Bovale Developments, the company controlled by brothers Michael and Tom Bailey, has sold 152 acres of housing land at Balgriffin in north Dublin for around £45 million. It is easily the largest land transaction in the Dublin area over the past year.

Shannon Homes' Dublin division, one of the city's largest housebuilding firms, emerged this week as the purchaser of the land at Balgriffin, which will be used primarily for starter homes. Several other leading firms were in contention for it.

The Baileys, who figured at the Flood Tribunal into land rezoning, have owned the site and an adjoining farm in Balgriffin for the past 14 years. Both parcels of land form part of 490 acres on the "north fringe" which were rezoned by Dublin Corporation in the 1999 development plan. Bovale is currently building a large housing scheme at Broimhe near Swords which will take several years to complete.

The company is understood to have decided to put the land on the market because of continuing demand for housing sites. It would not have been in a position to develop the land for a considerable time. Shannon Homes runs a bigger operation and is geared up to build several sites simultaneously.

Dublin Corporation has already completed an Area Action Plan for all the north fringe land, which is expected to accommodate about 7,000 houses in all, including a town centre with its own railway station.

Dublin Corporation owns a large proportion of the land, some of it bought from Dunloe Ewart plc, while the other main owners include Manor Park Homes and Gannon Homes.

The land sold to Shannon is exceptionally well located with frontage on to both the Malahide Road, the Northern Cross section of the M50 and the Hole In The Wall Road. It will also have direct access on to the proposed northern road, which will bisect the site.

The North Dublin Fringe Sewerage Scheme is due to run through the site and become operational early in 2002. The main Dublin to Belfast railway line also runs to the east of the north fringe, and according to the planners, the proposed new railway station is central to the overall plan.

The Area Action Plan envisages a high density development close to the rail and bus services. Densities will reduce with distance from public transport nodes. The plan also recommends the opening of a boulevard establishing an east-west route from the Malahide Road junction to the proposed railway station.

Most of the commercial activity will be concentrated on the boulevard, particularly at the two main nodes at either end. The plan suggests that a high level of public transport use should be encouraged with an initial target of 40 per cent of the journeys made by train and bus.

The Father Collins public park, which forms the centre-piece of the north fringe, is to be redesigned and enhanced with improved sports and recreational facilities. While the action plan suggests that three-storey housing schemes are "likely to be the norm", Shannon, like other housebuilders, may well prefer conventional two-storey houses in the main because of the lower building (and selling) costs involved.

The company is expected to opt for a development of mainly two and three-bedroom apartments and houses aimed at first-time buyers.