Phase 1b of the project to eventually build upwards of 700 homes on the site envisions building 30 fronting onto Dolphin’s Barn Road.
Dublin city councillors on Monday welcomed the next small step forward on the stalled regeneration of the social housing at Dolphin House: a plan for 30 new homes fronting onto Dolphin’s Barn Road.
At a meeting of the council’s South Central Area Committee, Stefan Lowe from the City Architects Division presented the scheme to councillors, an early step in the planning process for council projects, known as Part 8.
A spokesperson for the Department of Housing said that: "A planning application will be submitted in October with a grant of permission expected by March 2026."
In June last year, members of the Dolphin House Regeneration Board had demanded an end to delays.
They met with the Minister for Housing, and wrote to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission about the mould and overcrowding in the old flats, they said in a statement at the time.
On Tuesday, Manus Bree, the regeneration coordinator at the Dublin South City Partnership, said they are waiting on an updated timeline for the bulk of the homes. But they’ve been promised it’ll come soon, he said.
Once finished, the site should provide upwards of 700 new flats and houses, he said.
The next major step as the community sees it, is to have the finalised masterplan out, he said. “The masterplan is what everybody wants to see.”
The spokesperson for the Department of Housing said the council had told them that updated costings and a strategic assessment report for the overall masterplan development is currently being prepared.
Those are for stage one of the funding process that goes on between the department and the council for social homes, they said. "The Department welcomes this progress and anticipates this application will be submitted by June this year."
Dolphin House, built in 1957, was one of 12 estates earmarked for regeneration through a public-private partnerships in 2005.
Developers fled with the crash, though, and the regeneration of Dolphin House and its 437 homes ground to a halt.
Dolphin House tenants campaigned for their right to adequate housing, and in 2013 a multi-million-euro regeneration programme got the green light.
Phase 1 – which involved those 100 new homes through retrofit and new-build – was completed in November 2018.
A later sheltered housing scheme to the north-west of the site was done by Fold Housing in 2020.
At the meeting, Lowe said that the 30 planned homes will complete phase 1 of the development. “And enclose the existing courtyard to a, kind of, C-shaped block.”
The 30 homes in phase 1b will be made up of 13 one-bed homes, six two-beds, and 11 three-beds.
“By constructing on that site, it will create a new street frontage onto Dolphin’s Barn Road,” he said.
And they can move some of the residents from an old existing block into them, to help them continue the later phases of regeneration, he said.
They’ve made sure that the new apartments in phase 1b aren’t so tall, or too close to the homes in phase 1, he said.
Those were welcome tweaks based on feedback, said Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty, at the meeting.
He also welcomed the three-beds, which are, he said, really needed in the area.
“I suppose there’s not an awful lot to say except please go on and build,” Moriarty said.
The fact that years have passed since the first phase was done is telling, he said.
But, “there is a new momentum behind the project, and that’s really really important”, he said.
Phases 2 and 3, which are expected to include hundreds of homes, are still to come.
On Tuesday, Bree said they are eager to see the final masterplan for the site. That’s the key next step.
The principles of the expected masterplan are still the same as they had been, he says. “There haven’t been any substantial changes.”
The long delays have harmed the community, he said. “There’s still 200 people who need housing here, and the residents who have moved out, and who want to return.”
The Department of Housing and the council have, to some extent, pointed to each other as behind the delays, said Bree.
He said that requirements under the public spending code are significant, and the environmental assessments, and then a Part 10 application to An Bord Pleanála.
But if the local authorities were given more autonomy and resources that would help, he said.
“We can see the blockages from the project here,” he said. “Everybody is frustrated, even the local authority.”
“The people in the middle here are the residents who are waiting here for modern housing,” he said. “The difficulty here is holding the community together.”
The Department of Housing spokesperson said that they did not agree that the approvals process is a factor in the speed of regeneration projects.
There is "ongoing work" between the department and council about this and other regenerations, they said. It is up to the council "to submit funding applications for review and these are considered in a timely manner".
The council says no because the planning permission is for offices. A new owner could apply to change that.
The council met local residents Monday to talk about options. Previous ideas have included housing, sports facilities, and a Traveller resource centre.
Instead, it’s moving staff to focus on other housing projects that will deliver more homes, said Dublin City Council’s head of housing.
“It’s important for residents to know, for the business, and for the credibility of the planning system, so we’re clear a loophole is not developing in terms of planning.”
