PROPERTIES ON TWO streets in Dublin are to be “rejuvenated” and made available as cost-rental homes for key workers.

Dublin City Council has launched its new pilot aimed at tackling dereliction and vacancy on two streets in the city centre.

The pilot will focus on Middle Abbey Street, North Frederick Street and the surrounding area. It aims to transform derelict, vacant, and underused buildings into cost-rental homes for key workers, and into commercial, retail, or mixed-use spaces.

A draft document by the council sets out multiple phases of a pilot scheme that began in June 2025, and aims to deliver “tangible improvements” by early 2028.

The pilot phase on the two streets is intended to serve as a model for city centre rejuvenation that can be scaled up across the city. 

Some of the properties on the two streets are owned by pension funds and institutional investors, multi-site retail landlords, and family-owned holdings, the council said, although the owners of many of the properties are unknown. The council intends to engage with all property owners in the area and incentivise them to take part in the scheme.

“Where owners are unresponsive and properties clearly meet the derelict criteria, DCC will prioritise adding them to the Derelict Sites Register and levy the statutory fines,” the draft document stated. 

It said that owners who engage with the pilot will receive support, but those who “continue to neglect their buildings will face escalating enforcement and ultimately potential compulsory acquisition”.

Implementation and delivery is planned to take place from January 2027 to May 2027. The pilot is expected to conclude by 2028.