The Land Development Agency (LDA) has announced the establishment of a framework panel consisting of 15 of Ireland’s largest and most experienced homebuilders to accelerate the delivery of affordable homes.
The framework provides a range of delivery partnership options, including forward funding mechanisms, which will ease financing issues by allowing phased payments to housebuilders for affordable homes.
The 15 homebuilders (listed in full below) qualified for the panel through an open and transparent public procurement competition designed to deliver large-scale high density and sustainable affordable housing projects more effectively and efficiently than previously possible.
Subject to funding, the LDA is targeting the delivery of 5,000 homes as part of the initiative, which is the second phase of the Agency’s Project Tosaigh programme, which has already resulted in agreements to deliver over 2,800 affordable homes. Under the initial phase, the LDA stepped in to provide a backstop to kickstart construction on stalled or otherwise unviable housebuilder-led projects. This involved the LDA agreeing to purchase homes upon completion, allowing housebuilders to commence or accelerate their development.
Under this second phase of Project Tosaigh, the LDA will provide funding through the construction phase for key housing projects based upon milestones reached during the development process. This will allow for a more collaborative partnership between the LDA and panel members, assisting in the accelerated delivery of cost rental homes.
The majority of the homes will be State-owned cost rental apartments and, subject to funding, the LDA will invest in the region of €2 billion delivering them. This will be in addition to the more than 10,000 affordable and social homes the LDA is in the process of delivering on state-owned or acquired land.
The establishment of the panel should expedite housing delivery in a way that delivers value for money for the state, as it provides a mechanism for the LDA to run competitive mini tenders which are intended to drive fair but robust pricing tension.
The framework panel will remain in place for four years at which point the LDA will issue a tender to form a new panel.
John Coleman, Chief Executive of the LDA said:
“The announcement of our panel of housebuilder partners marks a step-change in the way the LDA delivers homes. It identifies strong project partners who will work with us to design and deliver affordable homes in the right places, at scale and at the right cost. The framework will give the LDA greater control over the housing projects it funds, as the Agency will be more involved in design and financing from an earlier stage. It also provides more certainty for the housebuilders we partner with, incentivising them to achieve development milestones through staged payments.
Full list of developers selected for the Housebuilder Framework Panel:
Alanna Homes |
Ballymore |
Cairn Homes |
Chartered Land |
Elkstone |
Glenveagh Properties |
Greenacre Construction |
Greenseed |
Marlet Property Group |
McGarrell Reilly |
O’Callaghan |
O’Flynn Group |
Park Developments |
Quintain |
Royalton |
About the LDA
The LDA is the State’s affordable housing delivery body. It is in the process of delivering more than 10,000 homes on State-owned or acquired land and over 8,000 through the Government’s Project Tosaigh initiative.
The Agency has existing planning permission for around 6,000 affordable homes on State-owned lands with many projects already under construction and others at advanced planning stage.
In addition to the direct delivery of homes on state-owned or other acquired land, the LDA is overseeing Project Tosaigh, an initiative whereby the agency steps in to facilitate the completion of stalled or unviable housing projects and then makes the homes available to renters or to buyers as either cost rental of affordable purchase. Under Project Tosaigh, the LDA is planning to deliver at least 8,000 homes by 2028 with a significant number of these already delivered.
The LDA produced the Report on Relevant Public Land, which advised the government of the potential to deliver 67,000 homes on 83 underutilised State-owned sites. The LDA also announced plans to purchase private sites with planning permission in the country’s five major cities.
Direct delivery
The LDA’s direct delivery projects include the construction of 265 homes at St Kevin’s Hospital in Cork, a former HSE site, and the development of 597 homes in Shanganagh in Dublin in partnership with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.
It also includes 817 homes at a site at Castlelands in Balbriggan in Dublin, 345 in Hacketstown in Skerries in Dublin, 219 at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co. Kildare, 852 on the former Central Mental Hospital site in Dundrum, Dublin 14 and 543 at St Teresa’s Gardens in Dublin’s south inner city in partnership with Dublin City Council. In December 2023, the Agency purchased a major site in Clongriffin in Dublin, which has the potential to deliver 2,200 homes.
Project Tosaigh
Project Tosaigh is an LDA initiative, whereby the Agency steps in to facilitate the completion of housing projects and then makes the new homes available to renters on a cost rental basis or to purchasers at an affordable price.
The LDA has already launched a number of Project Tosaigh schemes. They include the release of 142 cost rental homes in Archers Wood in Delgany in Wicklow and the phased release of 95 homes in Parklands on Fortunestown Lane in Citywest in Dublin.
In January 2024, the LDA announced the release of over 600 cost rental homes in four locations including 247 at Barnwell Point Apartments in Hansfield in Dublin 15, 236 at The Quarter in Citywest, 86 in Dun Óir in Kilternan in Dublin and 52 in Harpur Lane in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
The Agency has also launched a number of affordable purchase Project Tosaigh developments. These include the phased launch of 92 homes in Clonmore in Mallow in Cork, 95 in Summerfields in Kilbarry in Waterford, 57 in Wilkinsons Brook in Hollystown, Dublin 15 and 50 in Baker Hall in Navan.