Housing

Best-laid plans: How developers are letting sleeping sites lie

Around the country, an estimated 50,000-80,000 planned homes have failed to materialise in spite of being approved

St Teresa's House, Blackrock: the site was granted planning permission to build hundreds of apartments in 2019, but nothing has been built. Picture: Maura Hickey

Along Temple Road in Blackrock, a tall wall blocks from view one of the last major undeveloped sites close to the southside Dublin village.

Trees also shroud the large period property, known as St Teresa’s House. In the foreground a large sign that towers over the wall makes a clear, and rather bold, commitment: ‘New homes by Oakmount. Experience the extraordinary.’

In 2019, Paddy McKillen jr and Matt Ryan, the owners of the site, secured ...