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LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago
IT’S FIVE WEEKS since planning permission was granted for 934 homes on the site of the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum in leafy south Dublin.
But there are still four weeks left in which a judicial review – yes, another one – could be lodged against the project, one of the biggest brownfield housing schemes in the state and the government’s flagship affordable housing development.
The ‘Dundrum Central’ project will open up the huge site for the first time since the mid-19th century, when it was closed off as a ‘Criminal Lunatic Asylum’, later renamed the Central Mental Hospital.
The 11-hectare site is surrounded by high walls on all sides, some of which are set to be knocked or lowered, with new roads and pedestrian routes into the grounds planned by the Land Development Agency (LDA), the quango charged with delivering affordable housing on state lands.
Apartments, duplexes and houses are planned for the site, as well as sports facilities and pitches, a medical centre, shops, a café and a crèche. An existing walled garden will be brought back into use.
Speaking on site today, John Coleman, the LDA’s chief executive, was bullish about the project timeline – even given the risk of someone taking a judicial review. The statutory window for objectors remains open until 25 February.
The LDA has already gone to tender and selected a contractor for the project, and preparatory site work will begin next month regardless of whether another objection is lodged, Coleman said. The site – vacant since 2023 when the last residents moved to a new hospital at Portrane in north Dublin – is already overgrown.
The Dundrum planning permission granted last month is the second green light the LDA has received for this site. The first planning permission was challenged using judicial review by one local man and this case is still before the courts.
Rather than wait for that court process to run its course, the LDA lodged a second set of plans for the same project. These are the plans approved by An Coimsiún Pleanála last month.
“We’ve taken a view that we’re going to start the development even if there is another [judicial review],” Coleman said.
We think we can’t wait any longer. We think that the grounds on which the permission was granted are very strong.
“We’ve done things to reduce the risk of another review… slightly reduced heights and moving [apartment] blocks back from some of the boundary areas.”
However, there is no question that if another objection is lodged, it will have a “substantial impact” on the project’s two- to three-year timeline for completion of the first homes, said Robert Farrell, head of project at the LDA.
It will also add to the cost of the project – which will ultimately be passed on in the price of the homes. The delay caused by the judicial review currently before the courts is likely to add €30m to the cost of the scheme, the LDA told the Oireachtas Housing Committee last year.
“It’s construction inflation, so yes it would cost the state more,” Coleman said.
There has been increasing public scrutiny of the role of judicial reviews in stalling major infrastructure projects in recent months, particularly after Ranelagh homeowners took a case against Metrolink. That case has now been resolved, at a cost of €30m.
A judicial review by environmentalists against a major new wastewater facility for Dublin has also been settled.
Coleman believes the Metrolink debacle and the past six months may have marked a turning point when it comes to judicial reviews.
“I think there’s a much greater consciousness of the public around the need for the state to be able to build infrastructure, to be able to build housing schemes like this, like the Metrolink, like the Dublin Drainage Project. We think that the narrative has changed.”
The housing at Dundrum Central will be a mix of 753 ‘affordable’ and ‘cost rental’ homes, and 181 social homes.
Coleman said rents are likely to be set at about a third below market value, given it is an expensive area, and 35% of a middle-income earner’s disposable income is being considered an affordable level for monthly mortgage repayments or rent.
Some housing commentators have previously warned that the state’s definition of ‘affordable’ seems to be creeping up in line with house price inflation, and 35% is considered by some to be the outer limit of affordability.
As for the units for purchase in Dundrum, prices will be set at a discount of between 5% and 40% relative to the open market value in the area, explained Gerard O’Sullivan, director of housing at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
At another LDA development in South Dublin, in Shanganagh in Dublin 18, rents were set at €1,575 per month for a two-bed apartment. The sale price for two-bed apartments in Shanganagh has been set at about €350,000.
There were 1,000 applications for just 51 houses in Shanganagh.
Towering over the large site is the Victorian former hospital, a listed building that cannot be demolished due to its historical significance.
LDA officials said a plan has not yet been made for the building, but at this stage it does not look like it would be suitable for housing due to the price of converting it. The LDA wants the building to be of value to the community, but also wants to get “value for money”, officials said.
Last year, the LDA passed up on the opportunity to acquire the vacant Baggot Street Hospital on a prime site in the south inner city, stating that “significant investment” was needed which would make it unviable for delivering affordable housing.
The LDA will safeguard the former Central Mental Hospital building and make a planning application for it at some point in the future.
John Coleman said the building has “big, wide corridors” and shallow cells and it “probably would be difficult to turn it into apartments”.
Robert Farrell of the LDA said: “We’re looking at adaptive reuse options, at the moment. There’s a detailed study now ongoing… It’s a challenging building because of its prior use, and because of the internal layout of the building. It more readily lends itself to non-housing use.”
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