The Land Development Agency (LDA) and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have broken ground on the state's largest public housing scheme at Shanganagh near Shankill, Co Dublin.
Construction is now underway on 597 homes, with the first to be made available by the end of 2024, following a sod turning ceremony attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien on Monday.
LDA said the development is "an important mileston" in progressing the government's Housing for All strategy and would deliver on its efforts to unlock land for large-scale affordable housing projects.
Of the homes under construction, 306 or 51% will be cost-rental, 91 or 15 will be affordable purchases, and 200 or 34% will be social housing.
"The homes built here will be of an extremely high quality, serviced by a host of amenities, providing safe and secure homes for life," said O'Brien.
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"The LDA is central to our Housing for All plan and are working closely with our Local Authorities and my Department to deliver social and affordable housing in significant sites across our cities and towns. I want to commend them for bringing this project to fruition and I look forward to seeing this project progress.”
The Taoiseach said there would be "a strong mix of different housing types including social housing for people on the housing list, cost-rental properties for low- and middle-income workers living in Dublin, and affordable housing for families to purchase.
"That’s the right approach," he added. "It’s really encouraging to see significant progress being made and the start of the largest public housing scheme in the state. It’s another important step to achieving our target of building 40,000 new homes a year by the end of the decade.”
The development will offer a mix of accommodation suitable for single people, couples, and families, with 99 of the new homes to have three bedrooms, and it will be the largest residential scheme certified to achieve the ‘passive house’ low energy use standard, minimising the need for boilers, radiators and other space hearing systems.
The scheme has low car parking provision, with a total of 365 spaces, but over 1,300 spaces for bicycles and 34 EV charging points, and it is located close to the N11 and 10 minutes' walk from the proposed Woodbrook DART station and Bus Connects routes.
It will also be served by amenities including extensive communal green space, a playground, a creche, a convenience store and café. Walls Construction was appointed lead contractor on the project in June after a public tender process.
"Breaking ground here at Shanganagh is a very important moment for the LDA in delivering on our mission to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing on state land," said John Coleman, CEO of LDA.
"We are particularly proud of the scale of the Shanganagh scheme, which will be the largest direct-build public housing scheme in the state in recent years. The project’s design is rooted in sustainability and energy efficiency, and will deliver a large quantity of much-needed affordable and social housing to the area.”
Frank Curran, CEO of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, said: “We are committed to delivering homes for people at all income levels within the county and this development will offer people an attractive place to live that is close to transport links and supported by a wide range of local amenities.
"We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the LDA to complete these homes and have people living in them as soon as possible.”
LDA said it has a pipeline of 21,000 to 26,000 homes to be delivered in the coming years, including Shanganagh and other developments in Dublin Cork, Limerick and Galway
