Shanganagh Castle Estate is an affordable, sustainable community being jointly delivered by the Land Development Agency (LDA) and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLR) with Walls Construction as the appointed Design & Build main contractor. The architectural team comprises DLRCC Architects office, ABK Architects and O’Mahony Pike Architects. The LDA and DLRCC partnership will ultimately deliver 597 homes on land owned by the local authority. The breakdown of units is 51 houses, 546 apartments, creche and play area, with retail and other community facilities.
Delivery programme
Construction of the development commenced on site in September 2022. The delivery of the project is running on time and within budget. The schedule for delivery is as follows:
- Phase 1: 51 houses and creche facility – September 2024
- Phase 2: Blocks A, B, C and D, 230 apartments – November 2024
- Phase 3: Blocks E and F, 144 apartments – March 2025
- Phase 4: Blocks G and H, 172 apartments – August 2025.
The tenure split is:
- 51 affordable purchase
- Block F 40 units affordable purchase
- Blocks A, B , C & G 306 units cost rental Blocks D, E & H of 200 units for social housing.
The overall development will have 340 car parking spaces, 38 of which are prepared for EV charging, with the remainder ducted for future use, 14 motorcycle spaces, and 1,400 bicycle spaces. The homes at Shanganagh Castle Estate will be 100% affordable, with 51% cost rental (306 homes), 15% affordable purchase (91 homes) and 34% social housing (200 homes). The development offers a mix of accommodation suitable for single people, couples and families, with 99 of the new homes to have three bedrooms.
Early contractor involvement
The project was tendered as a Design & Build project, a tender which was won by Walls Construction Ltd. The clients and project team took a collaborative approach from the early stages, designing the blocks in precast concrete with numerous other prefabricated elements. This brought the advantage of having standardised formworks systems with a reduction in on-site labour and fewer deliveries to site.
The early engagement also facilitated window and door openings and services being incorporated into the panels, resulting in no requirement for on-site cutting or drilling. Other forms of offsite construction came from mechanical and electrical services, balustrades and balcony systems.
Sustainability
A stabilisation process is being utilised to enable the reuse of excavated materials in the formation of the roads.
The on-site waste management plan includes segregating any waste on site for repurposing.
There is also a strong emphasis on biodiversity and ecology to maintain and support existing plant and wildlife on the site. On completion, the goal is for the scheme to have a net positive impact on biodiversity in the area with actions being taken to rehabilitate any affected species/landscapes.
The six apartment blocks will be topped off with green roofs.
The first phase of Shanganagh Castle Estate is not only the first major direct delivery project to be completed by the LDA, but it will be one of the largest certified Passive House urban schemes in Europe.