The Land Development Agency is seeking permission for residential development on a 5.7 ha site on lands located 2.5 km west of Cork City Centre on a prominent south facing hillside site, the former St. Kevin’s Hospital and grounds, Shanakiel, Cork. Our vision is to transform this defunct and derelict former Victorian Mental Asylum lands into a new vibrant residential community for the people of Cork. This underutilised site, on the south facing Shanakiel Ridge, looking over the River Lee, has the opportunity to be an exemplar housing development offering housing for all sectors of our society in our community. The Land Development Agency is mandated by Government to develop such sites that are in public ownership and there is no better example of such an opportunity as this strategic site in the heart of Cork. The St. Kevin’s Hospital has been a location for a challenging social history that we in Ireland have been trying to redress for decades. Now we have an opportunity to take this site that was once the centre of institutional care and transform it into place where people can live, children can play, and there are homes for all stages of life.
The Land Development Agency (LDA), established in September 2018, is a key Government initiative to make the development of homes happen where and when it should be happening, with a key focus on state-owned land. The LDA opens up state owned land to improve housing options for individuals and families. They also drive the medium to long term compact development of our cities by providing a vision and delivery strategy for larger scale strategic land areas. Put simply, the LDA’s strategy is to help make the development of housing happen where and when it should be happening, in line with Ireland’s compact growth objectives. That includes both in the short term and the medium to long term. For more information on the remit of the LDA, as well as other LDA projects, please visit www.lda.ie.