Ashbourne Town Centre

Town Centre Development:

The new town centre development increased the commercial centre of Ashbourne by more than 200% and caters for a range of activities including Civic Offices, supermarkets, retail units, restaurants, a hotel, offices, townhouses and apartments.

Previously, the  commercial centre of Ashbourne was primarily located to the north east side of the Dublin to Slane road with a bank and church being the principal buildings along with land zoned for “town centre” development, on the other side. A number of proposals had been rejected by the planning authority for various developments on this land, consisting mainly of semi -detached housing plus a single supermarket

After the site had been placed on the market, McMullan & Co were engaged to advise on the type of development that would be likely to obtain planning approval and create the necessary financial return. Initially, this involved marrying the developer’s aspirations with the planning authority’s requirements in a situation where the latter had not been previously addressed or defined.

The process involved McMullan & Co and the appointed architects developing concepts, which were presented and discussed with the planning authority, and remodelled on an iterative basis as the planning authority’s requirements became more defined. One of the key issues was the high volume of daily traffic on Frederick Street, part of the Dublin – Slane Road which, on the one hand, had the potential to create traffic hazards while, on the other, could provide the necessary “footfall” for commercial/retail development. The solution was to provide a new “high street” parallel to Frederick Street which looped back onto it at two locations.

McMullan & Co were involved in the overall master planning, consultation with local representatives and residents’ groups, accommodating the requirements of the anchor tenant and obtaining the initial overall detailed planning permission.