Cherrywood SDZ Masterplan

Cherrywood is the largest Strategic Development Zone in Ireland, establishing the framework for a new mixed-use neighbourhood and a resident population of up to 16,000 on 360 hectares in south County Dublin. Since 2014, MOLA Architecture has acted as Masterplanner and Architect of Record for 157 hectares of Hines-owned lands within the SDZ, preparing the overall masterplan, the Urban Form Development Framework, feasibility studies and coordinated planning applications for roads, utilities, parks and associated infrastructure.

A defining aspect of the work has been the early delivery of enabling infrastructure to support the long-term build-out of the district. Three public parks: Tully Park (8.9ha), Beckett Park (5.3ha) and the first phase of Ticknick Park (19ha) were completed in 2020, introducing playing fields, pavilions, cafés and generous recreational landscapes that promote active travel and everyday outdoor use. The Ticknick multi-sport pavilion followed in 2021, with later phases progressing under the stewardship of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

In parallel, MOLA acted as Design Architect for the new town centre on 6.1 hectares of designated lands, coordinating a single planning application for a 195,000sqm mixed-use scheme that includes retail, food and leisure uses and approximately 800 homes over podium parking and servicing. MOLA also prepared the Town Centre Urban Form Development Framework, in coordination with the Local Authority, which informs the four Town Centre four quadrants’s placemaking, masterplanning, urban design, grain, scale and character.

Cherrywood demonstrates how a new district can grow over time when mobility, landscape and community infrastructure are coordinated around a shared urban vision.