Glenveagh secures green light for 702 ‘build to rent’ apartments

House-builder Glenveagh can now enter talks with Dublin City Council on its plan to sell 71 apartments to it for an estimated €33.44 million. This follows An Bord Pleanála giving Glenveagh the green light for 702 "build to rent" apartments at Castleforbes Business Park at Sheriff Street and East Road, Dublin 1.

The development, on a six-acre site 400m from the Spencer Dock Luas stop, comprises of nine apartment blocks ranging from a storey in height to one 18-storey block.

As part of its Part V social housing obligations, Glenveagh is planning to sell six three-bed apartments at an indicative cost of €791,531 each to the city council as part of the proposed €33.4 million deal.

The builder is also planning to sell 14 two-bed apartments to the council at a cost of €641,899 each and 41 one-bed apartments at a cost of €408,074 each. It also plans to sell 10 studio apartments to the council at a cost of €297,323 each.

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In a letter to the council, Wesley Rothwell, a director of Glenveagh Living Ltd, said that the figures “are purely indicative and are intended to provide a reasonable estimate of the costs and values of the units based on construction costs prevailing at the time of the application”.

Mr Rothwell said that the ultimate Part V agreement was dependent on the final grant of permission and the site value at the time of planning permission.

Residential density

In giving the apartment scheme the go-ahead, the appeals board said that the proposal would constitute an acceptable residential density, would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenity of the area, and would be acceptable in terms of urban design, height and quantum of development.

The board accepted that the scheme would materially contravene the Dublin City Development Plan in terms of height. However, the board stated that the scheme is considered to be of strategic or national importance due to its potential to contribute to the Government’s policy to increase delivery of housing.

In giving the plan the green light the board upheld the recommendation of its senior planning inspector, Lorraine Dockery, to grant planning permission .

In a submission, former lord mayor of Dublin councillor Niall Ring (Ind) hit out at the "build to rent" nature of the scheme.

Mr Ring told the appeals board that “this concept is anathema to me, and I, like so much of the community, am against the idea of a scheme which excludes any possibility of a young person/couple being able to get on the property ladder” .

“The idea of a non-resident pension fund owning block after block of apartments in the city must be resisted.”

Price

He added: “Build to rent would, by its very nature, attract a transient population which, according to studies carried out, impact very negatively on the overall social fabric of an area.”

Figures recently provided to councillor James Geoghegan (FG) show that the top price that the city council paid for a Part V home last year was €645,486 paid for a four-bedroom house on Dollymount Avenue.

Mr Geoghegan said that the average cost of a Part V home to the council between 2020 and 2018 was €245,000.

“What the figures demonstrate is that when taken on average, Part V can be a cost effective way of creating mixed tenure communities,” he said.