New home view: Trading up in Malahide

IN upmarket Malahide, large imposing homes line the leafy Back Road that runs along part of the perimeter of the 12th-century Malahide Castle and its 268-acre grounds.

Malahide Demesne is home to botanical gardens, a play area and fairy trail walks for children, picnic sites, cricket grounds, a nine-hole golf course, a pitch-and-putt course, a boules area, and an Avoca outlet and café.

In recent years, Back Road and its surrounding area has increasingly become a popular destination for two residential developers catering to trader-uppers and first-time buyers in Malahide. Bernie Carroll’s Carroll Estates and Bryan Lynam’s CE Cladewell Estates buy sites in the area together and apply for planning permission jointly, before dividing up each site for their own separate developments – albeit building roughly the same type of house.

This partnership, which makes it easier to afford land, was behind Hazelbrook and Castleway at Kinsealy Lane. The developers then moved to a nearby site off Back Road, opposite the castle, for Ashwood Hall, with Carroll Estates launching homes there last year and CE Cladewell Estates following up with its own houses this spring. Brookfield, which will eventually comprise 80 houses off Back Road, is their next joint project.

CE Cladewell is first out of the block at Brookfield, with the release this weekend of the scheme’s first 18 houses. Prices for the three and four-bed properties vary according to size and garden orientation. Trader-uppers will likely account for 80pc of the target market, with the remaining 20pc made up of first-time buyers, according to selling agent Andrew Long.

A three-bed semi-detached home in the C and E styles ranges in price from €620,000 to €635,000, with sizes going from 1,250 sq ft to 1,267 sq ft. The four-bed semis from the A design, which spans 1,485 sq ft, cost from €670,000 to €705,000, while the D style of four-bed semi, which measures 1,382 sq ft, is priced from €699,000. The largest and most expensive house type in this phase is the B style of four-bed semi, which has 1,905 sq ft of living space and has a starting price of €825,000.

All the houses at Brookfield are traditional in appearance, with two storeys, a façade finished in an Ibstock heritage red brick, and granite reveals to the German PVC windows. Inside, each home has a BeSpace kitchen with handleless cabinets, Lagoon Silestone worktops, a large island unit, integrated appliances, and a wine cooler.

At the new four-bed semi-detached showhouse, which is from the A range, there is a living room with a bay window up front. This space also has a trio of windowpanes and a sleek remote-controlled Gazco Riva fire inset that spans the entire width of the chimney breast.

There are 9ft-high ceilings throughout the ground floor, including in the kitchen/dining/living room to the rear. A large three-pane sliding door opens from the latter space onto the granite-paved patio and the rear garden. A wc and a utility room complete the ground floor accommodation.

Upstairs, there are three double bedrooms and a good-sized single bedroom. The master bedroom comes with a built-in dresser, a walk-in wardrobe, and a large en suite fitted with textured Japan Marine tiles that have an aluminium trim. The remaining bedrooms have contemporary-style hand-painted wardrobes. The family bathroom is positioned centrally off the landing, where there are also folding stairs to a floored attic.

The Brookfield homes meet both the upcoming Nearly Zero Energy Buildings regulations and have an A2 BER. An air-to-water heat pump, combined with extensive insulation and high-performance windows, keeps energy bills low.

Brookfield is just a short walk from the centre of the coastal village, while Malahide DART station is about a 20-minute walk. The location also offers easy access to the M1 and M50, with Dublin Airport only a 15-minute drive away. Malahide village is also served by Dublin Bus routes 32, 32x, 42, 43 and 142.

The Brookfield showhouse will be on view from 1pm to 3pm tomorrow and Sunday.

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