I was delighted to attend the grand opening of the new Meadowbrook facilities in December, as a voluntary board member of DLR Leisure and a councillor who fought to keep the funding for the project. Especially as a Ballinteer parent too, I’m very happy to see more facilities for our young people to gain some independence and stay active.
This is a great new community facility right in the heart of Ballinteer, right on the Slang greenway, next to local schools and the 14 bus. It also includes the country’s first publicly-owned padel tennis courts, a sport that’s really taking off in Ireland.
The new facilities include:
- One large all-weather pitch (that can be split into three small pitches)
- Two padel tennis courts
- A teenage zone which includes:
- multi-skills wall (hurling, camogie, football, handball)
- horizontal climbing wall
- a 3v3 basketball court
- a calisthenics zone
- a sprint area
- ample seating
The all-weather pitches have been upgraded to include third-generation synthetic surfacing and shockpad, upgraded LED floodlighting, goals, fencing, and ballstop netting. One of the most innovative aspects of the pitches is the use of cork material for the infill, providing a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional black rubber. This is the first of these pitches in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area that uses natural infill and one of the first in Ireland.
Here is the location in case you’re not familar with Meadowbrook. The teenage zone is free to use at all hours. The padel tennis courts and the all-weather pitches are managed by dlr Leisure Meadowbrook. Users can easily make reservations either in person at the centre reception or conveniently online.
There are improved facilities in the centre too, with workstations installed for anyone needing to do some work while kids are in lessons or at other neary activities.
There are a some more improvements for Meadowbrook in the pipeline too which I hope to be able to share with you soon. I share updates like these through my email newsletter which you can sign up for here:
