Latest news with #DúnLaoghaireRathdown
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Watersports campus, navy berths, windfarm supports and offices to be part of Dún Laoghaire harbour's future
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has signed a €1 million contract for the design and planning of a national watersports campus in Dún Laoghaire harbour. The contract is a big step forward in planning for the national watersports campus, which has been an aspiration since the Stena Line ferry service left the harbour in 2014. The contract also comes as discussions are under way with the developers of the proposed Dublin Array wind farm to site an operations base in the area. Meanwhile, the Quarterdeck shared offices complex in the former ferry terminal has been cleared for opening after several years of delays. READ MORE In addition, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Council – which owns the harbour – is in discussions with the Naval Service over use of the Carlisle Pier as a key element of the force's east coast activities. While these projects are individually being progressed, a six–week public consultation on an overall master plan for the future of the harbour is to open June 16th. Members of the public and stakeholders will be invited to view a draft plan and share their views. The pre-draft consultation on the master plan last autumn received more than 1,000 formal submissions and 36 stakeholder meetings, resulting in an 'emerging vision,' the council said. The vision is of a vibrant area 'for water sports, marine industries, heritage tourism and community facilities, with a focus on accessibility, sustainability and economic growth', the council said. Almost 60 per cent of submissions received were in relation to water sports, 'reflecting the widely held interest in enhancing water sports access and infrastructure', the council said. Chief executive Frank Curran signed the design and planning contract for the national watersports campus with Ready Architecture + Urbanism Ltd in May. [ 'It's a stunning setting for any cafe, but this one has extra-special credentials' Opens in new window ] The campus is to also serve as the home for the national governing bodies of water sports organisations and an event venue. New facilities in the harbour for the watersports campus include a slipway, improved high-performance sailing facilities, a training and maintenance building in the Coal Harbour and improved launching facilities. The cost of the master plan is understood to be in the region of €1m and the project has been awarded €852,845 from the Department of Tourism and Sport 's Large-Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund. Last week the council revealed it was also in discussions with RWE, the developers of the proposed offshore Dublin Array Windfarm. RWE has lodged a planning application with An Bord Pleanála which includes a cable route, substation and operations and maintenance base for the wind farm. The council said it hoped there 'might be synergies with the ferry terminal project'. 'We are now working towards a lease agreement for the areas concerned,' the council said. [ Public innovation investment 'has not kept pace' with private sector, Ibec says Opens in new window ] The former Stena Line ferry terminal has been the subject of proposals for shared office spaces, going back several years. The project was delayed by the Covid pandemic and more recently over fire safety certification, but the ground-floor section of the co-working office space is now ready to open. The process of opening the first floor as co-working office space is under way and 'expected to be completed imminently' the council said. In a separate move, council executives have held meetings with Naval Service management in relation to the potential use of the Carlisle Pier. The pier is frequently visited by navy ships and the LE George Bernard Shaw has benefited from nine new fender installations which were set up in August 2023 to cater for larger ships. Initial discussions saw the Naval Service express a preference for exclusive access to the whole pier, and while this was not acceptable to the council, it said a section of the pier could be dedicated to the Naval Service 'at a cost'. 'The proposal and associated valuation for lease of the required section of the pier is currently being reviewed by the Naval Service,' the council said. Local Fianna Fáil TD Cormac Devlin – who as council Cathaoirleach in 2017 marked the bicentenary of the harbour in a ceremony with President Michael D Higgins – added more ambition to the plans. [ Ireland cannot protect its waters alone, UN expert says Opens in new window ] Mr Devlin said in addition to maintaining Dún Laoghaire as a key sailing hub, priorities should include restoring the storm-damaged sun shelter on the East Pier, and reopening the historic tea rooms at the West Pier. They were, he said, 'small but symbolic projects that should be advanced without delay'. A spokeswoman for the council said the draft master plan will set out 'a comprehensive and long-term vision for a 'living harbour', focusing on improving recreation, tourism, and economic vitality while also building climate resilience and increasing biodiversity'. She said, 'It includes proposed actions over short, medium, and long-term time frames and addresses key themes that emerged from the pre-draft phase, such as improved connectivity, waterfront access, and spaces for community and recreation.'
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Renovation of social home in Blackrock cost local council €200,000 to bring back into use
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council spent more than €200,000 bringing a vacant social home in Blackrock, south Dublin back into use last year. The local authority said it spent €503,142 on 'three major refurbishment properties' to re-let in 2024. This included the property in Blackrock, which was built in 1957 and had the same tenant for 63 years. A unit in Glasthule, built in 1934 with the same tenant for 39 years, cost €146,414. The other property was in Dún Laoghaire, constructed in 1932, had same tenant for 49 years, and cost €138,581. 'They were all major refurbishments due to the condition of the properties when they were handed back to the Council,' a spokeswoman for the council said. READ MORE 'One required an existing extension to be demolished and rebuilt, all required works such as electrical rewiring upgrade works, energy upgrades works, insulation works, external roof works, full new kitchen installations and replastering of internal roofs and walls.' [ Intimidation in a Dublin suburb, and the derelict house being used as stables Opens in new window ] The Department of Housing and Local Government said it is committed to supporting local authorities implementing an asset management ICT (information and communications technology) system to allow for 'strategic and informed planned maintenance work programmes' supported by stock condition surveys. 'This approach will ensure that homes are maintained on an ongoing basis and not only maintained at the time of vacancy in some cases after a significant period of time,' it said. 'This will result in less works required on re-let, less costs associated and ensure homes are turned around as quick as possible.' The Programme for Government commits to introducing a new voids programme, to implement long-term strategic reforms and mandate local authorities to establish voids frameworks to improve the turnaround of vacant social housing units. However, the Department said there is 'no set time frame in place' for the new programme. Void is the term given to when tenants vacate houses or flats, either transferring to somewhere more suitable or leaving to purchase their own property. The death of a tenant or a marital breakdown can also result in a void unit. [ Elderly residents of Dublin 8 complex still feel 'unsafe' despite installation of security gate Opens in new window ] Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which covers Blackrock, Dundrum, Dún Laoghaire, Sandyford, Killiney, Shankill and Stillorgan, said it re-tenanted 111 properties last year as part of what it would consider to be 'normal re-let processes'. The average cost per property was €31,190. 'The length of time a property remains vacant depends on the condition of the property when it is returned to the council and the amount of information required to complete the allocation process,' it added. 'Every effort is being made to ensure properties are tenanted as quickly as possible. In 2025, re-let works have been completed on 39 properties to date at an average cost of €17,580.' The council's average re-let time for vacant properties in 2023 was 23 weeks. Dublin City Council said the average cost of refurbishing void units in 2024 was €44,000. It said when a unit becomes vacant it allows two weeks for tenants to remove any personal belongings, a 10- to 16-week period to revamp the property as well as a two-week period to allow a new tenant to inspect the property and move in. Fingal County Council said it refurbished and brought back into use 79 voids, excluding energy efficiency retrofit works, at a total cost of €1.7 million (or an average of €21,519 per unit). The average re-let period was 33 weeks. South Dublin County Council said it allocated 184 re-let properties at an average turnaround time of 20.64 weeks last year. Taoiseach Micheál Martin hit out at local authorities for the delay in releasing vacated properties to those on waiting lists in the Dáil last month. Mr Martin said local authorities take 'too long to release a home that has been vacated'. 'It can take sometimes months or a year for the local authority fill the same house again, and they cite all sorts of reasons, and it's not good enough,' he said. 'And now they're looking for more and more grants to fill those voids.' He said those homes 'should be filled fairly quickly, within a week or two of a house being vacated, unless there's some structural issue' but added that the majority of cases did not involve structural issues.
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Irish house price inflation at 7.5% in March amid ongoing supply shortage
House prices in Ireland grew at an average annual rate of 7.5 per cent in March as ongoing supply shortages, Government incentives to buy and expectations of further interest rate cuts continued to fuel demand. However, the headline rate was softer than the 8 per cent recorded the previous month and down from the 10.1 per cent recorded last August. The Central Statistics Office's (CSO) latest tracker indicated prices in Dublin, where supply pressures are strongest, rose at an annual rate of 6 per cent in March while prices outside the capital were up by 8.7 per cent year-on-year. The median or middle price paid for a home in the 12 months to March was €362,500. READ MORE The figures indicated the highest median price for a dwelling was €665,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, while the lowest was €180,000 in Leitrim. The total value of dwelling purchases by households at market prices filed with Revenue was €1.5 billion in March, the CSO said. This represents an 11.4 per cent increase compared with the €1.4 billion worth of purchases in February.
Irish Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Cosgraves seeking €1.5m for Honeypark residential development site
With Honeypark, the large-scale residential scheme built by Cosgrave Property Group on the site of the former Dún Laoghaire Golf Club lands now completed, the Cosgrave family has instructed agent Hooke & MacDonald to find a buyer for a 0.24-hectare (0.6-acre) site within the development. The holding, located in a central position within the scheme, is guiding at a price of €1.5 million and has the potential for the provision of 32 apartments and a creche, subject to planning permission. A feasibility study prepared in advance of this sale by MCORM Architects suggests this proposed development could comprise a mix of 12 one-bedroom, 12 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom apartments, with 26 surface car-parking spaces. The site is zoned Objective A under the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan 2022–2028, supporting residential development. It overlooks a landscaped park and duck pond and is within walking distance of the Park Pointe neighbourhood centre, which includes Tesco Express, a pharmacy, cafe and medical services. The wider Honeypark development is almost equidistant from Dún Laoghaire's town centre (1.9km) and the N11 (1.8km). The scheme sits about 5km from junction 15 (Cornelscourt) on the M50 motorway and about 10km south of Dublin city centre. Glenageary, Monkstown, Salthill and Dún Laoghaire Dart stations are all within 2.6km, offering direct access to the city centre and the wider regional rail network. Several Dublin Bus routes serve the area. READ MORE Conor Steen of Hooke & MacDonald says: 'This site offers excellent development potential within a proven residential setting.'
Irish Times
09-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Brooks dispute over with council over new road layout settled
A dispute over claims that a building supplier's articulated trucks would be unable to access one of its premises due to a new road layout has been settled, the High Court heard. The Brooks timber and building supplies group had claimed that a new link road from the M50 to one of their outlets in Dublin would create a junction which would be unable to accommodate large trucks. Last February, the group obtained an injunction preventing Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Co Council from starting work on the new link road from Junction 14 of the M50 and Blackthorn Road in the Sandyford Industrial Estate. The work includes a new junction at the intersection between a cul de sac of Fern Road East and the new link road. Brooks has a building supplies depot at the end of Fern Road which routinely has 40 foot trucks entering and leaving it. READ MORE After the application for an injunction was made, the council undertook to the court not to start the work, scheduled to begin in March, pending further court order. Mr Justice Brian Cregan was told this week the matter had been settled and could be struck out with costs to the plaintiff. The injunction application was brought by Brooks holding company, Donaghbrook, formerly Premier Forest ROI Ltd, and Brooks Timber and Building Supplies Ltd. It was claimed the group's commercial interests would be 'significantly impaired' if the junction was constructed in the manner proposed by the council.
