Construction company John Sisk & Son and Durkan family-owned developer D/RES Properties have created a new joint venture to build 1,000 social and affordable homes a year, with an initial backing of €32M.

The joint venture will begin selling affordable houses in September at a new project, Foothills in Killinarden, Dublin, where it is developing 635 homes.

The two firms have jointly founded a new business, Arden, on the back of this scheme and have secured funding from Bank of Ireland, which has pledged an initial €32M in loans to provide working capital for the Foothills scheme. It will also be the company’s primary lender.

Arden will operate as a fully independent company, which “brings together complementary strengths” and a shared commitment to building quality housing, according to a statement from John Sisk & Son Chief Executive Paul Brown.

D/RES Properties Chief Executive Patrick Durkan added that the combination of two family legacies would boost construction of big housing developments in Ireland.

The new company will look to develop “an active pipeline of projects” across the greater Dublin area and the rest of Ireland and seek to create joint ventures with local councils, state agencies and approved housing bodies to build homes on public or institutional land. Arden also intends to sign agreements with the Land Development Agency to work on state housing initiatives, the companies said.

It will also look to bid for land that is being offered for social and affordable housing and to build on underused sites owned by religious bodies, education bodies and state organisations, plus commercial landowners or infrastructure businesses to develop large sites.

Sisk employs more than 3,000 people in operations across Ireland, the UK and Europe, while D/RES Properties has built more than 2,000 homes in the past six years. The company recently raised €70M via backer Avenue Capital through the state’s Irish Strategic Infrastructure Fund investment division to buy land for construction of 6,000 new homes.

Separately, John Sisk has been chosen as the preferred tenderer for the first contract to build a National Cricket Centre in west Dublin, with a €45.5M contract awarded by Sport Ireland.

The project at Abbotstown Campus is being delivered in two phases, with the initial €98M project to deliver the main cricket pitch, 4,200 spectator seats, a high-performance centre and a pavilion for players and match officials, ready for the 2030 T20 World Cup tournament, which Ireland will co-host. The second phase will include a media centre, hospitality venue and nursery ground.

The Football Association of Ireland headquarters is based at the campus, with a cycling velodrome and a badminton centre also to be developed for completion in 2028.