Huge Public Housing Scheme Launched — But 900 BTR Homes Refused Planning Consent

Taioseach Simon Harris and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien — keynote speaker at Bisnow’s Residential Investment And Development event on 21 Nov. — officially launched the first new homes at Shanganagh Castle Estate in Shankill, Co Dublin on 20 September.

The new development, delivered by the Land Development Agency and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, is the largest public housing project in several years in the region and is also the first of a pipeline of around 20 housing projects to be completed by the LDA on state-owned land. It follows the completion of well over a thousand homes from a series of partnerships with other housebuilders.  

The estate includes a total of 597 high-quality houses and apartments, including affordable purchase, cost rental and social homes, and will be launched in phases this year and in 2025. 

“This is the first affordable housing development to be directly delivered by the LDA on state-owned land and it will soon be followed by many others. A greater supply of affordable housing is a key element of the government’s Housing for All plan and delivery is ramping up significantly,” Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said at the launch.

Separately, An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission to plans by Cairn Homes for 355 built-to-rent apartments at Blackrock, Co. Dublin, while the appeals board has also refused planning permission for 534 Cairn BTR apartments at Winterbrook and Barrington Tower, Dublin 18.

The planning appeals board has refused planning permission for the BTR component of a strategic housing development scheme in Cross Avenue, Blackrock after determining that the units would result in an “over-proliferation” of BTR homes in the area.

Comprising six blocks of up to eight storeys, the original planning was submitted in April 2022 and the decision comes as the board is clearing the backlog in outstanding SHD cases.

At Winterbrook and Barrington Tower, planning for apartments across eight blocks, with the highest 10-storeys tall, was also first lodged in April 2022 but had faced local opposition.

The appeals board refused planning permission because of the “overbearing height, appearance and scale of the proposed development,” although the appeals board has granted planning for 11 build-to-sell homes on the site.