Belfield is a small enclave, not quite a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

, in

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Dun Laoghaire–Rathdown.svg , area_total_km2 = 125.8 , area_footnotes = , seat_type = County town , seat = Dún Laoghaire , blank_name_sec1 = Vehicle indexmark ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It is synonymous with the main campus of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

. Belfield is close to Donnybrook,

Ballsbridge Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the city. Th ...

, Clonskeagh,

Goatstown Goatstown () is a small Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. To the west is Dundrum, to the east is Blackrock, to the south is Sandyford, and to the north Ranelagh. It is mainly a residential area, with a primary school called Our Lady’s Gro ...

and

Stillorgan Stillorgan (, also ''Stigh Lorcáin'' and previously ''Tigh Lorcáin'' or ''Teach Lorcáin''), formerly a village in its own right, is now a suburban area of Dublin in Ireland. Stillorgan is located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and contains man ...

and takes its name from Belfield House and Demesne, one of eight properties bought to form the main campus of University College Dublin. It is adjacent to the R138 road.

History

Belfield was one of the original sites suggested as a possible location for

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport ( Irish: ''Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath'') is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinstown, north of Dublin, and south o ...

before Collinstown was chosen. Nowadays, Belfield is synonymous with University College Dublin, being the location of that institution's main 132-hectare campus. University College Dublin (UCD) dates back to its foundation at 86 St. Stephen's Green in 1851 as the

Catholic University of Ireland The Catholic University of Ireland (CUI; ga, Ollscoil Chaitliceach na hÉireann) was a private Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University o ...

founded by

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican priest and later as a Catholic priest and ...

who was its first rector. In 1934, UCD bought Belfield House and from 1949 to 1958 purchased a group of adjoining properties to form a potential campus estate. In 1960, the Government recommended that the College move from the city centre to Belfield. The first buildings to be completed on the new campus were those of the Faculty of Science in 1964. The other faculties moved to Belfield on a phased basis as their new buildings were completed, although as of 2007, parts of a few remain in Dublin city centre. Additionally, the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business is based on the remainder of the Carysfort (former School of Education) campus in

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...

Amenities

The site also includes Belfield office park, with a large, international

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

call centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone ...

, and a sports ground, The Belfield Bowl, at which the UCD soccer and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

teams both play in the top divisions of their respective leagues. The area is served by the college's numerous media outlets including newspapers, the College Tribune and the University Observer, radio station Belfield FM and television station the College Television Network.

Business

There are several 'office parks' located in and adjacent to Belfield, including Belfield Office Park, Clonskeagh Drive and Beech Hill Office Park, the latter with a gym adjacent. Some of the companies located here include

(until 2008 most

activities were based in HP's Belfield Office Park),

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in inform ...

,Jobs at Ericsson Ireland
visited 15 November 2009

Smurfit Kappa The Smurfit Kappa Group plc is Europe's leading corrugated packaging company and one of the leading paper-based packaging companies in the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The co ...

(head office), and the

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform ( ga, An Roinn Caiteachais Phoiblí agus Athchóirithe) is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The department was established i ...

History

Amenities

Business

References

See also