Citywest is a business park and golf resort in the Saggart

Saggart

Saggart is a suburban village in South Dublin County, Ireland, south west of Dublin city. It lies between the N7 , Rathcoole, and Tallaght.-Name:A monk called Mosacra founded a settlement on the site of the village in the 7th century...

 area, just north and northwest of Saggart village in South Dublin

South Dublin

South Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. The county seat is Tallaght, the largest suburb of Dublin and the biggest urban centre in the county. Other important centres of population are Lucan and Clondalkin...

. The nearest major town is Tallaght

Tallaght

Tallaght is the largest town, and county town, of South Dublin County, Ireland. The village area, dating from at least the 17th century, held one of the earliest settlements known in the southern part of the island, and one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres.Up to the 1960s...

. The business park has developed a modest residential population in recent years. The River Camac

River Camac

The River Camac is one of the larger rivers in Dublin, Ireland, and was one of four tributaries of the Liffey critical to early development of the city.-Course:...

 passes north of the business park, and two of its tributaries pass through it.

History

Originally a greenfield site

Greenfield land

Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...

 north of Saggart village, west of Tallaght, and largely south of the Naas dual carriageway (now the M7 / N7), the combined Citywest concepts were launched by Irish construction firm Davy Holdings, who began building of the business park

Business park

A business park or office park is an area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. All of the work that goes on is commercial, not industrial or residential....

 in the early 1990s, and Jim Mansfield, who drove the hotel and leisure aspects.

A substantial golf course, for a time Citywest and Hibernian Golf Club, now just Citywest Golf Resort, was laid-out. The large Citywest Hotel

Citywest Hotel

The Citywest Hotel, part of the Mansfield Group, is a 774 bedroomed hotel, conference and leisure centre located in Citywest, Dublin, Ireland. It is the largest hotel in Europe.-External links:*...

, with over 1,700 rooms, was built adjacent to this. The hotel, golf resort and related developments were placed in receivership in mid-2010.

Following the opening of the original business park the N82 National road

National secondary road

A national secondary road is a category of road in Ireland. These roads form an important part of the national route network, but are secondary to the main arterial routes which are classified as national primary roads. National secondary roads are designated with route numbers higher than those...

 joining the N81 to the Naas dual carriageway was re-routed through the campus. It previously passed through the village of Saggart itself.

Several major businesses moved to the business park, notably eircom

Eircom

Eircom Group LTD is a telecommunications company in the Republic of Ireland, and a former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in Great Britain.As Bord...

, mobile operator Meteor, and Independent News and Media, and branch offices of Xilinx, Unilever, Pfizer, SAP and Roche.

A small but increasing residential population developed in the late 2000s and in 2007 a small shopping centre called Citywest SC was opened south of the business park, the first retail facility in the area.

Transport

Three Dublin Bus routes (numbers 50, 65B & 69) serve the business park, as well as feeder services to Tallaght, and a private commuter bus operated by the business park management.

Luas halt

Citywest is currently the third last stop on the Luas red line (on the 4.5km Saggart spur which opened on the 1st of July 2011)

Citywest Campus

Amenities

• Golf resort: there are two 18-hole courses, designed by Christy O'Connor, Junior, one with woodland and water, one lakeland; the resort hosted the Irish Masters in 1994 and the Irish Ladies Masters in 1996.
• Shopping centre, anchored by Dunnes Stores
• Service / petrol station
• Restaurants
• 4,000 seater Convention Centre (host of Dublin leg of Top Gear Live 2010)

Education

The business park hosts a Dublin City University

Dublin City University

Dublin City University is a university situated between Glasnevin, Santry, Ballymun and Whitehall on the Northside of Dublin in Ireland...

branch facility, the Ryan Academy (previously part of a larger concept, the Eeolas Institute, which closed after major losses).