Swords Masterplan - Fingal County Council

8.5 Urban Form: Streets
Objectives:
● To provide for a clearly defined street hierarchy. Each street will be
designed according to the core principle that the street is a space,
a place of containment and activity rather than simply a movement
and access route. The scale and character of each street, its width,
and the height of buildings along it shall relate to this hierarchy.
A high degree of permeability will be provided throughout the street
network, with provision for 24 hour streets.
● To create a strong central 24 hour pedestrian street, ‘Upper Street’
through the Barrysparks development area, traversing the Metro
Plaza and linking with the Cultural Quarter through the Pavilions
development area.
● To provide for a network of high quality public spaces and urban
squares/civic spaces.
● To provide for a number of ‘landmark’ buildings to give a ‘sense of
place’ and punctuate key ‘places’ within the area.
The proposed network of streets will be distinguished in character via:
● Width to height proportions, which will reflect the primacy of the streets
within the scheme. Urban design and daylight criteria will govern the widthheight
relationship.
● Primary use, for example retail, residential access, office use etc, will result
in differing street widths and materials.
● All streets will be designed with passive security in mind, including the
following features:
– Overlooking by residential and other uses on the upper floors
– Clear and unobstructed street lines without recessed or hidden areas
for easy surveillance at ground level
– Residential and office accommodation should have street addresses
with overt street level entrance lobbies distributed along all 24 hour
routes.
– All routes should have alterative access points so cul-de-sacs are
avoided
– Clear street naming signage should be used throughout the area in a
consistent manner to a Swords Town Centre standard design.
– No element of the buildings adjacent the streets shall project over the
street width, except intermittent bays less than 10% of the street width.
S W O R D S M A S T E R P L A N
9 2
Western Avenue
Bridge Street
Cross Street
Pavilions
Metro Plaza
Lower Street
Barrysparks
Place
Upper Street
Main
Square
The Rise
The Cut
Eastern Avenue
0 50m 100m