We’ve been short of innovative & new trends in the luxury lifestyles Housing Developments of late, it’s not enough to have a lavish foyer, expansive master suite premium kitchen appliances, or relaxing water features, today’s affluent homebuyers are seeking out the next must-have in quality facilities and services.
The Need for Innovation in Luxury Housing Developments
Setting a new standard of affordable living luxury could be a game called Padel constructed outdoors on a 20m x10m site, it has the potential to become that new driver creating an intriguing new appeal for buyers, and also giving the Developers a chance to promote “family activity” and “wellness” within their desirable gated community builds.
Padel: The New Game Changing Feature
Having exclusive access to your padel court shared with your affluent neighbors can introduce a sense of community, & can truly take your home to the next level. Padel is a hybrid of tennis and squash with a splash of badminton, it’s fun, sociable, and can be played at any level with a lower skill threshold than tennis, a very inclusive family-orientated sport. It scores just like tennis and is always played in doubles.
Benefits of Padel in Affluent Gated Communities
Across the waters, in the high-end property market it’s now a must-have says UK property agents, being asked about the garden size for the potential building of a 20m x10m padel court to invite friends and Bar-B-Q at weekends. Getting a Padel game in Dublin is getting very difficult finding a friend with a court at their house is much easier; one of the many padel networks is rotating around private homes.
Padel: A Hybrid of Tennis and Squash
In the UK there are around 90,000 players according to the Lawn Tennis Association, but only 320 public courts. To put this into perspective, the International Padel Federation reports that Italy has more than 5,000 courts, Sweden nearly 4,000, Belgium above 1,000, and Ireland 12 Twelve.
Padel's Growing Popularity in the UK and Ireland
Across Ireland, many sports clubs & tennis clubs are talking about padel, some are saying, maybe its a fad, let’s wait & see, others have quickly moved ahead, such as Naas, LTC Shankill, and one of the first movers was one the oldest Tennis club in the world, Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club seeing the opportunity for this oversubscribed sport constructed three new padel courts in 2021 have seen the interest in membership increase by 50%, and have plans to build two more
Building a Padel Court in Your Home or Property
Yvonne Dolan of PCI Padel Courts in Ireland has been bringing padel courts to private homes & hotels in Ireland since 2022, several in south county Dublin, and more projects in planning stages. She says the basic padel court with toughened glass, mesh walls, net, and lights costs Euro 22,000 to Euro 38,000 and takes three or four days to build, but the groundwork cost can be double the court price plus VAT. A lot of work goes into the construction side, excavation, installation of pipe drainage, and construction of ring beam. electric ducts & the laying of asphalt.
If you already have a tennis court, it can be less expensive [to adapt],’ a reduction in the groundwork by at least 50%. ‘It’s quite an indulgence, but says that building a court is adding immediate value to your property & one way to make a lot of new friends until the Padel Courts are more accessible.