Former Cable and Wireless site earmarked for 328 units
THE landscape of the Belgard Road is set to change with the recent demolition of the former Cable and Wireless site at the corner of Airton Road and the Belgard Road in Tallaght.
The structure was razed to the ground over the last three weeks, with the now bare plot of land being earmarked for the permitted development of 328 apartment units.
Planning permission for the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) was granted to Power Scaffolding Supplies Ltd by An Bord Pleanála in February 2020.
The residential scheme, called Airton Plaza, includes plans for a crèche within one of the two blocks where the apartments are to be housed.
This is the latest development in an area of Tallaght that was previously a hub of employment activity, but in recent years has been earmarked for numerous large-scale residential developments.
The former Gallaher’s cigarette factory site on Airton Road, which was a maker of well-known brands including Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut and at one time employed over 1,000 people, has planning permission for 502 apartments.
Further along the Belgard Road, plans have been submitted for the construction of 344 apartments at the site of the former ABB building.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Demolition works started at the former Cable and Wireless site in the middle of April
In their planning application submitted last month, developer Landmarque outlined plans for the construction of 216 apartments and 118 build-to-rent apartments at the former ABB site.
The housing scheme, called Belgard Road SHD, is to contain three apartment blocks ranging in height from 2 to 13 storeys.
Elsewhere in Belgard, Marlet Property Group received ten-year planning permission in 2019 for a strategic housing development comprising 438 apartments, 403 student accommodation bed spaces, a childcare facility and six retail units.
The Marlet site currently possesses several warehousing units which previously housed Cuisine de France, Uniphar and Kerry Group.
Marlet acquired the 7.2-acre site in 2017 for a reported €16 million. One land package was created through the assembling of a number of individual sites, which stretches back to Belgard Retail Park.
In an unrelated project, sections of Belgard Road were dug up last summer, to facilitate the development of the Tallaght District Heating Network.
The network will heat waste generated by the servers at the Amazon Web Services Data Centre on the Belgard Road and will be farmed and redistributed through an underground network of pipes.
Trading as Heatworks, it is Ireland’s first publicly owned, not-for-profit energy company and is set to provide low carbon heat and hot water to local community buildings.
The heating network is expected to be operational from July 2022 and is estimated to save 1,600 tonnes of carbon annually.
