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A PLACE IN FOSTERSTOWN

Airside

From fields in three townlands to a retail park, a business park and a planned station: how Airside was built, and what is planned around it.

Illustrative image, not a verified photograph

The name

EstablishedAirside is a trade name, not a townland. It belongs to Airside Retail Park, Airside Business Park, Airside Enterprise Centre, Airside Motor Park and Airside Green, and gives its name to the “Airside & Nevinstown” neighbourhood in this site’s directory.

EstablishedOn the ground it sits across three old townlands. We tested 126 business addresses that mention Airside against the official townland boundaries: 60 fall in Nevinstown East, 38 in Crowscastle, 19 in Nevinstown West, 8 in Marshallstown and one in Fosterstown North. See the map page for the boundaries.

ProbableIt is named for the airport, which marketing material puts about four minutes away. That fits the word, which means the part of an airport beyond the check-in. No source says so.

Still to establishWho chose the name. The retail park was already called Airside in September 2000, while still under construction.

The land before

EstablishedNevinstown East and Nevinstown West are townlands in the parish of Swords, in Irish Baile Naoimhín Thoir and Baile Naoimhín Thiar. The Placenames Database records the name as Newiston (about 1532), Neweneston (1547), Newinston (1610), Nevinstowne (1659), Navins T. on Rocque’s map of 1760, and Nevinstown in the 1836 Ordnance Survey records, which note “Nevinstowne seems the correct name”. Logainm: Nevinstown East · Nevinstown West

ProbableThe name comes from a person, a Nevin or similar. A 2023 heritage assessment for the BusConnects scheme says names like Fosterstown, Miltonsfields and Nevinstown “are likely to refer to family names”. The earliest spellings (Newiston, Newinston) look different from the later ones, so the route from the old forms to Nevin is not settled. BusConnects EIAR, chapter 15

EstablishedCrowscastle, in Irish Caisleán na bPréachán, is the neighbouring townland. Historic maps show 19th-century houses in Nevinstown West beside the old Dublin road, including Pennock Hill House, which the road has since been widened over. See the Pinnock Hill guide.

Still to establishWhich farms became the retail and business parks, who owned and farmed them, their field names, and when they were sold. We have not seen the old maps or valuation records for these townlands. Tell us if you remember the fields before the shops.

Building Airside

EstablishedIn September 2000 the Irish Times reported that the Irish Pension Fund Property Unit Trust and Irish Life had bought Airside Retail Park for £50 million while it was still being built. It was being developed by David Daly’s company, Albany Homes. The park covered 13.5 acres and about 194,000 sq ft, with an anchor store of 35,000 sq ft. Irish Times, 20 September 2000

EstablishedIt was a smaller scheme than first planned. Albany’s original 350,000 sq ft park, anchored by a 110,000 sq ft B&Q, was refused by An Bord Pleanála. The board accepted a neighbouring trader’s argument that a superstore would draw trade from the area, and found the scheme premature until a new section of the M1 was finished.

EstablishedToday IPUT lists “Phase 1” at 207,000 sq ft in 12 units, bought in 2000, with tenants including Woodies as anchor, Smyths Toys, DID Electrical, Harvey Norman and Harry Corry. IPUT: Airside Retail Park

ProbableThe park opened in 2001 and was extended in 2005. Two online listings say so, and neither is a strong source.

EstablishedAirside Business Park was “developed in the early to mid 2000s”, with Daly building some of its first office blocks. Its tenants have included Ryanair, AIB, eShopWorld, Sandisk, Fujitsu and Ricoh, and a building at 230 to 240 Lakeshore Drive was until recently Kellogg’s European headquarters. Irish Times, 21 October 2020

EstablishedThe newest block is Airside Green: six storeys and about 10,700 sq m, marketed by Colliers in 2022 as an A3-rated sustainable office building. The brochure describes it as beside the proposed Metro North station, which is marketing language, not a planning statement. Airside Green brochure

Still to establishThe planning history of each phase, the opening dates, and the story of how land beside the old Dublin road became a cluster of shops and offices.

Today

EstablishedOur directory lists 201 businesses in the Airside & Nevinstown neighbourhood, led by shops (51), motor businesses (39), health (21) and beauty and fitness (16). Browse them on the Airside area page or in the directory.

EstablishedIn 2016 the owners of Phase 1 asked Fingal, in its draft development plan, to widen what the retail-warehouse zoning allows, adding cafés, fast food and convenience shops. The park was then zoned for retail warehousing. They did not ask for housing. Submission to Fingal, 29 April 2016

Still to establishWhat the current development plan says for these lands, and what became of that request. Check Fingal’s zoning maps for the 2023 to 2029 plan.

What is planned

Airside is the commercial heart of the lands around the planned MetroLink station, and most of the change planned for it is next door rather than on it. This list keeps the stages apart. Last checked 19 October 2026. For all of Fingal’s projects, see the plans page and the MetroLink page.

  1. MetroLink station at Fosterstown

    Transport Infrastructure Ireland

    The station is planned beside the R132, just north of Airside Retail Park, as a retained-cut station. No opening date has been confirmed.

    PlannedRailway Order operative since 12 January 2026. Main construction to follow enabling works expected from early 2027.

    MetroLink: route and stations

  2. 530 apartments at Barrysparks and Crowscastle

    Bovale Developments

    A large-scale residential scheme of 530 homes, a crèche and 163 car parking spaces, as a 10-year permission. The site is bounded by the R132 to the north, Lakeshore Drive (the Airside Business Park road) to the west, Drynam Road to the east and the Holywell Distributor Road to the south. In the Irish Times account the blocks are seven to nine storeys.

    Granted, appeal decidedFingal reference LRD0055/S3E. The Commission’s case page shows an appeal, lodged 29 May 2026 and decided on 24 August 2026, which it describes as a contribution appeal. Check the case page for the full decision.

    An Coimisiún Pleanála, case LH06F.324331 · Irish Times, 12 September 2025

  3. Hollytree House apartments, Nevinstown

    Clondev Properties; MKN Property Group

    Apartments at the junction of Dublin Road and Boroimhe Link Road. The Fingal application (F22A/0687) was to demolish Hollytree House and build 85 apartments. MKN Property Group’s own page shows 83 apartments in a block of four to eight storeys and says it is with Fingal for a decision.

    Check statusAn appeal about the development contribution on the Clondev scheme was decided on 24 July 2024, which suggests Fingal had already granted permission. How that relates to MKN’s 83-apartment version, and whether anything is built, is still to establish.

    An Coimisiún Pleanála, case 318046 · MKN Property Group, Hollytree House

  4. Airside–Feltrim Link Road

    Fingal County Council

    A proposed road that appears on Fingal’s Fosterstown Masterplan among the wider Swords works, “including upgrading of existing roundabouts”, and on the Barrysparks and Crowscastle developer’s masterplan as a proposed route.

    PolicyA proposal on plans. We found no route, funding or date.

    Fingal, Fosterstown Masterplan (May 2019) · Barrysparks and Crowscastle masterplan vision (Bovale, 2025)

  5. BusConnects corridor and the R132 works

    National Transport Authority; Fingal County Council

    The BusConnects Swords corridor has a section it calls Pinnock Hill to Airside Junction. Fingal’s R132 Connectivity Project is rebuilding the road’s roundabouts between Bostik Junction and Pinnock Hill roundabout.

    ApprovedBusConnects approved in June 2024 with no construction date found. The R132 works began in 2026.

    BusConnects EIAR, chapter 15 · Fingal: R132 Connectivity Project

We found no planning application to redevelop Airside Retail Park itself. If one is lodged, it will be on Fingal’s planning register.

Sources

Developers, tenants and public bodies are named only as they appear in these public records, reports and marketing. This site takes no side on any scheme.

Unofficial local summary, last checked 19 October 2026. All places · History of Fosterstown