The homes will be developed in phases with houses to be built ahead of apartments. The first phase of 30-50 houses, to the southern end of the site is expected to be built by 2024 and the estate is expected to be fully completed by the end of 2027.
The 17-hectare site at the Santry end of Oscar Traynor Road, just to the east of the entrance to the Dublin Port Tunnel was bought by the council in the 1980s. It was the subject of a number of proposed industrial, recreational and housing schemes, but despite it being surrounded by housing estates built in the 1970s and 1980s, none of the planned schemes ever came to fruition.
In early 2015 the council’s housing department produced a plan for the redevelopment of vacant council land, including Oscar Traynor Road, in what was its first major housing development programme since the property crash. In 2017, after two years of negotiations with council officials and the Department of Housing, 53 of the 63 city councillors approved plans for the redevelopment of the Santry lands, as well as the former flat complexes at O’Devaney Gardens and St Michael’s Estate. Under the agreement, 50 per cent of the homes would be private, 30 per cent social and 20 per cent affordable housing. Councillors later voted to shelve the Oscar Traynor deal to seek more public housing on the land.