Sea Gardens
A characterful town
A seaside context
Sea Gardens' site plan
Sea Gardens' phase one duplexes
Sea Gardens' phase one terraces
Howells Dublin
Howells' Dublin team
Real places made for Ireland
Over the past 15 years, Howells has played a pivotal role in shaping the regeneration of the East End of London, creating new neighbourhoods and over 10,000 homes from Canary Wharf to London City Airport.
We are now transferring this experience across the Irish Sea, producing real places made for Ireland. Our urbanism here is rooted in timeless and local traditions translated into contemporary, high-density living that integrates quality, affordability, and liveability.
And the island of Ireland is no stranger to the practice. Since the early 2000s, we’ve been active in cities like Armagh and Strabane, working on Millennium-funded cultural projects, and more recently in Bantry, submitting a competition entry for a new music centre. Today, our focus has shifted to large-scale residential masterplans—bringing UK expertise to enhance Ireland’s rich urban fabric.
Howells’ most advanced Irish project to date is Sea Gardens in Bray, a beautifully preserved seaside town just south of Dublin. Known for its Georgian charm akin to Brighton or Eastbourne, Bray required a sensitive touch.
Our ambition here was to carefully grow the town. Our response? A calm, respectful extension of Bray’s DNA, echoing its colours, materials, and proportions while gently integrating contemporary design. The result is not loud or flashy architecture but something deliberately subtle, nestling into its surroundings and extending the town’s existing serenity. This is a landscape-led plan creating a new public park that connects the development to the sea whilst managing increasing flood risks.
At Bray, we have, with Ballymore, created a range of house types based on local traditional typologies, including designs that create higher densities but at a modest scale, such as the duplex homes on the new main square.
Having worked on several large-scale projects across London it’s now heartening to be working in my home country. And from our Baggot Street studio in Dublin, I’m working with a dynamic team—Technical Director Simon Pearson, Associate Stephen Jackson, and Architect Jessie Low—driving forward a series of exciting projects across Ireland.
Written on 19.05.2025, by Daniel Mulligan
