LDA eyes private land in Cork to boost affordable housing supply amid growing pressure

It’s already bought several sites in Dublin with the potential to deliver c 5,000 homes.

While it was originally set up to deliver affordable homes on State-owned lands, the agency’s chief executive, John Coleman, said there was a finite supply.

“The amount of State land that is available to us is finite and has to be replaced as it is used up.

“We bought a lot of land in the Dublin area recently and we are likely to go to the market again soon. We are looking around for opportunities and Cork is definitely on our radar,” said Mr Coleman. 

The agency is currently actively building more than 900 homes in Cork city (Horgan’s Quay, the Marina Quarter and the former St Kevin’s Hospital) and proposals for another 500 (350 at the ESB site in Wilton and 140 at Anglesea Terrace) are due to enter the planning process. Longer term plans include another 1,000 homes in the Marina and up to 5,000 in Tivoli docks.

Mr Coleman said it was the LDA view that it was “a good time to buy land”.

“From our perspective, we think we are a good entity to hold land because we don’t have the same financial pressures as the private sector, so we can hold land longer,” he said.

Asked by the Irish Examiner if he had any concerns around the ability of utilities to connect up new homes - Uisce Éireann has repeatedly said its capacity is limited to c 35,000 conections per annum – Mr Coleman said “we’re concerned about both electricity and water connections”.

“We’ve very good relationships with all the service providers, but there are problems on the horizon. So yes, it is a concern, but we are not yet impacted.

“Looking ahead five years, if things aren’t done now, like provision of substations and waste water treatment plants, we will have problems down the line.” The agency has a significant housing pipeline in Cork city, with a strong focus on the docklands, to which the government has committed €353m, as part of a massively ambitious 20-year project designed to regenerate 146ha of land.

Two LDA-backed schemes are currently under construction in the docklands, on both banks of the river Lee, where the agency has partnered with private developers under the Government’s Project Tosaigh. On Horgan’s Quay, BAM/Clarendon Properties are well into the process of building 302 LDA-backed apartments in the first residential scheme of scale in the docklands. More recently, the agency partnered with Glenveagh Properties to deliver 337 apartments in the Marina Quarter, as a part of a wider, multi-phase Glenveagh development, which will ultimately deliver close to 1,200 units.

Asked if he had any concerns about flood risk in the Marina Quarter, which borders the river, Mr Coleman said “we do, no question”.

However he added that the way their developments are designed “particularly the Glenveagh one, is that it can withstand certain flood scenarios”.

“It’s being built on a podium, so it’s designed with that risk in mind,” he said. Moreover additional flood protection measures would be implemented by Cork City Council as part of the docklands regeneration programme.

Two other Marina sites have also been earmarked for upto 1,000 homes by the LDA, including at the ESB’s decommissioned Marina power station landbank on Centre Park Road and another c 400 at a Bord na Móna site on Monahan Road.

Neither land parcel has yet transferred to the LDA as the move requires board approval when a commercial state body is involved. “I think there’s acceptance by both institutions,” Mr Coleman said, adding that “we’d like that to happen as soon as possible”.

At a much more advanced stage is the plan to build 350 homes at another ESB site in Wilton, which has already come through public consultation. Assuming a straightforward run through planning, the LDA hopes to be on site “by the middle of next year”. The planning application is due to be lodged “any day now”, the agency chief said.

The LDA hopes to have homes completed in the grounds of the former St Kevin’s Hospital in Shanakiel by the end of the year, where 267 units are currently under construction. “It won’t be a case of keys in hand, but the properties will be completed – that's what our programme says at the moment,” said Mr Coleman.

He confirmed that a planning application to develop 140 apartments at Anglesea Terrace, in the middle of Cork city, was due to be lodged in the autumn. It’s the agency’s first formal partnership with Cork City Council.

Two more long term projects involve Tivoli docks, with scope for up to 5,000 homes and 41 ha of land in Kilbarry.

 In relation to Tivoli docks, Mr Coleman said if they were under construction “on any part of that site some time in the next seven to 10 years, that would be a very good result”. In relation to Kilbarry, he said they were “in discussions with the IDA” who own the land and that all going well, it was “certainly one for the next five-10 years”.

Funding-wise, he said they had no concerns as their money comes from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.

“It doesn’t have to be decided by government in the budget and that reduces the tension around our funding allocation. Currently we have about €5bn, half of which we have drawn down already”.

In relation to government plans for a new strategic housing activation unit, Mr Coleman said it was “a good idea” as long as it involved “relevant people who do actually have the power to make the changes where necessary”. 

Asked if he would apply for the top job at the new unit – his former boss at Nama, Brendan McDonagh, has been suggested as the frontrunner – Mr Coleman said: “I have plenty to do here”.

Mr Coleman was keynote speaker last night at Foundations 25, the annual property conference hosted by Cork law firm RDJ. More than 100 delegates attended. This year's focus was on the residential property sector.