Works will begin at the site of the former central mental hospital in Dundrum, South Dublin, next month, even if there is another judicial review, the head of the Land Development Agency (LDA) has said.

LDA chief executive John Coleman said, “we can’t wait any longer”, that the State agency is “ready to proceed”.

Mr Coleman also said the agency was “open” to developing housing at the former hospital building, which is a protected structure, but that it would be “difficult”.

The agency originally secured permission from then an bord pleanála in May 2023 for 852 housing units on one of the biggest sites in the State’s property portfolio.

A legal challenge was taken by a local developer on the basis that the proposal was in conflict with the local council development plan. The agency is still defending this case in the courts.

Last month, the LDA and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, with which it is now partnering on the development, were granted planning permission for 753 affordable homes for sale and cost rental and 181 social homes at the site following a new planning application. The time period for bringing forward a judicial review in terms of this permission closes on February 24th.

However, speaking at the site on Monday, Mr Coleman said: “We’re hoping not to get a judicial review challenge but if we do, we have this job tendered already … we’re ready to go, we’ve selected the contractor. We can start on this next month and even if we do get a judicial review, we’re going to start next month.”

He added: “We’re moving on regardless.”

Mr Coleman also said he believed the “narrative” had changed around judicial reviews over the past six months.

“I think there’s a much greater consciousness of the public around the need for the State to be able to build infrastructure, to be able to build housing schemes like this, like the MetroLink, the Dublin drainage project, like this scheme, which is probably the flagship public affordable housing scheme in the country,” he said.

If works begin next month, homes could become available by 2028 through the first phase of the scheme, with the overall completion date set for 2030.

The cost of the homes will be determined closer to completion, said Mr Coleman, with affordable cost rental homes set at between 25 and 33 per cent lower than market value.

[ Plans for close to 1,000 homes in south Dublin given go aheadOpens in new window ]

“It’s quite a high-value area, so we would anticipate it will be roughly a third less than what the market value is at that time,” he said.

LDA head of property Robert Farrell said another judicial review would “ultimately delay the project” and have “significant cost implications”.

Mr Coleman told an Oireachtas committee last year that the court challenge delayed the plans by two years, and added “at least €30 million” to the €400 million project cost. This was the equivalent of putting at least €30,000 on to the cost of each home.

The development, known as Dundrum Central, will comprise a mix of housing units including apartments, duplexes and houses. The former main entrance to the hospital, on the Dundrum Road, will be used for emergency vehicles only, with a new entrance further south along the road. The high walls surrounding the location will also be lowered.

Mr Coleman said it would be difficult to turn the old hospital building on the site into apartments, but they were “looking at all options”. He said the building would have a community use.

The LDA is the State’s affordable housing delivery body. Its main role is to acquire and develop State and other land to deliver affordable homes.