A public consultation process on plans for the development of up to 750 new homes close to the centre of Galway city opens on Monday with the Land Development Agency (LDA) saying the responses will feed into proposals for the Sandy Road area it hopes to finalise later in the year.
The project, referred to by the LDA as the Sandy Quarter, involves the provision of mixed-tenure homes on a roughly 10-hectare site just over a kilometre from Eyre Square.
The homes are to be built around a central park area and the scheme is to include a public square and other, smaller garden areas. It is also to provide office and retail space along with a hub facility intended to cater to community groups and enterprises.
Residents would be able to walk to Ceannt Station and other centre-city landmarks in less than 15 minutes.
The land to be used includes an ESB facility at Seán Mulvoy Road which is to be relocated. The project is being developed in partnership with Galway City Council and with the support of a number of stakeholders including the ESB, Galway County Council and a number of private landowners.
The LDA has a brief to develop underutilised public land and is already involved in delivering new housing at a number of sites around the country, including at locations in Dublin, Cork and Kildare. It recently told the Government it believes there is the potential to deliver 67,000 new homes on 83 sites.
The LDA said it hoped the Galway city scheme, which was first proposed several years ago, could ultimately act as a catalyst for the redevelopment of adjoining brownfield sites.
“The draft spatial framework involves an exciting vision for this land and serves as a guide to how it can be radically transformed from a brownfield site into a vibrant urban quarter,” said the organisation’s chief executive, John Coleman.
He said the finished project “will be a fantastic addition to Galway city. We have the expertise to plan and deliver this project and we look forward to doing so.”
Galway City Council chief executive Brendan McGrath said the focus of the development would be “on building new affordable and social homes with highly sustainable liveability, work and leisure space and local retail at the core, along with vibrant new public realm and new amenity space”.
Details of the scheme and how to make a submission are available at thesandyquarter.ie the consultation process is due to run until May 12th.
