The Land Development Agency and homebuilder Castlethorn are set to begin construction on 562 cost-rental homes at Parkgate Street in Dublin, opposite Heuston Station, a scheme that matters to building and architecture professionals because its 30-storey centrepiece will become Ireland's tallest building, testing structural, fire and services engineering approaches at a height the market has not previously built to.

The Land Development Agency is a commercial state agency accelerating housing delivery on public and private land, with the completed homes made available through the Government's cost-rental scheme.

Castlethorn is a Dublin-headquartered residential and commercial developer founded in 1991, with three decades of experience delivering large-scale housing schemes across Ireland.

The development comprises four interconnected blocks on the former Hickey's Wholesale Fabrics warehouse site, led by the 102-metre, 30-storey Parkgate Pointe tower with 198 apartments, alongside three further blocks of 10 to 13 storeys, with completion expected in late 2029.

John Paul Construction has been appointed as main contractor to build the scheme.

The structural driver is a decisive shift in Dublin's planning philosophy, from historic resistance to high-rise residential development toward accepting density near major transport hubs, with Davy estimating 93,000 homes a year are needed to 2031 against roughly 30,000 delivered in 2024.

For the sector, the timing matters because this is the second scheme the LDA and Castlethorn have delivered together, following 328 cost-rental apartments already under construction at Woodbrook in Shankill, showing the state agency building repeat delivery relationships with proven partners rather than re-tendering each site individually.

The accompanying memorandum of understanding between the LDA and CIÉ to progress a wider Heuston Quarter masterplan signals a second, larger wave of design and construction work still to come, extending well beyond this single scheme into offices, retail and public realm.

The broader implication for the sector is that Ireland's first genuinely tall residential tower will set a live technical and cost benchmark for structural engineers, facade specialists and vertical transportation contractors bidding on the next generation of high-density Dublin schemes.

Source: The Journal / Bisnow / gov.ie / JOE.ie