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Neighbourhood Centres

In 1997 community facilities in Ballymun were limited, facilities that were available were not accessible to all residents of the community and many were in poor condition and needed upgrading or complete redevelopment. The need for local retail and community facilities in Ballymun was emphasised by local people’s dependence on van shops for convenience shopping. In 1997, the shopping centre did not open after 6pm except on Thursdays and did not open on Sundays. Most community groups were located in basements and flats which were in need of modernisation and which will be demolished as a result of regeneration. Provision has, however, been made for their relocation within Ballymun once demolition has taken place. These groups will be accommodated in the new neighbourhood centres and also in certain purpose built facilities.

Neighbourhood Action Plans were prepared for each neighbourhood to provide a framework for the development of neighbourhood and community facilities. The strategy for the neighbourhoods ensures adequate social support services and recreational facilities whilst also providing residential and retail units and community rooms within each neighbourhood centre. The strategy will ensure that the retail space will be retained in public ownership and the rent that accrues will be used to maintain the public facilities in the area. Thus, the objective is for the neighbourhood centres to become both a centre for local retail / economic development and a means of subsidising social support services into the future. The first of the neighbourhood centres in Poppintree opened in 2005 followed by Coultry in 2006 and Shangan in 2007. The centre at Sillogue in currently under construction.

Shangan Neighbourhood Centre
From the outset, designing the Shangan Neighbourhood Centre presented the challenge of reconciling a series of opposing requirements, for instance; addressing both two storey dwellings and a proposed civic parkland; weaving together the servicing and access requirements of both residential and retail accommodation, private dwellings and public access to community facilities; adjusting the cost efficiencies of rectilinear construction to the curved profile of the site; creating a new built identity for a community that relates to the environment both before and after the transition arising from the comprehensive regeneration of the area. As built, the Shangan Neighbourhood Centre represents the successes and failures of these attempts at reconciliation.

The accommodation inflates to define the site boundary on all public faces and reduces to a series of returns within. At ground floor level each of the four shops and the community centre open out directly to the streets; each is separated by the stairs core of the six ‘houses’ that serve the apartments, each stairs core providing access both from the street and from the secure car parking area and garden courtyards at the rear. A clear hierarchy of elements from private to public is established. The community centre is ranked foremost, the form lifting itself in scale and colour above the tight, structured background of the building; a free-standing stone totem identifies the threshold of the community centre.

A simple palette of materials reflects the private / public identities within the building, the quality of material and detail growing in consonance with increasing public accessibility; these materials include integral colour render, brick and stone, perforated steel guardings and coated aluminium fenestration and signage fascias; timber is used to provide screening from excessive solar gain over the neighbourhood forum accommodation only.

Coultry Neighbourhood Centre
The scheme proposes the making of a particular public place by the construction of three new neighbourhood buildings for the community of Coultry; a Retail Building, a Forum Building and a Creche. The functional requirements are to provide much needed community facilities, retail premises as well as additional housing in the form of above street apartments. The architectural intent it is to provide an active community area for Coultry, of increased scale and density, a point of intensity in the neighbourhood.

The Retail Building is a three storey building with it's primary facade addressing Link Road. Materials at ground floor are brick and glass with a zinc clad canopy over the pedestrian walkway. The canopy steps down as it turns into New Coultry Road to retain a human scale at the southern end of the building. The sixteen apartments above are divided into groups of four, two on each floor, and each group has it's own separate stair access.

The apartments have an east - west orientation with glazed 6m wide living spaces opening onto west facing balconies. The Forum Building located to the south west of the intersection is three storey in height. At street level the building is constructed of brick with a large area of glazing addressing New Coultry Rd, providing a public face to the community facilities. The four duplex apartments accommodated on the upper levels are accessed at first floor level. The apartment layout consist of bedrooms and facilities on the entry level and north - south orientated open living spaces on the upper floor with balconies to the south.

The Creche a single storey building whilst continuing to use brick has a more enclosed courtyard arrangement with fewer and smaller openings, providing privacy and protection to the children's playground. The continuous perimeter brick wall is articulated along it's Link Road elevation with narrow slots to allow children in the playground to view out without people on the street looking in. The playroom of the crèche has high level glazing to three elevations and a fully glazed façade to the north. The roof of the Creche is to be clad in zinc.