Castletymon shopping centre €350,000 makeover plans

PLANS for a €350k upgrade to Castletymon Shopping Centre are underway with the Part 8 proposal to be brought to the Area Committee Meeting in September.

The upgrade to the Tallaght shopping centre is part of South Dublin County Council’s District Centre Enhancement Programme, which aims to turn centres and villages into “welcoming, distinctive and resilient places” which encourage community cohesion as well as supporting the good growth of retail, enterprise and housing.

A South Dublin County Council spokesperson told The Echo: “The current financial commitment by the council for Castletymon is €350k.

“There may be scope to increase this as we develop the final design.”

The progress that has been made on the enhancement to date includes a number of technical surveys have been undertaken to enable the design process, NTA funding has been sought to provide additional footway and cycleway upgrades and concept images to help guide the design process have been developed.

In the next stage of the project, local surveys will be conducted to seek end user input for the design process, a graphic designer will be consulted with to develop the shop fronts and the preliminary design will be developed for the Part 8 Planning application.

The proposed plans for the centre include enhancing pedestrian and cycle connections to and within the centre, footways and cycleways to the shopping centre from both Tymon and Bancroft Park and the creation of a carriageway space to create a plaza area at the front of the centre.

The plans also include closing the second access to the carpark to facilitate the provision of more pedestrian space.

There are proposed plans to provide significant planting in the scheme, with planter integrated solutions and tree pit drainage solutions. Ducting will be installed to future proof for the provision of e-charging.

Earlier this year, South Dublin County Council invited applications of interest from artists for commissions for both the centres included in the District Centre Enhancement Programme – Castletymon and Rosemount in Rathfarnham.

From these applications, a panel of artists were formed to develop artworks for the scheme.

These commissions are intended to bring flashes of colour and creativity to everyday spaces in the district centres and the selected artist will liaise with the community and to establish an appropriate work.

According to a report on the project in June, South Dublin County Council said: Part 8 Planning: “South Dublin County Council hope to present the Part 8 proposal to the September ACM with a view to holding the Public Consultation in October/November to seek approval at the December Council Meeting.”

If the Part 8 is approved, the detailed design will be undertaken in quarter one in 2022 and to construction for the second or third quarter of 2022.