Nama unveils €7.5bn plans for 20,000 Dublin homes and dockland initiatives

The National Asset Management Agency plans to deliver 3.8 million sq ft of commercial space in Dublin's docklands and 20,000 new homes as part of a €7.5 billion development programme over the next five years.

Nama chairman Frank Daly said this would result in the agency achieving a higher profit for the State on wind-up of more than €2 billion. It had previously projected a surplus of €1.75 billion for the exchequer.

The residential programme will require total funding of €5.6 billion with peak funding expected to be €1.8 billion.

Nama said the proceeds from the sale of completed projects would be recycled to fund new “commercially viable” projects.

The agency said the focus would be on starter homes for first-time buyers and would also include social housing.

Under construction

Some 1,405 housing units are already under construction as part of this plan in

Dún Laoghaire

, Swords, Ballycullen/Knocklyon, Baldoyle/Clongriffen, Stepaside/Foxrock, Pelletstown/Ashtown, and Castleknock/Diswellstown. They are expected to be ready for sale early in the first quarter of next year.

Nama expects to have up to 100 construction sites active at any one time as it seeks to deliver an average of 4,000 housing units a year.

The docklands commercial development will require total funding of €1.9 billion, with peak funding up to €500 million. It will include 66,000sq ft of retail space, 13,000sq ft of restaurant space, one major new street, three new bridges, Ireland’s biggest student accommodation block, Dublin’s tallest office block, and a 169-bedroom hotel.

Most of the buildings are part of a strategic development zone, where fast-track planning permission is available.

Nama already has three construction sites under way in the docks, including preparations for the demolition of the Boland’s Mills buildings. The three sites comprise 782,000sq ft of commercial space and 246 homes. The developments are expected to generate up to 30,000 jobs when construction is at its peak and deliver commercial space equivalent to about double the original IFSC.

In an effort to de-risk these programmes, Nama will look for joint venture partners interested in the co-funding and construction of projects. It will seek expressions of interest from potential partners for its residential programme next January.

‘This is real’

Minister for Finance

Michael Noonan

welcomed Nama’s announcement and said the plan was deliverable. “It’s not a pie in the sky announcement, this is real . . . and will be delivered on time,” he said.

“I don’t think there’s a city in Europe and there’s very few in north America that have such a large area of undeveloped land on the water within a short walk of the city centre. It’s a unique project that Nama is developing.”

Mr Noonan said Nama’s plan to provide “much-needed supply of residential units” would continue to encourage start-ups and multinationals to have “confidence in identifying Dublin as the home of choice for their businesses and will allow us to continue to punch above our weight in the global competition to attract and retain talent”.

Nama said all of the projects would be required to pass a stringent commercial viability threshold before it approves funding.

Mr Daly said the agency would have the vast bulk of its work completed by its appointed wind-down date of 2020 and that it would look at other options to complete any residual activities it has left at that stage.

He said the agency was “committed” to delivering the new homes and offices and “hopes to leave a lasting and positive legacy for the coming decades”.