HOME BUILDER CAIRN Homes has put an indicative price tag of €28.58m on 51 apartments it is planning to sell to Dublin City Council from its planned €295m apartment scheme on former RTÉ lands at Donnybrook, Dublin 4.

In planning documents accompanying its 510 apartment unit ‘Project Montrose’ planning application, Cairn Homes Montrose Ltd has identified 51 one and two-bed apartments from its scheme that it intends to sell to the city council for social housing in order to comply with the applicant’s social housing obligations.

The final price per apartment will be agreed between Cairn Homes and the City Council after planning permission has been secured for the revised scheme.

However, the Part V costings included in the Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) application show that the indicative prices for the apartments range from €644,896 for a two bedroom unit to the cheapest at almost €500,000 at €482,436 for a one-bedroom unit.

The documentation provides a breakdown of the costs and states that the build cost of the €644,896 apartment is €329,998.

Providing a rare insight into the various costs behind apartment building in the capital, other elements of the €644,896 cost include site costs of €13,135, indirect costs of €72,380, professional fees of €27,720, development contribution costs of €22,886, finance costs of €68,880 and VAT at €52,814.

The breakdown shows that the margin on the €644,896 price is €28,529.

Cairn Homes has provided the indicative prices against the background of the Donnybrook Dublin 4 address commanding some of the highest prices for homes in the country.

This is underlined in figures from the Residential Property Price Register where since September 1st, one home at Arranmore Rd in Donnybrook has sold for €3.75 million while two other homes on Belmont Avenue in Donnybrook have sold for over €2 million each.

Six other homes with a Donnybrook address have sold for in excess of €1m since September 1st with the latest sale at €1.76 million for a home on Morehampton Rd on October 17th.

The planning application by Cairn Homes Montrose Ltd reduces by 98 the number of apartments from the permitted 608 unit scheme which secured the green light in July 2023 from An Bord Pleanála.

The 608 units scheme included 336 build to rent and there are no build to rent apartments in the new scheme.

According to a planning report lodged on behalf of Cairns Montrose by McGill Planning it states that “work has commenced on site to implement this permitted development, structures permitted for demolition have been removed, ground clearance is completed, and block 10 is poured to first floor level and the structure for the second floor is underway”.

The 2023 permission was a split decision where permission was refused for Block no 5, a 16 storey landmark tower to contain a hotel and the new application states that the approach taken to the refused Block No 5 “will be the subject of a separate planning amendment application”.

The planning report states that “this proposed development builds upon this extant permission and delivers clear improvements from the modifications providing benefits for both the existing community in the area and for the future community of this development”.

The McGill Planning report shows that the new application provides for an increase in two and three bedroom apartments at the expense of one bedroom and studio units.

The new scheme will have 326 two bed units accounting for 64% of the scheme compared to 296 two bed units accounting for 49% in the permitted 2023 scheme.

The number of one-bed units has halved from 250 to 125 in the new scheme while the number of three bed units has increased from 34 to 51.

The number of studios has decreased from the permitted 28 to the proposed eight.

The report states that there is a net loss of apartments and this is due to the provision of larger apartments and there is also an added gain of additional balconies/ enlarged balconies and more dual aspect apartments.

Advancing the case for the new scheme, McGill Planning state that “the proposed development achieves a sustainable use of development whilst respecting the built environment around it”.

It states that “the principle of redeveloping the site for this use is supported by the granting of permission for the parent scheme, under which construction has commenced”.