only Adamstown made it to the development stage. The provision of a new railway station was an integral part of its development, together with the provision of new schools, shopping and sporting facilities within walking distance in the neighbourhood. The new settlement was designed to promote public transport and reduce car dependence.

Infrastructure works officially commenced on 7 February 2005, and on 16 February 2006 the first houses went on the market.

Plans

It was intended that after an initial ten years of development the development would have around 10,000 homes, and about 25,000 people. To date around 1,200 homes have been constructed.

The homes built in Adamstown were to be familiar types of house and apartment block but with a layout dissimilar to other later 20th century developments in Ireland in that they were to incorporate modern urban design concepts. These primarily include permeability, and a 'joined up' street system, avoiding the common cul de sac layouts. The formation of streets is designed to reduce car usage. These features, combined with ease of access to the train station is intended to promote walking and cycling. There is a strict limit on high-rise buildings, three to four storeys being the norm.

As part of the planning permission it was incumbent on the developers to complete various infrastructure and community facilities on a phased basis, to avoid the social problems that can blight large-scale suburban developments, before proceeding with later phases of housing. The train station and two schools, and a few retail facilities, are now operating.

Development slowed after the initial phases were complete, and parts of the proposed settlement remain boarded off.

Awards for Adamstown

Sustainable Communities Award 2009

On February 12, 2009, Adamstown, the new neighbourhood being built on the west side of Dublin, won a "Sustainable Communities" award from the UK's Royal Town Planning Institute. It was the only non-UK project to pick up a prize at the annual awards ceremony, and was entered by South Dublin County Council and Chartridge, the developers (comprising Castlethorn Construction, Maplewood Homes and Tierra Construction). The award recognises that Adamstown has been properly planned and balances living accommodation with infrastructure, such as shops, cinema, train station, swimming pool, library, health centres, restaurants, schools, mixed places of worship and parks, among other facilities. Adamstown is Ireland's first Strategic Development Zone, which means that the construction of homes runs in tandem with such facilities. The judges praised the design and layout of Adamstown for its "modern vernacular" and said it would be a "model for development elsewhere".

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