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Dublin City Council takes the planning board to court: 5 things to know in property this week
Plus, Ibec says Ireland needs tens of thousands more builders if we’re to meet construction demand.
EACH AND EVERY week, we put together a round-up of the week’s biggest property news stories around Ireland.
Stay on the real estate pulse with our five-minute digest, featuring the vital news from the week just gone.
This week, a High Court challenge led by Dublin City Council – and Ibec says Ireland doesn’t have enough construction workers to meet demand.
1. Council launches High Court action against planning board
Dublin City Council (DCC) has launched a High Court challenge against An Bord Pleanala’s refusal to relocate two proposed cyclist and pedestrians bridges over the River Liffey.
DCC has brought proceedings after the planning authority last November refused to allow the council to relocate the proposed bridges in an eastward direction and ordered that a third bridge be constructed. The council says the board’s decision, which DCC wants quashed, means the costs of building the bridges will increase by between €25m and €42 million.
2. Dublin is ‘facing a drought’ of available office space
A shortage of available office space is likely to be one of the biggest issues facing the Dublin market in 2019, according to real estate group Lisney.
Last year was a bumper year for the market, with 360,000 sq m of space taken up in the city, over of half of which was attributed to tech companies, says the group. However, it is expected that demand will outstrip supply over the next 12 months.
3. Ibec: ‘There aren’t enough construction workers in Ireland to meet demand’
Business group Ibec has said that Ireland does not currently have enough experienced construction workers to build much-needed housing, adding that non-national workers will be needed to help with complete government plans.
The shortfall is in the tens of thousands, with not enough construction workers on the Live Register to meet demand, according to Ibec’s quarterly economic report.
4. Locals ‘fed up’ at delays in building 640 north Dublin homes
Local residents have expressed their frustration at what they call serious delays in the development of 640 homes on public land in north Dublin. Campaign group Unite Behind the Locals said in December that they were staring into their fourth Christmas in a row in which land earmarked for development remained vacant.
The land in question is at the Oscar Traynor Road between Santry and Coolock and is a 17 hectare Dublin City Council owned site. A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said that the project was “not stalled” and “a successful developer will be selected for the Oscar Traynor Road project in the early months of 2019.”
5. Design bill for rejected College Green Plaza plans totalled €600k
Dublin City Council spent over €600,000 on design consultants for the rejected College Green Plaza, documents released to TheJournal.ie show. In February 2017, the council appointed consultants to head up the €10 million project, which would have seen the creation of a European-style space at the front of Central Bank in the city centre.
The plaza – which proposed banning all traffic from entering Dame Street via College Green – was announced two-and-a-half years before An Bord Pleanála finally rejected the plan in October.
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