Targets under Rebuilding Ireland call for the delivery of 60,000 social housing units across the country by 2025. Earlier this year, Minister for Housing and Urban Development Damien English committed to meeting the needs of 27,500 people and families on housing lists in 2020, however, meeting these targets will not simply be about the numbers. Successful housing solutions prioritise delivering the right kind of homes in the right locations to meet user demand locally.

With this in mind, Castlehaven Finance is delighted to support the delivery of 40 new social homes at Fairgreen Manor, Dunlavin, County Wicklow.

KPH Construction & Development Ltd. (http://www.kphgroup.ie), the developer behind this quality scheme, is delivering a mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses on the outskirts of the village. These homes are close to completion and expect to be handed over to Circle Housing Association in the coming months. This is an important housing scheme for the village of Dunlavin, which has seen low levels of development over the past decade. The village is located on the Kildare/Wicklow border, just off the N81 and within close proximity to Naas and Baltinglass, and less than 45 minutes from Dublin.

Also involved in this housing project are:

• Architect – Padraig Smith Partnership (http://psp.ie)

• Civil & Structural Engineer – Kavanagh Burke Consulting Engineers (http://www.burkejenkins.ie/)

• Mech. & Elect. Engineer – Morley Walsh Consulting Engineers (http://www.morleywalsh.com)

This is a particularly critical time for the delivery of all housing in Ireland, following a report on the impact of the coronavirus on construction by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) that warned builders could take up to two years to return to pre-Covid-19 levels of activity. The SCSI has advised that planning and financing activity for development projects needs to continue through the lockdown period in order to avoid delays getting the industry operational when possible.

Aerial view of Fairgreen Manor, Dunlavin, County Wicklow.