South Dublin County Council Grants Planning Permission for Major Extension to The Square that will give a new heart to Tallaght Town Centre

28/03/2014

Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.

South Dublin County Council Grants Planning Permission for Major Extension to The Square that will give a new heart to Tallaght Town Centre

South Dublin County Council has granted planning permission for a major extension to The Square Shopping Centre in Tallaght. This will enable the shopping area of the Square to increase by almost half, providing space for two large new department stores and eight other new shop units in a variety of sizes. The total retail floor area of the new development is 21,000m2.

When construction starts, the development will provide up to 200 construction jobs and will take approximately 18 months to complete. When operational, the extension will result in 400 full and part time retail jobs and will give a major boost to both the Square and to Tallaght Town Centre.

The main part of the extension is an expansion of the existing level 2 mall onto the car park between the northern, Tesco side of the Square and the Luas Terminus and Civic Theatre/Rua Red Arts Centre.The pedestrianised area between the new extension and the Luas Terminus and Civic Theatre will be upgraded to form a new civic plaza that will provide a new focus for Tallaght Town Centre.

The western side of the extension will facilitate a new public transport interchange between the Luas terminus and the bus stops on Belgard Square West, that will link directly into the new shops and civic plaza. On the other side of the extension, a new multi-storey car park with more than 800 parking spaces will replace the existing car parking that is to be built over and will provide more than 430 additional parking spaces. It will also have a direct link into the new mall extension.

A smaller, separate part of the extension is to be built over the roof space on the southern, Tallaght by-pass side of the Square. This will be amalgamated with two existing shop units at Level 3 to open up the newly extended space for a large anchor store.

South Dublin County Council recently agreed to dispose of its interest in the lands on which the Square Shopping Centre is built, which date back to before the development of the Square, in order to enable the extension to proceed.

The permitted development will deliver big wins for Tallaght in terms of much needed construction and retail employment, enhanced commercial viability and greater shopping choice as well as valuable planning gain in the form of a new civic plaza and linked public transport interchange. Together with recent adjoining developments it will form a new heart at the centre of Tallaght, linking all the major functions of the Town Centre.