IAC were appointed by Hines Ireland to carry out all pre-planning and pre-construction phase archaeological services for the development of the 360ha landholding at Cherrywood, Co. Dublin. The Cherrywood Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) is projected to have more than 8,000 new homes, a retail-led Town Centre, schools and three major parks and leisure facilities.
Given the rich archaeological context of the area our initial role involved the preparation of an overarching strategy to effectively manage the archaeological risk and ensure efficient delivery of planning applications. This was achieved following detailed consultations with the National Monuments Service (NMS) and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to agree a standardised approach to each planning application.
The first phase of the SDZ involved the construction of a primary road network and three flagship parks for which IAC managed all aspects of archaeological investigation; including impact assessment, geophysical survey, built heritage survey, test trenching, monitoring of ground disturbances, excavation of archaeological remains, and post-excavation reporting and analysis.
This work required detailed consultations with the NMS and the OPW regarding development in the vicinity of two National Monuments Laughanstown (Wedge Tomb and Tully Church) and Lehaunstown Castle. Archaeological Management Plans were also prepared for the preservation in-situ of archaeological remains within Ticknick Park and Tully Park.
Pre-planning archaeological assessments were prepared for the Cherrywood Town Centre development which comprises c. 1,300 apartments, a 200-key hotel and a 721,182-square-foot mixed-use retail centre.
Archaeological impact assessments were also carried out for a number of subsequent residential developments in greenfield locations. These involved desk-based and on-site investigations. Post-excavation works were carried out for all excavated remains.
