Historic Flavor

The Challenge

Architecturally Dundalk is easily one of the most beautiful towns in Ireland, it has an extraordinary amount of 19th century vernacular – from when the town first took off – as well as a handful of buildings (including contemporary) of national and international importance.

The Solution

The Marshes stands on a site of 28 acres which has been assembled by Fyffes and Lagan Development. The 37,160m2 centre is at the forefront of modern shopping centres in Ireland.

Tenants include River Island, A Wear, Easons, Virgin, Boots, Sasha, New Look, Lifestyle Sports, Claire’s Accessories, Barratt, Costa Coffee, O’Brien’s Sandwich Bar, Exhibit, Diamond Jewellers, McArdle Butchers, Pulse, Heaven and Hallmark.

The success in attracting so many multiples, particularly fashion retailers, stems from the shortage of suitable units in the town up until now and the centre has provided a major economic boost to the town and created over 1,000 new jobs.

The Dundalk centre has numerous unique architectural features particularly the double height shop fronts and the glazed domes over three central courts connecting to the malls. The unique sash windows inside give unrivalled historic flavour to the development.

The exterior has been designed as a monumental ‘streetscape’ façade linked by a new high street to the Ramparts Road reaching as far as the eye can see. The centre has several different architectural styles, including feature towers, dormers, copulas and clocks reflecting Dundalk’s period architecture.

The Marshes links into the town centre through a plaza with external shops fronting Ramparts Road. With over 5,000m2 of AG’s premium TerraPave® natural aggregate flags used in the scheme, the developers were looking for a product which enhanced and complemented the period architecture of the scheme. Sorrento Textured and Pollensa Textured provided a hard wearing finish which would stand up to the daily demands of a busy centre.

The pencil sharp edges provided by AG’s Boulevard paving further enhanced the scheme providing reduced rumble noise from trolleys, making it ideal for the retail environment. With Dundalk currently looking to achieve city status, the significant development of the Marshes shopping centre without a doubt will aid in its pursuits.