Clara Masterplan

Architecture Office Urban Agency Architects

Typology Masterplan

Location Clara, Ireland

Client Offaly County Council

Status Completed, 2023

Offaly County Council appointed Urban Agency to support the Town Team and the Council in preparing the Town Centre First Plan for Clara. The project involved background/baseline research, stakeholder engagement, and numerous public engagement events and surveys.

The plan’s objective was to present a new vision for Clara, starting from the context analysis, through selected key interventions that could aid the creation of a vibrant town centre. The potential projects included the following:

• Townscape Project: Enhancing the appearance and visual quality of the Town Centre and the future connectivity and permeability of Clara Town Centre. Creation of a new civic plaza.

• River Activation: Utilising one of Clara’s key natural assets to provide a new amenity resource, a river walk route and a Water Sports Facility. Provision of an active travel route around the Goodbody’s Reservoir.

• Heritage Buildings Opportunities: Regenerating and re-activating Clara’s valuable heritage buildings.

• Accessibility: Establishing a new local cycle route network for the Town Centre, rationalising on-street parking, and converting the historic railway line into a greenway.

• New Neighbourhood Quarter: Regeneration and redevelopment at a key location in the Town Centre.

• Erry Mill Site: Celebrating the story of Clara’s unique and rich industrial heritage at the Erry Mill site.

As a part of the team for Urban Agency, I was involved in the research phase, the definition of the town masterplan to identify the overall strategic approach, and then in developing design solutions for the selected intervention sites. The graphic representation of the project outcome was included in the final document, coordinated by RMLA.