Land Development Agency Set To Become Ireland’s Biggest Housebuilder After €5B Boost

The Land Development Agency, the body responsible for coordinating the use of state land for housing, has been given the green light by Cabinet to use up to €5B and is set to become Ireland’s biggest housebuilder over the next five years.

The organisation is mandated to provide 12,900 affordable rental homes between next year and 2028. The government has agreed to commit a further €1.25B from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund for the LDA and also give the agency permission to secure additional funding of €1.25B.

The new money, combined with an existing €2.5B already allowed under legislation, means the LDA has access to a total of €5B.

“The extra funding will ensure that the LDA is in a position to make commitments of up to €5B, which should enable the agency to continue to deliver significant amounts of affordable and social housing through to 2025,” LDA Chief Executive John Coleman said in a statement.

“The LDA is currently in the process of delivering over 10,000 direct delivery homes on State-owned land or land purchased by the agency. It is also on target to deliver a further 5,000 Project Tosaigh homes by 2026,” he added.  

The LDA said that it also has advanced plans to further increase this level of activity, which requires significant levels of capital investment. After the latest decision, it is projected that the agency will become one of Ireland’s main housebuilders over the term of its current five-year business plan to 2028. 

The LDA is in the process of delivering more than 10,000 homes on state-owned land and over 5,000 through the government’s Project Tosaigh initiative. The agency also has planning permission for over 3,600 affordable and social homes on state-owned lands.

Project Tosaigh is an initiative in which the LDA steps in to purchase stalled or unviable housing projects and then makes the homes available to renters or buyers at costs significantly below market rents or through shared equity schemes. The agency has an initial delivery schedule of 2,500 homes and is on course to deliver 5,000 by 2026 under this scheme, the LDA said.

Earlier this month, the LDA announced that it had started construction of 219 affordable and social homes at the former Devoy Barracks in Naas, County Kildare. Mullingar-based Andrews Construction has been appointed as the contractor for the development, with the first homes due to be delivered in 2025.

The A-rated homes are being constructed on a state-owned 4.14-hectare site on John Devoy Road to the southwest of Naas Town Centre. The land was previously part of the former Devoy Barracks complex and the site was made available to the LDA by The Housing Agency.

The housing includes 42 two-storey, three-bed houses, 177 apartments and duplexes consisting of 64 one-bed, 105 two-bed and eight three-bed units.