The Land Development Agency has acquired a new site in Baldoyle in north Dublin with existing planning permission for 1,931 homes as the state continues to drive fresh impetus into home building.

The land is next to the LDA’s Clongriffin/Cluain Ghrífín site, which means the LDA could deliver over 4,000 new affordable homes in the area around Clongriffin Station.

The 44-acre Baldoyle development includes permission granted for permanent access to the train station, commercial units, creche facilities, new parks, transport facilities and other public infrastructure.

The neighbouring Clongriffin/Cluain Ghrífín land has the potential to deliver over 2,000 homes and work has already commenced on a first phase of 408 homes across two apartment blocks.

“The sites we have purchased have been earmarked for development for some time, but projects either stalled or did not get underway. The LDA is well-funded and in a position to maximise the potential of these sites and, crucially, to deliver affordable housing,” LDA Chief Executive John Coleman said in a statement.

“The LDA is already delivering homes on state-owned land and through homebuilder partnerships. To speed up housing delivery and to strengthen our development pipeline, we announced our intention to also purchase privately-owned sites with planning permission in 2023,” he added.

The LDA is currently in the process of delivering more than 19,000 homes on state-owned or acquired land and over 8,000 through homebuilder partnerships as part of the government’s Project Tosaigh initiative.

In 2023, the LDA announced its intention to buy development sites in key cities with existing services, the potential for high numbers of homes and ideally with existing planning permission for over 200 homes. In December of that year, it made its first purchase as part of the initiative when it acquired land in Clongriffin in north Dublin from Nama with the potential to deliver a total of over 2,000 affordable and social homes.

In January this year, the LDA announced the purchase of the Royal Liver site on Dublin’s Naas Road with the potential for over 1,200 cost rental homes.

The LDA added that it expects to announce more acquisitions, focussing on sites with the potential for a significant number of homes and the opportunity to develop new communities.