The delivery of affordable housing is on the agenda of the Land Development Agency (LDA). Chairperson designate, Cormac O’Rourke, told the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage that they aim to deliver 5,000 affordable homes over the next four years.
He said this would be through Project Tosaigh – a plan to activate land that has planning permission, but that construction is not currently taking place.
“The main focus for the LDA in the coming year will be on delivery,” said O’Rourke.
The LDA has medium-term plans to develop 10 state-owned sites, which would deliver approximately 5,200 homes. Two of these 10 sites, Shanganagh in Dublin and St. Kevin’s in Cork, are set to begin construction this year.
Discussing the timeline to deliver these two sites, O’Rourke said that he expected it to take at least 24 months, if not longer.
On the 10 sites, seven of which are located in Dublin with the remaining three in Cork, Kildare and Galway, there will be an 80/20 mix of apartments and housing. An additional 10 public sites have also been identified which may follow the development of the first 10 sites.
He added that that in the longer term, the LDA would act as an “active land manager” and assemble large-scale strategic areas that can be delivered over a longer period of time.
He said that a similar practice had been successfully adopted in countries like Denmark and Sweden.
“The LDA approach to this activity is to get the agreement of landowners – be they state bodies or private sector – to create masterplans for public housing and community services in these areas.”
The LDA will look to encourage standardisation and modular construction to speed up construction, improve quality, provide better working conditions for workers, and generate houses that are more sustainable at lower cost.
LSL News.