Major renewal of two Dublin city streets to include cost-rental homes for key workers
Middle Abbey Street and North Frederick Street are to undergo major renewal works over the next three years, as part of a new pilot programme by Dublin City Council (DCC).
Cost-rental homes for key workers such as gardaí and nurses, along with new retail and mixed-use spaces, are set to be introduced to the streets.
The goal is to demonstrate a new model of city centre rejuvenation, arising out of a working group on dereliction and vacancy chaired by Social Democrats councillor Cian Farrell.
This would then be scaled up across the city through what is known as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in a similar vein to the Limerick 2030 regeneration model.
In a report issued to councillors, the working group said the initiative would tackle several challenges in Dublin city centre, from housing affordability, vacancy, dereliction, and the need to revitalise the historic core of the capital.
Its goals overlap significantly with the findings of the government’s city centre taskforce, which last year recommended the revitalisation of O’Connell Street and its surroundings.
The work will be carried out in five phases, beginning with data collection and mapping of the streets by the end of this year.
Between now and June 2026, the strategy behind the rejuvenation will be assembled, with government already approving the new hires necessary to assemble the team, which will sit under the city’s co-ordination unit.
The third phase, between June 2026 and June 2027, will be engagement, incentives and enforcement, and will involve a proactive campaign with every property owner on the streets, followed by incentives to rejuvenate the site.
If owners choose not to engage and continue to neglect the properties, escalating enforcement, up to and including compulsory purchase by the council will apply.
Phase four (January to May 2027) is where the plans set down are implemented and delivered, with construction and refurbishment works carried out on both council-owned and privately-held properties, in tandem with public realm upgrades in the pilot area.
The final phase, between June 2026 and May 2028, is where the SPV is created and the strategy from the pilot phase is applied city-wide.
The working group spoke to a raft of relevant parties, from councillors, members of the council executive, and property developers and financiers, whose recommendations and feedback all informed the final report.
Speaking to the Planning and Urban Regeneration strategic policy committee yesterday, Anthony Flynn, DCC’s assistant chief executive on planning, said the report called for a “fundamental restructuring” of the council’s planning and property development department.
“This pilot is very, very exciting. It would look at how we will look at the city on a street-by-street basis and how we will future proof how to deliver real change in the public realm and the streetscape in the city,” he said.
Mr Flynn said he supported the findings of the working group and would be seeking funding for its recommendations if the report was adopted by councillors at next week’s monthly meeting.