Indoor ski resort planned for Tyrrelstown

Automan

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1219/1229523104845.html

Random

Certainly looks interesting

A WHITE Christmas may be unlikely this year but skiing and ice-climbing at Ireland's first indoor ski resort are on the cards in 2010.

Plans were unveiled yesterday for Snowtopia, a leisure and extreme sports centre at Tyrrelstown, 14 kilometres northwest of Dublin.

The mooted €100 million development consists of more than 10,000 square metres of "real snow" cover, Ireland's first ice climbing area and a separate rock climbing facility.

Similar projects have been successful in Manchester and Milton Keynes and the developer, Twinlite, is hopeful that despite the recession this will provide "a little bit of escape". It expects over a million people to visit the site every year.

"Even if things get really bad most people will still be working and will spend money on entertainment, especially if it is low cost," Rick Larkin, financial director of Twinlite, said. Apart from the cinema and the gym, there are not many leisure options in Ireland, he added.

Twinlite hopes the development will appeal to people in advance of skiing holidays abroad. "They can come to us for a day and take a lesson and not spend their expensive time on their ski holiday learning how to fall over," Mr Larkin said.

The ski slope will be built using two slanted pieces of concrete. Snow will be created when condensed water is fired on to a very cold atmosphere.

The developer played down any environmental concerns, saying the process was not very taxing on the environment due to advances in technology. "By cooling the ski slope we get to heat the rest of the building with the heat that we take out of it, so there's a sort of a payback in it there,"Mr Larkin said.

What is billed as Ireland's first digital theatre, a paintball centre and restaurants, as well as the pre-existing Park Plaza hotel, will be part of the new complex.

About 1,000 jobs will be created when the site is finished and a further 1,000 people will be employed during construction, according to the developers.

Plans for the resort are being submitted to planning authorities today and developers are hopeful it will go ahead in conjunction with the N2/N3 link road.

It is hoped to start construction in July 2009.

Gaspode

Ambitious plans considering the current economic climate.

ciaran76

Yeah they were on Newstalk today talking about it. Sounds very good indeed. The only concerns they had were traffic. They guy said they donated 11 acres of land to the council so they could build the link between the N2 and N3 quicker and more cheaply.

Turbulent Bill

Twinlite is the main developer of Tyrellstown - their name seems to be on every building. With the slowdown in the housing market they're probably desparate to get some value from their land bank. Wonder how they're funding this?

That said, it would be pretty cool - never thought I could walk to a ski slope from my house!

BostonB

deswalsh wrote: »

Ambitious plans considering the current economic climate.

Agreed. Can't imagine it will go ahead.

Jip

Apparently the money is already there for it to go ahead.

PeterHughes

Does anyone know the actual location of this,
Is it where the old par 3 golf course used to be?

Jip

No, it'll be just beside the Park Plaza Hotel where the N2-N3 link road is going to go.

ciaran76

I believe they gave land to the council for free for the link road. They also mentioned they reckon they will get it done cheaper in the current climate.

oneweb

It sounds like a great plan, here's hoping it goes ahead and gets completed soon.

I still can't help but feel sceptical that it's just a marketing ploy on the part of the housing developer - make people think that they should buy now 'cos it WILL be a great place to live. Well, they've nothing to lose if they don't go ahead with it do they?

Just like the 'new Dart station' near Balgriffin that's been advertised heavily as part of a nearby development yet STILL hasn't opened!

garytuohy

From the Developer

Hi everyone,


I've been really slow replying to other posts but I will get to them shortly, been pretty busy.

We're behind this development that was launched today, just to give you a run down:

- 2 ski slopes (beginners 'baby' slope and steeper, longer main slope) both covered with real snow (made the same way mother nature makes it!) and a snow creche for the toddlers
- Ireland's largest climbing centre, including a 23m climbing wall and Ireland's first ice climbing wall
- A large indoor paintball centre, totally 40,000 sq ft (this will likely have 4 different game areas and will include a 'quasar' option during the day so younger people can use it)
- An external winter ice rink
- 10 digital theatres, the first of their kind in Ireland, not only showing movies but also live sporting events, concerts and other programming with a special emphasis on educational programming
- there will be a small number of restaurants/cafe's and a large ski shop
- a children's adventure centre (similar to Imaginosity)
- a small, local gym (100 stations and 2 studios)

There is also a 5 aside soccer centre planned but this will be the subject of a further planning application.

The development is located beside the retail park at One Five West and it will create 700 jobs on site with a further 300 off site in 'indirect' employment. Between 500 and 1,000 people will be employed on its construction and its operation will mean €30m is injected directly into the Irish economy every year.

The pricing structure will be similar to the facility at Manchester (called Chill Factore) and we plan to introduce a community scheme whereby if you live in Tyrrelstown, there will be a discount applicable.

There will be a cartoon which will be in tomorrows papers to give you an idea as to what it will look like and the kind of attractions there will be. I tried to attach it to this post but it wouldn't work.

If anyone has any comments or even suggestions for a name I'd appreciate it as always.


Cheers,


Rick

BostonB

Sounds completely unrealistic, and I can only imagine the traffic chaos, considering how bad the Blanch center gets.

Jip

Not unrealistic at all considering there's similar developments around the world.

Traffic shouldn't be a problem as the N2-N3 link road should be done before hand as part of the conditions for the retail park going in the same area. Blanchardstown centre is nothing but bottlenecks anyway so you can't compare it with the Ski place.

garytuohy

I think it is a fantastic idea and I think once the n2-n3 link is done, traffic wont be a problem

BostonB

That whole area getting on/off the N3 is woeful, its not just the blanch center. Dunno about the other routes in and out. I'd say they are busy too. Just because somewhere else has the population for this, doesn't mean that Dublin does. The Ski slope would be popular, though I dunno how well Kilternan does. But paint ball has not really grown outside one or few places that have been doing it for years. Never seemed like there was much money in that, as a few places closed over the years. Airsoft might be a bit more popular now. Quasar I don't think does that well either. The cinema's sound good, Blanch UCI doesn't get that busy only for new movies, and it wouldn't be hard to pull sales from there as its not that great a cinema. I know there'll be other stuff like sporting events, concerts and other programming. A children's adventure centre is a great idea, if its not too expensive.

Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but going into a recession I would how much spare cash is going to be free for this stuff. I hope it does go ahead. I'm just that hopeful it will.

oblivious

garytuohy wrote: »

I think it is a fantastic idea and I think once the n2-n3 link is done, traffic wont be a problem

Traffic is always going to be problem in west Dublin!

BostonB

oblivious wrote: »

Traffic is always going to be problem in west Dublin!

This new development will bring yet more.

Its almost easier to go into town than the blanch center, even if you live in the area. Ditto the Nac.

Jip

But it's not at the Blanchardstown centre so stop comparing it to that. Where it's going will have direct links to the N2 and N3 and will not be a bottlekneck in and out of the place like the centre. Unless you travel at rush hour it shouldn't be a problem.

BostonB

I'm not. Theres queues a lot of the time coming on/off the M50 at the N3 and coming from Tyrrelstown\Corduff\Mulhuddart\NAC\ITB to the N3 or back towards Finglas. I'm sure a lot of that traffic will use the new link too. Off peak, it might be better. When is that though. Before 7am and after 7.30 pm?

Gaspode

Planning for this has been denied. No doubt they'll appeal and apply again.

amdublin

That's a real pity. I think it sounds like a fantastic idea and would be great for Tyrrelstown. Hopefully the developer will get it on appeal.