Enriching Mullingar Town Centre Public Realm

Challenge

Mullingar is a busy town centre, dominated by vehicular traffic and parked cars. Our client wanted to achieve a redesign that was pedestrian-friendly and created new civic spaces for events, meetings and gatherings. 

The town centre lacked tree planting and biodiversity and overhead utilities detracted from the visual appearance. They wanted a scheme that would deliver a sense of pride and ownership. 

Solution

Once complete, the scheme underpinned the retail and economic activity in the town centre. It provided opportunities for increased residential use and maintained the town’s rich and diverse architectural heritage.

The project enhanced the pedestrian environment and the visual quality and experience of the area, delivering a range of benefits:

• An attractive public realm with high focus on pedestrian thoroughfare designed in accordance with Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets (DMUR)
• Newly created civic areas for public congregation and events
• Connectivity from off-street car parks to the town centre, providing an attractive alternative to on-street parking
• A safer environment for vulnerable road users by narrowing the road carriageway
• New and enhanced pedestrian crossing points with the installation of push button pedestrian crossing signals at all major junctions
• An upgrade of surface materials to reflect the cultural, historic and strategic importance of protected structures, located at strategic locations in the town
• New planting of appropriate tree species
• New public lighting
• New road marking and signage layout