Swords Masterplan - Fingal County Council

The Town Centre environment has fundamentally to work well for its intended
purpose. It has a local, regional, national and international dimension to that
purpose; a performance that is measured against an increasingly competitive
market populated by highly mobile users, from local residents to multinational
employers; a performance that is determined by the ability to meet the needs of
the community as a whole now and in the future.
The quality of the Town Centre environment is central to its core purpose of
supporting both commercial and social communities. The built environment
directly influences the performance of all activities in business and society as a
whole. It is important to create a Town Centre environment that understands
and matches those needs.
3.1 Vision Statement
The vision for Swords Town Centre encompasses the following 5 concepts:
1 A Thriving Town Centre
● Encourage quality design.
● Strengthen the northern end of Main Street as a Civic Quarter, with a
dedicated public space and associated uses to the front of Swords Castle
which will act as a people draw.
● Develop a diverse Cultural Quarter, which will support a more diverse
evening economy, and which will integrate with the Ward River Valley Park
and the Pavilions development area.
● Develop a Metro Quarter which facilities the integration of high quality
public transport into the core of Swords.
● Create a new coherent architectural language for Swords that respects the
town’s character.
● Create exciting new urban quarters on lands west of Main Street overlooking
the Ward River, with shops, apartments and activity.
● Support quality well designed infill development within the Town Centre.
2 Quality of Life
● Promote physical improvements to the public realm of Main Street (robust
lighting, attractive paving, encouragement of active frontages, removal of
street clutter).
● Enhance the pedestrian links between Main Street and the Pavilions
Shopping Centre.
● Develop a green corridor through the town linking the main green open
S W O R D S M A S T E R P L A N
3.0 Traditional Town Centre
spaces associated with the Ward River that is the Ward River Valley Park,
Town Park, Balheary Park and the Estuary.
● Strengthen pedestrian links within the Town Centre to Swords Castle with
the introduction of a pedestrian wayfinding signage system as well as
physical improvements.
● Improve the pedestrian environment in the Town Centre through prioritising
pedestrian and public transport along Main Street.
3 A Cultural Destination
● Develop a high quality Cultural Quarter, providing for a theatre, library,
cultural/arts centre, associated restaurants/cafés and a large public square.
This will be an attractive and vibrant environment throughout the day and
into the evening.
● Implement a comprehensive and distinct signage system throughout the
town to include information boards signposting to key sites and gateway
welcome signs.
● Build upon Swords’ rich architectural heritage.
● Raise specifically the profile of Swords Castle, St Columba’s Church and the
associated Round Tower.
4 An Attractive Public Realm
● Prepare a detailed public realm strategy for the Town Centre in tandem with
the development of a Traffic Management Strategy.
● Enhance the Civic Quarter at the northern end of Main Street as a central
public gathering space.
● Improve the visibility of Swords Castle.
● Facilitate the provision of multi-storey car park/s close to the northern end
of Main Street.
● Improve vehicular accessibility to the Town Centre.
● Provide for street lighting to the pathways leading east and west from the
Main Street.
● Improve local bus movement through Swords Main Street, connecting with
the public transport interchange at Metro Quarter.
5 A Sustainable Town Centre
● Encourage the development of high quality public and private spaces and a
variety of uses including a balanced mix of commercial, leisure, civic and
residential accommodation. Landscape, public realm and a diverse range of
uses are the cornerstones of the vision.
● The expanded Town Centre will attract people to the Greater Dublin area as
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well as Swords itself and aims to also retain them as regular visitors, to
create a stable working population and build a residential community with
civic pride. Its selling points will be its quality landscape and architectural
design, its range of facilities and work places, and large apartments ideal
for a variety of people from single people to large families.
Source: the Academy for Sustainable Futures – www.ascskills.org