Work on 1,000 homes at O’Devaney Gardens to get under way, says Dublin City Council

Work on more than 1,000 apartments in blocks up to 14 storeys high on the site of the former O’Devaney Gardens flat complex will finally begin this month, according to Dublin City Council.

Development will begin at the south eastern end of the site, away from the 56 social homes near the North Circular Road end on which the council began construction in 2018 and which are due to be completed in the coming months.

City councillors will today [Wednesday] be briefed on the site preparation works which will start this month ahead of construction, scheduled to begin between next month and September.

The start of work at the former flat complex close to the Phoenix Park follows a failed attempt last month by a number of councillors to rescind the development agreement with construction firm Bartra.

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Sinn Féin, Social Democrats and most Independent councillors had sought to scrap the deal after An Bord Pleanála in March changed an earlier ruling which could have blocked Bartra from selling half the apartments to institutional investors. But most Fianna Fáil, Green Party, Fine Gael and Labour councillors voted for the scheme to proceed after council law agent Yvonne Kelly said the authority was “contractually bound to a legally binding agreement” with Bartra and it was “not possible to get out of that agreement”.

The board last September granted permission for the 1,047 homes with a condition that restricted potential sales to “individual purchasers”.

While 30 per cent of the O’Devaney Gardens homes have been reserved for social housing and 20 per cent for affordable purchase, the remaining 50 per cent were available to Bartra to sell privately.

Bartra argued the viability of the project would be affected by the condition which meant corporate entities could not buy the properties. The company said it asked the board to correct what it claimed was an error in the planning permission but when this did not occur it initiated judicial review proceedings against the board’s decision

The board in March amended its permission to “clarify and confirm” that the condition only applied to houses and duplex units not apartments in the development.

Almost all of the new homes at O’Devaney Gardens will be apartments, with just 43 houses and duplexes. However, all these houses and duplexes are already earmarked for use for social or affordable housing and will not be offered to the private market.

Separately, a planning application for more than 850 State-subsidised homes at Oscar Traynor Road in Santry is to be submitted to Dublin City Council by developer Glenveagh in November.

Work is expected to begin late next year on the 853 houses and apartments, 40 per cent of which will be used for social housing, 40 per cent for cost rental homes, and 20 per cent sold to low- and middle-income workers qualifying for the upcoming affordable purchase scheme.

The application will be made to the council by Glenveagh under the new New LSRD (Large Scale Residential Development) process.