Dublin City Council set to rezone land for up to 35,000 additional homes
Dublin City Council (DCC) is preparing to rezone tracts of land around the city in order to make space for up to 35,000 additional homes.
It comes in the wake of guidance issued in July to all local authorities by Housing Minister James Browne to reopen and reconfigure their development plans to comply with new “housing growth requirements”.
Those guidelines request that DCC provides zoning for 49,000 homes out to 2028, up from the 40,000 anticipated when the 2022-2028 development plan was conceived.
The new requirements mean DCC’s housing targets are now 8,196 units annually until 2034, and 6,075 per year between 2035 and 2040.
Because the plan was designed with additional housing headroom from the off, council planners said this higher requirement would be able to be accommodated within existing residential zoned land.
But on top of new growth requirements, the department also wants authorities to seek scope for up to 50pc “additional provision” of housing through further zoning.
On foot of this provision, DCC is aiming to provide space for up to an additional 35,000 homes between 2028 and 2040, according to a presentation from the authority’s planning department last month.
The first of the additional units will be provided in the 77-hectare Baile Bogáin (Ballyboggan) master plan, with 8,500 homes planned for the Dublin Industrial Estate and Dublin 7/11 environs.
This change will come before DCC councillors at a meeting next week, with the rezoning expected to be complete in the first quarter of next year.
A further 5,300 homes are also now set to be included in the 52-hectare Kylemore section of the City Edge urban quarter development, a partnership between DCC and South Dublin County Council.
This rezoning is expected to be complete in the first half of 2026.
Beginning at the start of next year, the council’s planning department will also undertake a wide-ranging review of the city’s 17 Strategic Development Regeneration Areas (SDRAs), which are targeted for large-scale, high-density regenerative development.
Potential SDRAs suggested for review include Jamestown to the north of Finglas, Heuston Station and its environs and council housing sites.
The potential for regeneration and densification of lands in the Docklands and Clongriffin/Belmayne is specifically mentioned.
This review could yield space for an additional 8,000 Dublin homes, planners say.
Land currently designated for employment, enterprise, and heavy employment (Z6 and Z7 zones) in the development plan is also set to be reviewed, with a view to rezoning sections and finding space for a further 2,000 units.
Dublin’s Lord Mayor Ray McAdam said the final cohort of homes will come out of a broad review of the city’s overall development plan.
“I don’t have the exact percentage, but it certainly will be in excess of the 50pc additionality … we will go above that,” he said.
“The key thing here is that not only are we responding to the government, but we’re actually ahead of the curve.
“We have the lands, we have the plan, and we have the capacity, and our focus is on delivery, not delay.”