Work to start again on first phase of 420-unit project
Work is to recommence shortly on the first phase of the major Dún an Rí housing development in the Coosan/Cornamagh area of Athlone.
The progress of the Dún an Rí housing development in Coosan comes more than ten months after work was deferred amid what the developers called “unprecedented and extreme volatility in the price of building materials” and uncertainly of supply chains arising from the Russia/Ukraine war.
“We are gearing up to start back on site in late April/early May 2023,” a spokesperson for Castlestar Ltd said on Monday, following a query from the Westmeath Independent in relation to the resumption of work on of what's thought to be Athlone's largest ever residential scheme.
The overall scheme is to encompass a total of 426 homes earmarked for land bordering Buccaneers rugby club, in the townlands of Coosan, Cornamagh, and Clonbrusk.
A total of 46 homes comprising of two, three and four bedroom homes will make up the first phase of the development.
DNG Begley have been appointed as sales agent and is currently taking bookings for homes, the developer added.
The €120 million development was the first major Strategic Housing Development scheme to get the green light in the Athlone area back in 2020, a process that fast-tracked large-scale housing plans over 100 units to An Bord Pleanála for a decision bypassing the local council.
Work began on-site in 2022 on infrastructure works for the first phase of homes on the 15-hectare site which, when fully complete, would comprise 237 houses, 189 apartments, a creche, outdoor play areas, parkland, and a new 430m section of a new distributor road linking Coosan and Cornamaddy, before stopping in May of that year.
The developer, which billed the housing project as a “high-quality residential scheme” previously said it would be built in four phases over a four to five-year period.
The greenfield site is located to the north of the Coosan Road where it would be accessed, and between The Bounty pub and the Churchfields and Church Hills estates, with The Glen estate situated to the south of the site.