Swords Masterplan - Fingal County Council
Swords Masterplan - Fingal County Council
Swords Masterplan - Fingal County Council
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Urban Grain<br />
THE RETAIL/COMMERCIAL CORE<br />
The arrangement of buildings within the block is defined principally by their individual<br />
plan form, height and scale. Building widths range on average from 8m to 10m in<br />
width on the western side of the Main Street. The historic narrow frontage approach<br />
establishes a building line of linked dwellings and continuous building frontage. This<br />
provides a very efficient use of land with a high building density. On the eastern side<br />
of the Main Street there has been a loss of grain over the years where plots have<br />
been amalgamated. This has detracted from the overall character of the street. As<br />
such, the building widths are much wider with an average dimension of 15m to 20m.<br />
Building depths vary considerably between both sides of the Main Street also. On<br />
average building depths are 26m on the western side of the Main Street and 22m<br />
on the eastern side.<br />
CIVIC/COMMUNITY CORE<br />
Within this character area the building plots are a mixture of detached and semidetached<br />
buildings. On the northern side of Seatown Road the building widths are<br />
at least 25m wide. To the southern edge of Seatown Road at the junction of<br />
Dublin Road and North Street, the widths are significantly less at 10 wide.<br />
Building depths vary considerably between both sides of Seatown Road also. On<br />
the northern side the depth is on average 25m. On the southern side the depths<br />
significantly more at 40m in depth.<br />
COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL<br />
North Street, to the east has a very distinctive tight-knit urban grain, which<br />
breaks away to a looser grain towards the northern end of North Street. North<br />
Street to the west has a poorly defined consistent urban grain with large<br />
setbacks which fails to provide a legible layout. The building width of between<br />
10m and 15m approximately is prevalent on the western side of North Street and<br />
on the eastern side of the Main Street a building width of 20m-30m predominates.<br />
Rhythm generated by subtle variations<br />
to building heights and building lines<br />
S W O R D S M A S T E R P L A N<br />
Quality of Building Frontages<br />
THE RETAIL/COMMERCIAL CORE<br />
The quality of building frontages with a positive contribution to the public realm<br />
are mainly orientated towards the Main Street. There is a significant amount of<br />
negative frontage (frontages that display blank walls or setbacks to the public<br />
realm) particularly to the rear of the Main Street to the west overlooking the river.<br />
CIVIC/COMMUNITY CORE<br />
The quality of building frontages within this area are generally positive. While<br />
there is a series of vacant terraced buildings at the junction of North Street and<br />
the Main Street which present poor frontages to the public realm, <strong>Fingal</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
<strong>Council</strong> have the intention to improve the physical quality of the area through a<br />
public realm strategy.<br />
COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL<br />
10m<br />
The quality of building frontages with a negative contribution to the public realm<br />
are limited within this character area. The majority of buildings to the west and<br />
east of North Street present a positive frontage. However at the northern end of<br />
North Street the quality of building frontages diminishes and could be improved<br />
upon greatly.<br />
1 1 8<br />
15m<br />
20m<br />
20m<br />
25m<br />
10m<br />
30m<br />
0 25m<br />
100m<br />
N<br />
Includes Ordnance Survey Ireland data reproduced under OSI Licence No. 2003/07/CCMA/<strong>Fingal</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Council</strong>. © Ordnance Survey Ireland, 2006.<br />
8m