SDCC & DCC launch Phase 1 of City Edge Project

South Dublin County Council (SDCC) and Dublin City Council (DCC) have announced the development of a major, joint urban regeneration effort known as the City Edge Project. Located at the western edge of Dublin City Centre, this long-term, extensive redevelopment plan is part of a national strategy to regenerate Dublin city.

The City Edge Project is set to become one of Europe’s largest urban regeneration projects and an attractive extension of the city for people to live, work and socialise. The proposed development area extends to 700 hectares of land around the Naas Road, Ballymount and Park West area. This area is already a cornerstone of the Dublin economy with some 1,500 businesses employing 25,000 people, alongside well-established residential communities of 5,000 people. There are also significant areas of underutilised land and in the future, this part of the city could be further developed to accommodate up to 75,000 jobs and 40,000 homes.

An international masterplan team has been selected to carry out a detailed study of the area and to produce an exciting vision for the future of this part of Dublin. A significant part of the process is the Public Consultation period, whereby members of the public are invited to contribute to the process and help shape the future of the city.

City Edge steering committee member and Director of Planning and Transport at South Dublin County Council, Mick Mulhern said:

“The City Edge project has the potential to become one of the most transformational regeneration programmes ever progressed in Ireland. Today the area is a vibrant and important piece of Dublin but at over 700 hectares there is scope to use this land more intensely to support an expansion of the City and to provide space for up 75,000 jobs and 40,000 homes.”

City Edge steering committee member and City Planning Officer at Dublin City Council, John O’Hara added “City Edge is an ambitious project that can deliver on the National Planning Frameworks objective to provide climate-resilient compact urban growth. The delivery of this goal is contingent upon maximising the potential of existing and planned state of the art public transport; a robust placemaking strategy focussed on the 15-minute city concept*; and the active collaboration of all parties, public and private, to achieve the scale of urban regeneration required”.

*Where residents can meet most of their needs within a short walk or bike ride from their homes.

Public Consultation

The City Edge Project represents a major development opportunity for Dublin City and to help shape and inform this work, SDCC and DCC want to hear people’s views on how this significant part of the city should evolve. To support this, a non-statutory 4- Week Public Consultation will run from the 9th of September 2021 to midnight on the 6th of October 2021. During this period, any member of the public can review the City Edge Emerging Concept Plan and make a submission through the website www.cityedge.ie.

In addition, as part of this extensive consultation, SDCC and DCC will be hosting two live online forums, which will provide members of the public with the opportunity to gain further understanding of the project proposals and challenges, and pose questions.

The live presentations will take place on the following dates and times:

• Wednesday 22nd September 2021: 3 pm – 4:15 pm
• Thursday 30th September 2021: 7 pm – 8:15 pm

Display information together with details on how to access the live online events and how to make a submission can be viewed at www.cityedge.ie.

International Conference

SDCC and DCC will also host the City Edge International Conference on September 29th and 30th. This live event series will provide a unique opportunity to discuss and learn about Best Global Practice approaches to designing and delivering large-scale regeneration projects.

Hosted by Newstalk’s Shane Coleman and running from 9 am to 11 am over two days, this is an online event open to the public and will feature a range of high profile national and international speakers from Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Singapore, all of whom have been involved in significant and successful urban regeneration projects. They will all share their experiences of designing and delivering complex regeneration projects and how the lessons from their projects could be applied to the City Edge project. Example projects that the international speakers have been involved in include:

• Adamstown Strategic Development Zone in Dublin, the first plan of its kind in Ireland that is supporting 7,000 new homes based on the principles of the Liveable City, and that is over halfway delivered
• London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
• Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation in London, which is supporting the delivery of 25,000 new homes and 40,000 new jobs around a new High Speed 2 station
• Royal Docks in London, close to Canary Wharf, where the regeneration of these lands is underway and will support 25,000 new homes and 60,000 new jobs
• Gardens by the Bay – a significant new flagship park delivered by the state in Singapore that has become a key new destination
• Orestad in Copenhagen with a new population of 15,000 people in a mixed-use urban quarter based around a new metro
• Nordhavn in Copenhagen is progressing delivery of 40,000 new homes and 40,000 jobs around new public transport within an existing industrial area of the city
• Sizeable state and private sector regeneration collaborations at IJburg Eastern Docklands and in Haven-Stad in Amsterdam.