Construction All Around
Brandon | March 27, 2007One of the results of economic progress in Ireland is the relentless construction that surrounds. Here in Dublin’s suburbs, we see it on the motorway. We see it near the supermarkets. We drive through it to get to the train or LUAS station. Often, it even seems to be in our back garden.
Since my wife and I moved in to our house 7 or 8 months ago, there’s been an apartment building project just over the wall from our back garden. Recently, we noticed a large shadow moving across our estate, like a massive bird flying overhead. When we looked up, we saw that it was a crane. No, not the feathered, egg-laying type, but rather the steel kind that you might remember seeing the new 007 jump around on in pursuit of a bad guy. Fortunately, I’m quite certain that this crane won’t cause the noise and earth quakes that the large, machine operated jack hammers have done over the last 2 months. I’m also quite certain we’ve even had a stray rock, a little larger than the size of a golf ball, fly over and chip the windscreen of our car.
Just last week, we noticed construction crews beginning to clear a path to extend the LUAS line from Sandyford, across the M50 and down through Carickmines where (rumour has it) a Sainsbury’s supermarket is scheduled to go in, across the car park from PC World and Woodie’s.
Most suburbanite Dubliners find the constant construction a little unnerving at times, but seem very aware that it’s a necessary result of the “Celtic Tiger� economy. While local government and construction crews can always do more to make it less invasive, people seem to recognize that every individual project has an end. Which can never seem to come quite soon enough.
It would be SO cool to have a Sainsburys in Ireland. I hope it happens
Yeah, when I lived in England, I preferred it over Tesco. Seems like it’ll have a difficult time competing here in Dublin against Dunnes though (and Tesco, for that matter). They just put in a Dunnes in Ballyogan Road, not too far from where the Sainsburys will be. But there’s also loads of housing going in all over, so there’ll be no shortage of clientele.
Oooh I love Sainsbury’s too. That location is a bit out of my direction, but I might just hop on the LUAS to have a peek if it all goes through.