“IT’S A VERY welcoming place to be. You start to recognise familiar faces very fast.”
John Chatten is manager of Citywest Shopping Shopping Centre. Citywest is his workplace, but it’s also a place where he sees a real sense of community.
“I meet lots of families in the centre, especially at the weekends, though during the week it would be more professional types. Pre-Covid, the community room here was used by lots of local groups: knitting clubs, mother and toddler groups, and so on. That was always lovely to see.”
Citywest, bordered by Saggart to the west and Tallaght to the east, is truly a town of the modern age. While older Irish towns tended to grow around features that appealed to early industry, like rivers for fishing or ports for loading cargo, Citywest expanded around the luxury hotel and 120-acre business campus of the same name.
Those were built in the 1990s, and although it took another 15 or 20 years for the area’s residential population to start growing, Citywest has been making up for lost time since then. Over 8,000 residents called the area home in the 2016 Census. There are plenty of local amenities on hand too, from supermarkets to cafés to schools (there are three primary schools in the area, and a new secondary school, Coláiste Pobail Fola, opened in 2020), to the business campus which is home to over 180 companies.
By the time the next Census rolls around, that population figure is likely to be far higher. There’s new development happening all the time – and Barnoaks from Glenveagh Homes will soon be the newest addition to that list.
Located right next to Citywest Shopping Centre and within walking distance of the business campus, Barnoaks will feature a mix of two, three and four bedroom homes. It’s due for launch in the first half of 2022, and you can register your interest here.
If you’re looking for urban convenience at a reasonable price, could Citywest tick the boxes? We asked some locals to weigh in…
Rita Kelly lives at Tassagard Green, a few minutes walk from Citywest Hotel. She grew up in nearby Jobstown and returned to the area around 15 years ago after rearing her family in Rathfarnham. She can remember life before Citywest, before even Tallaght and its suburbs had properly sprung up.
“I remember from our house down to the village we had two neighbours,” she recalls. “The growth in the recent past has been phenomenal.”
Rita is chairperson of Saggart Tidy Towns, and when she’s not working you’ll find her supervising cleanups or organising for the painting of murals to brighten up the already bustling Saggart village, a seven minute drive from the business campus. One project she’s excited about for 2022 is the adding of greenery and flowers to the roundabout at Millrace, at the southwest corner of Citywest Hotel – an initiative made possible with the help of Glenveagh Homes.
“It’s going to look glorious,” she says. It’s great to see so much life and colour around the place.”
Seán runs Citywest Life, a local news blog and Facebook group. He’s lived here for four years, and enjoys the high level of convenience that the area offers. “You have great ease of access to the N7 and M50, and there are public transport links to the city and elsewhere.”
But Citywest offers plenty of reasons to stick around too, he adds, from “artisan cafés and restaurants” to the beautiful walking routes, landscaped park areas and lake that dot the business campus. Riverwalk, one of Seán’s favourite spots on the campus, has a distinct old world feel with its tall leafy trees and a series of mini waterfalls – but fear not, you can grab a coffee or a bite to eat while you’re there too.
Blathnaid Molloy is club secretary at St Mary’s GAA Club, which covers Saggart, Rathcoole and Citywest. It’s one of the fastest growing clubs in the country, with a strong youth membership. St Mary’s is a real community hub, says Blathnaid, who grew up in the area and has had a lifelong involvement in the GAA:
There’s a great spirit of inclusivity at the club. For us, the main thing is that everyone has a smile on their face. We’ve seen as adults that the friendships you build from GAA stay with you for life, and we want the kids to experience that too.
St Mary’s is a participant in Gaelic4Girls, a multi-week programme combining coaching sessions with non-competitive blitzes. Sponsored by Glenveagh Homes, it’s designed to bring more female players to GAA at a young age.
“What I love about the programme is that the element of fun really shines through,” says Blathnaid. “Everyone is treated the same regardless of their experience or age, and it’s a chance to come together and enjoy the sport.”
Philip Masterson opened Lean Bean, a café selling quick and healthy meal options, on Citywest Business Campus five years ago. It’s a busy, buzzing place to work, he says:
“We get a huge amount of loyal, regular customers. We’re very lucky in that they’re all so friendly – we genuinely like them!”
Philip’s customer base initially consisted of people working on the campus – “a mix of professionals, other business owners and sales reps passing through” – but he’s seen the dynamic shift over the last two years.
“We would get a lot more residents coming in here now, who might just come for a walk around the campus with their kids or their dogs. During summer 2020 in particular the place was so busy on weekends. We were getting new people in the door who might have been working in the city centre and not have known we existed.”
John Chatten of Citywest Shopping Centre gets the chance to see all sides of Citywest’s community at once, and he praises the area’s diversity. “There are families and older customers, and people working in so many different backgrounds, from IT staff to construction workers to nurses and doctors from Tallaght Hospital.”
Although not a resident himself, he can clearly see why so many choose to call Citywest home:
It’s an urban centre but its removed from the city so it’s affordable too. I think people are really beginning to see Citywest as a residential destination now. More and more people are becoming aware of it and considering it as a location to live in.
Considering making Citywest your new home? Barnoaks is coming soon, within walking distance of Citywest Business Campus. Register your interest here.
At Glenveagh Homes, our vision is that everyone should have the opportunity to access great-value, high-quality homes in flourishing communities across Ireland. We understand that buying a home is possibly the biggest decision you will ever make in your life – but we want to make it your easiest. Click here to find out more about Glenveagh developments.
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