Event report: Adamstown walking tour
David McDowell reflects on this weekend's walking tour of the Adamstown Strategic Development Zone, Dublin
Reddy Architecture + Urbanism attended the Academy of Urbanism guided walking-tour at Adamstown on Saturday the 23rd May. Adamstown was designated as a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) by the Government in 2001 for the creation of a new town of 10,000 homes, approximately 35,000 persons. The design philosophy promoted walkable, mixed-use urban neighbourhoods, diverse housing, timely delivery of facilities and infrastructure - a sustainable alternative to urban sprawl. A detailed masterplan was approved to be delivered in 13 phases linking the timely delivery of open spaces, schools, retail, community and leisure facilities to targeted numbers of house occupations.
The walk was led by Eddie Conroy who was County Architect of South Dublin County Council from 2007 until his retirement in March 2023 and he was integral to the design and delivery strategies for masterplans at Adamstown, Clonburris, City-Edge and Kilcarbery. Eddie was able to provide first hand insight into how the SDZ has evolved to date and how key principles such as the Design Manual for Urban Roads & Streets (DMURS) were implemented in the early stages of the SDZ. The walking tour facilitated a number of informative discussions on the workings of the SDZ and how the local authority guided the process. Insightful points were also provided by Paul Hogan, Assistant Secretary in the Department of Housing, who led the multi-disciplinary team at South Dublin County Council in the early project stages.
Adamstown provides an excellent working example of a community planned by a multi-disciplinary team in the local authority. It gives a strong reference for the proposed future Urban Development Zones (UDZs) which will provide a coordinated, plan-led approach to the delivery of residential and urban development. The Adamstown masterplan, as with all good masterplans, was resilient and survived major disruption in the form of the 2008 economic downturn, and more recently Covid.
Written by David McDowell, Head of Workplace at Reddy A+U
