Heritage under Threat in Tallaght

More examples of inappropriate designed developments in the historical village centre.

more inappropriate designs permitted by SDCC in Tallaght village

Fanagans looks like an old Police Station?

Hi Paul,

I believe the old garda station was further down Main St from mountains in background and is gone now. Here is old image of it from 1867.

Just looks to me like the core is a Board of Works / Office of Public Works design

Any advice of options open to us to get any improvements implemented and the streetscape reinstated?

So far the county manager is less than open to any approaches being made by local residents?

did you not have yer chance when the Tallaght Town Centre Local Area Plan was being made earlier in the year? There was a fairly extensive public consultation exercise and the manager’s report was available to download on sdcc’s website. have a look here http://www.sdublincoco.ie/index.aspx?pageid=123&deptid=11&dpageid=664 .

Personally the Maelruains develoment doesn’t seem too bad once there’s some life brought to it. It’s hardly on top of it, or too big. and Fanagans itslef looks bloody awful, with the shutters n all. Most of your complaints seem fairly subjective and considering that Tallaght is to grow and grow, I think the policy of regenerating the traditional village by developing a new streetdscape rather than concentrating on The Square is to be commended.

I think the time has passed on the Town Centre LAP so I’m not surprised the Manager is no longer open to any approaches. He’s already waded through 105 of them and repsonded with a report of about 100 pages

Thanks for your comments A – we obvioulsy have very different views about what visually appeals. I personally think a medieval church is not well served by a square cnocrete block facing it. IF you have ever visited Tallaght you will know this short stretch of road ( Old Blessington road) was picturesque. Unfortunately it is now interrupted by bland grey ultra modern block which does not add anything positive to the streetscape.

The masterplan was an interesting exercise for those living in Tallaght. There was “consultation” with the “public” alright and indeed I made a submission. It felt like a tick box excercise to be honest. Mine, along with 103 others, were pretty much overlooked by the county manager in the final draft.

Indeed the masterlpan has already been breeched by the granting of a new development beside The Square which breaches the height restriction set by the local area plan for the town centre area.

No one objects to modern design – just sensibly applied. Heritage, I believe, should be celebrated and preserved for the enjoyment of future generations.

There is no shortage of land to build on now most of Cookstown and Belgard has been rezoned for the town centre. There is absolutely no need to apply inappropriate modern designs in this very small area of the old village.

As they say A – there is a time and place for everything – I do not believe Tallaght village Main st or Blessington Road is it for modern design. Thanks fully most other public and private posts agree with my sentiment and that of many resident sin Tallaght and its environs.

Saggart have managed to get the balance right as have Lucan villages. It is possible A.
We want that standard applied to Tallaght village A.

fair enough… however i welcome that development at the square. If it’s the north car park you’re referring to, i think it’s quite an impressive scheme which replaces surface parking with a high density luas based scheme which will add greatly to the public realm with Millennium Square, a civic plaza. Also I’m not 100% sure if the LAP has been officially adopted and I’m not familiar with the height restriction at this point.

I still believe that the regeneration of Tallaght village is a good thing. I admit i haven’t been there in years, but i beleive buildings should be of their time. Are you advocating pastiche when you say “I do not believe Tallaght village Main st or Blessington Road is fit for modern design” or are you advocating no redevelopment of the village?

Lucan is an attractive village alright but I guess the mistakes of the past weren’t made there as they were in Tallaght, and without being un-PC, Tallaght was tarred with a negative brush for decades and investment, when attracted, came to the Square. I would wait before judging Saggart. When the effects of rezonings, Luas and the expansion of citywest take hold, they may still make a balls of it…

the only advice i could give, as i give in most planning problems is to lobby councillors, and object to these planning applications as they are made. There are a lot of good things happening in South Dublin and their development plan is excellent in relation to place-making and prescriptive guidelines, but not everything is to people’s tastes. Some of the stuff you’ve highlighted is poxy (when was the building behind fanagans built and what is it?).

Also, other critical elements in village redevelopment, apart from visual architecture, are the ground floor activity, the maintenance of the building line, and the quality of the pedestrian realm so I’d look out for that too. I’ll be doing the same in Deansgrange, where a major new development is proposed, coincidentally oppositre a smaller development which added 4/5 retail units to the street in a pretty attractive way…

Hi Alonso,

I am certainly not advocating no development in Tallaght village, but the development can be easily made sympathetically to the visual line of the existing cottages and village streetscape in the Main St from St Maelruain to The Priory. I visited here again yesterday morning and will post the images tomorrow – it still retains a country feel despite now having the population of a city. It is posible to apply design which would continue the stone motif and catherderal spire skyline in the village area.. see examples attached to illustrate what I mean.

It is because of the mistakes of the past which I witnessed up close and personally in Tallaght , that I and many other Tallaght residents want to preserve what is good and build to enhance the historical village and keep the urban development to the new urban centre ( beside The Square).

The Tallaght masterplan has imposed a 6 storey height restriction – this is fine for the urban centre beside Ther Square – however this height restriction now also applies to the village which is totally inappropriate Alonso.

I am not anti development or modern urban design – I just believe there is a place for everything.
Indeed I was in the one of the new urban developments last night at a restaurant launch !

Good luck with your project.